I love my 2002 Honda Jazz, which has been perfect for island life, accommodating four people and a cello. However, we are looking to replace it with a more robust diesel touring car (the cello won't be coming) as university trips and driving in Europe are on the cards. Unfortunately I am not blessed with a family of good travellers, so ride quality is really important.

We have road tested the new A-Class, but that was too claustrophobic, I didn't like the B-Class and the Golf VII, which was almost there drive quality-wise, was a tight fit and tricky to get my cello in and out of, and I wondered whether I would ever use sixth gear on an island with a 40mph speed limit. Could you please advise if there might be a better car and whether I am worrying about the sixth gear unnecessarily on the almost-perfect Golf?