10. Honda Jazz

The Honda Jazz is the small car that makes best use of its space. It’s been in showrooms since 2008, and there’s a choice of two petrol engines, plus a hi-tech hybrid, and four trim levels. And all get one of the cleverest, most practical interior layouts on the market. There's also a new Honda Jazz set to be unveiled at the Tokyo show in November.

The current Jazz, though, has quite a high roof, so there’s plenty of headroom, plus decent legroom. The boot size is a huge 399 litres with the rear seats in place, but the seat bases flip up, cinema-style, so you can slide awkward items along the flat load floor. Or pull a single lever, and the backs and bases fold to create a vast, well shaped 899-litre space.

In other areas, the Jazz trails; none of the regular cars manages fuel consumption much over 50mpg, and even the hybrid returns only 63mpg. And no model in the range emits less than 100g/km for exemption from road tax.

Not all versions come with ESP, either – a surprise given the high price (entry-level models start from £11,605) – although every Jazz has six airbags and Isofix child seat mountings, and an enviable reliability record.