YOU can have your cake and eat it even in the supermini class with a comfortable ride and excellent road holding.

The latest Skoda Fabia is the best riding car in the class and yet still gives hugely entertaining and safe cornering.

I recently drove it with the latest VW group 1.4 TDI diesel engine under the bonnet.

This three cylinder is very good and should be capable of 55-60mpg driven carefully. But it also delivers good performance, with a very willing nature.

It's not the smoothest engine and is noisier than many at speed but it sounds good, which is unusual for a diesel.

However, there's a big but with this car. It is £2,000 more than the equivalent petrol model and adding that to the extra cost of diesel fuel, it will take a staggering nine years or 90,000 miles to make up the difference.

In other words, buy the 1.2 TSi petrol turbo instead and have even more fun.

The Fabia has a good looking, plain interior in the Skoda tradition, with everything to hand. There's decent interior space, a fair sized boot, a great driving position and supportive cloth seats.