The days when small cars were basic, noisy and uncomfortable like the Issigonis Mini are long gone. As long as the seats are comfortable, the cabin quiet and you, your passengers and your baggage fit in you'll be fine.

A Jazz should be just as good at 110/130 kph as any other car.

Only reservation would be if it lacks aircon but even that's not impossible. We did multiple trips to southern France in a non aircon Berlingo.

I'm not sure i understand this question, why would you not be able to do the journey in a Jazz?. This may be the smaller of the two engines available in that era of Jazz (in this country anyway), but it still has 90bhp and a top speed of 110mph. I'm not sure what age Golf you have, but from a reliability point of view, frankly i'd feel more confident of the Jazz managing the trip than a similar age Golf. And in terms of size, the Golf is not much smaller than a Jazz. To put it another way, back in 2008 we had a Daihatsu Sirion 1.0 (68bhp), i would have absolutely no qualms at all in using it for that journey.

Just noticed my mistake here, "the Golf is not much smaller than the Jazz", which should of course read, the Golf is not much larger than the Jazz!.

Presumably a 1.4TSI then, which explains why you can't get your daughter on the insurance. The Golf would be more refined, much faster and probably not much less mpg. But assuming your Jazz is well looked after and in good shape, it will be absolutely fine.

It's not so much an issue of reliability as it is an issue of comfort and practicality.

As gordonbennet suggested, a service beforehand would be a good idea, assuming the car's not had one recently.

I've been in a Jazz and the ride was fine, seemed comfy and as long as you can fit all the luggae in it would not be a problem...a Golf is not really much larger

Brother-in-law recently handed on his 14 year old, 120,000+ mile 1.2 Jazz to a mutual friend - it has never let them down.

We used to go on holiday regularly in our H reg Nissan Primera.

"A" roads from the Wirral to South Wales and back on two occasions, several return trips to Cumbria, visits to my brothers in Somerset and Scarborough. In between, country roads, country lanes, A roads, B roads, stuck in traffic, moving fast, negotiating winding, bumpy tracks: never let us down once. I only sold it because it began to feel embarrassing to have owned the same car for so long.

I wouldn't have a moment's hesitation about subjecting our current Japanese model, a 13 plate Jazz, to similar mileage, and it should swallow your trip without missing a beat: providing its been looked after.

So as said above, have it serviced first.