Critics who think there is no point to Multi Purpose Vehicles or ''people carriers'' almost invariably have no requirement for the special attributes these cars possess. But if you need the features which MPVs provide, even on an occasional basis, then nothing else will do.

Passenger space is one of them. MPVs with three rows of seats can accommodate up to eight people. But the important thing is not so much transporting a seven-a-side rugby team plus a driver, as the versatility of the seating.

If you need a mobile office, you can turn the two front seats round through 180 degrees, fold down the central seat in the middle row so that it acts as a desk top, and start working. Or you can remove the two outside seats in the middle row, still use the folded-down middle one as a desk top, and provide a lot more legroom by sitting two people right at the back. Some models have a full width fold-down table.

For long-distance travel, it is remarkable how relaxed things can be if an MPV has any unnecessary seats removed before the journey starts. If you sit right at the back, having removed the seat ahead which would otherwise restrict your legroom, things are much more comfortable.

In MPVs which have swivel-action front seats, the spin-round is easily done. And if you want to leave some of the seats behind, then cars like the Vauxhall Sintra use lightweight designs which are easy to move in and out.

Ford, Volkswagen and Seat take their supplies of the Galaxy (the UK best seller in this class), Sharan and Alhambra from the AutoEuropa factory, a Ford/VW joint venture at Palmela in Portugal. This is quite separate from production of Volkswagen's other, Transporter-based MPV. The Galaxy, Sharan and Alhambra benefit from a range of excellent engines, and there are some quite sporty models among them.

The Citroen Synergie, Peugeot 806 and Fiat Ulysse represent a Franco-Italian grouping, with the factory at Valenciennes near Lille. The French and Italian partners here keep the specifications of their cars further apart than is the case with AutoEuropa.

Standing alone, as the manufacturer which introduced the MPV to Europe in the first place, Renault has a complete range of its own, having recently launched the roomier Grand Espace to complement the Espace itself, partly so as to provide more luggage space than some MPVs are able to accommodate.

Mercedes has just upgraded its V-class, larger than many of its rivals, and built at a factory in Spain which otherwise produces this design as a van. The 2.3-litre V230 has been joined by a notably more powerful V6-engined V280, and equipment levels have been raised. A fascia-mounted gear selector is the Mercedes way round the problem of having the area between the front seats left clear, so that a certain amount of moving between rows of seats is possible - when the vehicle is at a halt.

Several Japanese manufacturers are in the MPV market. Mitsubishi's Space Runner may be tighter as far as accommodation is concerned, but the larger Space Wagon is one of the most pleasant car-like MPVs to drive.

The Nissan Serena takes an unusually high stance, while the Toyota Previa not only comes with much swoopier styling than other vehicles in the class, but also has an unusual body feature which may appeal to parents with dash-around children. The middle and rear rows of seats are entered and exited only from the pavement side. There is no rear door on the offside of the car.

When Honda designs anything out of its mainstream production, it is usually with considerable attention to detail. That happened with the Shuttle, which has been substantially uprated for 1998. Its designers went for a column mounted gear change, so as to leave a clear space between the front seats

The Americans were the inventors of what we now know as the MPV, though they struck on the word Minivan to describe this kind of design - ''mini'' only because there are some even bigger American passenger carriers.

Vauxhall imports right-hand drive Sintras from the GM factory in Doraville, Georgia. The CDX uses a three-litre engine of larger capacity than is usual in petrol-powered MPVs here, and the distinctive looking Sintra, with its sliding rear doors, can be specified with a bench seat at the rear.

In that configuration it can take a driver and seven passengers. Despite seeming very bulky, the Sintra is actually shorter than an Omega saloon.

Chrysler was the company which pioneered the MPV/Minivan concept in the United States, but the right-hand drive Voyagers are built at Graz in Austria. Last month, the Eurostar factory there - a joint venture with local firm Steyr-Daimler-Puch - produced its 250,000th Voyager for European markets.

More than half the company's MPVs sold in the UK so far have been the long wheelbase Grand Voyager LE. Chrysler also offers the biggest engined MPV on this market, the 3.3-litre V6 model, although there is a 3.8 available elsewhere.