I've narrowed my search for a second hand buy down to a few models, I have a max of £17-18k to spend, but id rather keep it to 15/16k unless theres something that will save me money over three years. in all instances I'm looking at the 2.0 litre diesel examples, current short list is:

Volve V60, top of price bracket but I think some good deals to be done on them and look great.

Ex management Ford Focus Estate Titanium with around 8k on clock there seem to be plenty for the £15k mark.

Skoda Octavia vRS with around 20k on clock, nice car but maybe a little boring and I'm a bit scared by the apparent massive list of problems with them on your what's bad page.

BMW X1, seems very reliable and 4wd is a plus point for me as is ground clearance.

What would be your pick? My plan is to run for three years or so doing around 30k a year so running costs and residual value is important, but I do like a nice driving car.

There's also the Audi A4 but in my price bracket it's an older example id be looking at.