diff --git a/tests/test_commands.py b/tests/test_commands.py
index 2e47160d7..42cade849 100644
--- a/tests/test_commands.py
+++ b/tests/test_commands.py
@@ -73,6 +73,23 @@ class StartprojectTest(ProjectTest):
         self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', 'wrong---project---name'))
         self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', 'sys'))
 
+    def test_startproject_with_project_dir(self):
+        project_dir = mkdtemp()
+        self.assertEqual(0, self.call('startproject', self.project_name, project_dir))
+
+        assert exists(join(abspath(project_dir), 'scrapy.cfg'))
+        assert exists(join(abspath(project_dir), 'testproject'))
+        assert exists(join(join(abspath(project_dir), self.project_name), '__init__.py'))
+        assert exists(join(join(abspath(project_dir), self.project_name), 'items.py'))
+        assert exists(join(join(abspath(project_dir), self.project_name), 'pipelines.py'))
+        assert exists(join(join(abspath(project_dir), self.project_name), 'settings.py'))
+        assert exists(join(join(abspath(project_dir), self.project_name), 'spiders', '__init__.py'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', self.project_name, project_dir))
+        self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', self.project_name + '2', project_dir))
+        self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', 'wrong---project---name'))
+        self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', 'sys'))
+
 
 class StartprojectTemplatesTest(ProjectTest):