SO WHO leaked? Was it David Tennant or Matt Smith – or maybe an earlier Time Lord.

Or should that be which Who leaked?

What am I rabbiting about? Well, it is obvious that someone has given Nissan an insight into the small-on-the-outside/big-on-the-inside secrets of Dr Who’s Tardis.

How else can you explain something as small as the Nissan NV200 that can accommodate two one-metre Euro pallets?

And there’s an equally diddy Combi version that will seat two and carry three mountain bikes with their wheels on, or carry seven and still have enough boot space for a couple of biggish suitcases or cope with pretty much any combination of people/luggage between those extremes.

Excited at the obvious local sales potential of a small commercial with the capacity of a much bigger one, dealers Motor Mall sent me out in their NV200 panel van.

Like the loadbay, the cabin is surprisingly roomy, given the vehicle’s compact dimensions.

There are stacks of headroom, a wellie-friendly footwell and the seating position is fine – comfy enough for longer-haul runs and easy to slip into and out of for roundsmen.

Usefully in either family MPV or commercial role, the cabin is full of storage spaces, pockets and cup/bottle holders. There is also a secret storage space large enough to hide a camera, mobile phones or vital documents within the upper portion of the glovebox and another in the centre console.

There is an ashtray – for how much longer, though, one wonders, given that what appears at first to be a push-in cigar lighter turns out to be just a plastic-plug dummy covering the 12-volt power socket.

Smoking? In an enclosed workspace? Heaven forfend. Still, with so many storage spaces, I would probably forget in which of the 13 storage slots I’d put my fags, were I still on the Devil’s Weed.

Seriously, though, those document-storage spaces and hideaways for valuables will be appreciated by those earning their daily bread in the NV200.

So will the drinks holders and decent CD/radio with auxiliary input.

The van’s cabin is commercial-vehicle minimalist – although that’s still a far cry from the commercial vehicles of my youth when heaters and demisters were optional extras. And so was a windscreen wiper for the passenger’s side of the screen.

I josh you not.

That minimalism is not without its advantages. Driving one of my favourite big people carriers at night a few years back, I counted more than 40 switches and buttons lit up as well as a full stack of instruments.

That’s enough light sources to have you wondering if you needed a pilot’s licence.

The straightforward dash is dominated by a central speedo but the discreet display to the speedo’s side offers the lowdown on revs, fuel contents, time, mpg etc. and more information than some grander-looking trip computers.

Given the abuse to which non owner-operated commercials are often subjected, it is probably a good idea that on starting the first information displayed is engine oil status. Well, you wouldn’t expect your driver to check the dipstick, would you?

Behind the solid bulkhead in the test van lay a class-leading 4.2 cubic metre loadbay.

The Combi is a useful load-lugger, too. With all but the front seats out of the way, the MPV manages a highly respectable 3.1 cu.m. and up to 2.3 cu.m. with a driver and four passengers on board.

A folding bulkhead is optional to allow the van to carry ladders up to 2.8-metres long inside.

That loadbay is accessed through twin sliding side doors or asymmetrical split ‘French’ rear doors in the case of the van or a tailgate (optional on the van) in the case of the Combi.

Loading is a doddle, thanks to the lowest floor in the class at 524mm off the deck.

And the van’s rear doors can be released quickly and easily to swing all the way to 180 degrees open, so you can back right up to cargo bays or whatever.

On the road, the NV200 is surprisingly enjoyable.

The stubby gearshift switches swiftly up and down through the five ratios – a prompt will even advise when it’s time to change gear, the brochure tells me.

I was too busy playing to pay attention to that. Playing? Yes, the NV200 is actually a quite enjoyable drive

The engine – the familiar 1.5-litre Renault turbodiesel – is just perfect for the job.

It’s not the quietest there is, but I was listening to a speech-based station (Radio 4 if you must know) and missed absolutely nothing. And I would imagine the extra seating and trim in the Combi would mute engine noise further. The family rowing would drown the radio, but that’s not Nissan’s fault.

That slightly vocal little diesel compensates with surprisingly strong performance in second, third and fourth in the 20-35mph bracket.

As with most unladen commercials, the ride was on the firm side but it cornered hard and flat – and surprisingly well.

With the solid bulkhead and rear doors, the only rearward visibility on the test van was provided by the electrically adjusted door-mounted mirrors.

They were all I felt I needed, although there is an optional rear view parking camera, another first for a van in this segment.

The mirrors do not powerfold, although on a vehicle that is actually more than an inch narrower than a Ford Fiesta that is no hardship, even in the dreaded Brigade Road or Blicqs.

A three-quarter tonne van or seven-seat MPV narrower than a supermini? Yes, sometimes less really can be more.