I presently drive a 2006 Octavia 2.0 TDI automatic estate. Generally I am very pleased with its performance and its load capacity ideally suits my requirements. I have recently returned from an extended trip to France covering some 2,500 miles, averaging nearly 50mpg on a mixture of autoroutes, dual carriageway and local roads. I normally drive about 11,000 miles pa, of which nearly 50 per cent are in France where diesel is about 115 pence per litre against 135 in the UK.

The car has done about 65,000 miles and normally I would expect to keep this car for another three years or so before changing. However I wonder if, with the present rate of inflation and low interest rates, now might be a good time to take advantage of the ‘bargain’ prices for a new car. My questions are: should I keep diesel or change to unleaded (which is roughly the same price in France as in the UK) and what are the best alternatives?