Hi Joe,

First things first; your Mercedes C 180 is going to be worth about €3,000, tops, unless it’s very low mileage for its age – and we mean, most likely below 160,000km. If you’re going to trade it in for the C-HR, that also means you’re going to be offered something like €1,500 for it.

This means you’re looking at the earliest 171-plate C-HRs, probably the (nicer to drive) 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol model. The Hybrid will be cheaper to run (depending on where you drive it mostly), but we prefer how the petrol version drives. The C-HR is actually one of our favourite C-segment crossovers, as it looks daring and has one of Toyota’s best cabins, but you need to check on how happy your kids will be sat in the back – it’s not too bad on headroom, which shouldn’t affect younger children anyway, but it can be a bit dark in there because of the C-HR’s fancy rear windows, which don’t allow a huge amount of light into the cabin.

Also consider used examples of the Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashqai, Volkswagen Tiguan and, as something bit different, the brilliant Skoda Yeti.