THEREis a very good reason people who travel long distances choose larger, well equipped cars with a bit of puff and it's not because theyhave a passion to wake up one morning with a save the earth yurt village on the lawn.

No, miles of motorway are better covered insulated from the buffeting of outside life, road noise, wind noise just about anything which interferes with Andrea Bocelli on the eleveteen speaker audio system.

Frankly, the aim is to arrive as uncreased as when the journey started, not bent double over an aluminium walking frame feeling you have been internally rearranged by a brick on a stick.

Push me hard about what car I would choose to tackle, say, the Cornwall run and I would probably go for a Range Rover Vogue. Yes, I am going to arrive basically bankrupt, without funds to dine on the simplest of pasties let alone the delights of Padstein but will still be fresh enough for a brisk sailor's hornpipe on the quayside.

Moreover there is plenty to entertain the long haul driver, mesmerising technologies and even a television for those long hours when the traffic is going nowhere. And going nowhere is so common these days it should have its own brown sign.

An excellent place to go nowhere is around Leeds on the M62 where the Highways Agency is converting it to a 'smart' motorway. You know the ones; overhead gantries showing continuously variable speed restrictions and permission to use the hard shoulder for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Behind each lane matrix is hidden a speed camera. It is quite within the realms of possibility to lose your licence between two junctions. So don't be silly. You are being watched.

On the day the limit was set at 40mph and on the day we would all have been safe from prosecution if it had been set at zero. But what the hell, I am in a Range Rover, leather everything, private cinema and handy foot spa. Except this Range Rover was a Vauxhall Corsa VX. A one-litre turbo with three cylinders, the fourth having been removed at birth.

Don't get me wrong, this is far from a sloth with a 120mph top limit giving it some legs on major roads although the 0-60mph time of ten seconds makes it a fruity option on some roads, there is no doubting the Corsa is aimed squarely at urban or suburban living. It is also fun to drive with engaging handling.

The star feature is that one-litre engine which comes with either 89bhp or 113bhp. Regardless that means tax band C, £30 a year and free membership the guilt free earth society. Capable of 57mpg it also works on a family budget.

To be fair there is a lot to be said for the engine's refinement in the world of three cylinders.

The Sri VX trim has plenty of kit: Bluetooth, iPod and USB connections, air con, automatic lights and wipers, cruise and sports seats. It does not have a sat nav so there was no map option to plan an escape route at the turn off for Heckmondferret over the Cloth Cap pass. I imagine any teenager could have told me how to use the 69p Bring Go nav app via my smart phone to get around this but there wasn't a handy one available and I doubt I had the right string with me.

Right, step into my office. While the exterior lines of the VX are fetching the most spectacular changes in this latest generation Corsa are inside. Quality has improved to the point of challenging the Insignia and the soft-tough dash-top and piano black inlays give the interior a very grown up feel. Repeater switches and a city drive button are all over the neat steering wheel.

Yes while there is plenty of boot space rear-seat passengers will feel a little hemmed in but let's face it, like monstering the big playground in something boasting shipping tonnage it goes with the territory.

Certainly I would rather be perched high in a 4x4 watching the nozzle-head twenty cars in front practice for the confused games canoe slalom but a young market with less painful driving to do should like this car at £12,630.

As for the M62, the smartest thing they could do is use it for NATO bombing practice.