Can't argue with any of that, especially endorse the choose your own route on test drives, the local car supermarket is well known (apart from their comedy hard finance package sell routine) for the test drive comprising one junction up the dual carriageway which runs alongside and back.

I rode as passenger in my friends new Golf GTD earlier in the week, sitting on 19" wheels with 35 aspect tyres, i wouldn't give you a thankyou for it, you could feel every stone comprising the road surface and tyre roar was horrendous (every bit as bad as an XR3 from the 80's)....that's relatively long wheelbase compared to the length of the vehicle so, as per RobJP, long wheelbase compared to overall length on its own doesn't mean all is well.

I thought my Landcruiser was hard riding compared to our Scooby Outback, but that ride in the Golf has put things back in perspective and it's Jag soft in comparison.

edit, LWB doesn't mean poor turning circles, RWD cars like BM/Merc have superb turning circles, as do Citroen Boxer FWD vans, even my full time 4WD Landcruiser turns tight, so quite why a FWD car like a Volvo has to come with the turning circle of a supertanker is a mystery.

Edited by gordonbennet on 14/05/2015 at 11:54

For town use, I don't think there's much relationship between wheelbase and comfort. Far more important factors in that case are seat type/position, how heavy the clutch is etc.

I do a lot of motorway miles, and have found there is a tipping point for car length at which there is a noticable improvement if you spend a significant proportion of every day travelling on the motorway though. That tipping point is about at an Astra/Golf sized car - the 5 door hatchback at this size is significantly less comfortable than the estate. If you step up into a Insignia/Mondeo/Passat there is an even larger improvement, though I find you only really notice at first when getting back into the smaller car, doing the same journey and realising it's quite a bit more tiring.

For tight twisty country roads though, I've found cars like the Mondeo to actually be quite uncomfortable. I think this is down to them being wider as well as longer which means the left hand side wheels closer to the side of the road surface more, which is where most of the potholes are!