We have decided to purchase a year old Volvo V40. It's a second car that would have be mostly short journeys and twice weekly 40 mile commutes, doing about 10,000 miles per year. The debate we are currently having is between diesel and petrol. Diesel models are much more common though about £1000 more to purchase, but have no road tax and better economy when compared to the petrol models. However diesel may well have an increased tax placed on it in the near future and I guess the engines have duel mass flywheels and diesel particulate filters which could be a disadvantage as we usually keep cars for 10 years and repairs I'm sure will be expensive.