Here my conundrum: I'm in the market for replacing my ageing Polo and am looking for something suited to my daily 55-mile round trip to work. With that in mind it needs to be comfortable, economical and ideally with low running and maitenance costs.

But here's the catch: my budget is only £9,000. For this money a second hand diesel supermini seems the ideal buy, but is there any other type of motor that would be better suited? Maybe a hybrid or Twinair-style engine? The range of options for budget concious buyers is a little bewildering.

Thank you in advance for any advice.
Adam