Powerful and comfortable is a difficult combination - as powerful cars come with 'sports' suspension which is not comfortable. Sorry I can't be more helpful and I will be very interested in any suggestions that people make for you as it's a combination that I'd like in my next car....

As the replies to you show, this combination is a much-wanted option (by me as well), and manufacturers are stupid to ignore it.

Rob's suggestions are good ones: I think Audi get nearest to it by offering deletion of the sports suspension as a no-cost option - or indeed going for SE spec. At £20k you'll be looking for one which is a year or two old so you'd need to check what options a car comes with.

Actually the Octavia vRS is pretty good for this, which is why I'm on my third. The suspension is on the firm side but the seats are very supportive and even at age 67 I can do a long run with no aches and pains. And even more painlessly, my petrol vRS will do over 40 mpg on a run of anything over 20 miles or so. The mark 3 (217 bhp) for some reason is slightly more economical than the 197 bhp mark 2. Diesel - no thanks, and I'm trying to resist too much Schadenfreude.

So my suggestion would be either another vRS or look for a good deal on a nearly-new A4 Avant which should be possible because of the new model.

A couple of final thoughts - BMW offer a 220i version of the Active Tourer, and Volvo I believe are about to do a 2-litre petrol V60. The BMW is higher off the ground, and Volvos have some of the best seats in the business. Both will be on my short-list next year, if the dealers can get over their diesel fixation (which they haven't yet) and provide a petrol demonstrator.