Hi Ciara,

It sounds to us like you should probably stick with petrol, as short trips and low miles just don’t work well with diesel, especially (as you point out) in terms of keeping the expensive exhaust filters clean and unclogged. Basically those need heat to work properly, which means mileage at higher speeds. If you’re trading up, go for as recent a model as you can with a turbocharged petrol engine. The Ecoboost 1.0-litre turbo in the C-Max is a good option, but there hasn’t been a petrol engine option in the Toyota Verso for some time, so that may not make your shopping list. Volkswagen has a brilliant 1.2 TSI turbo petrol engine in the current Touran, though, and you can now have a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso with a 1.2 turbo as well.