I decided a year ago to ignore the flap and buy what suited my purpose - I wanted a reliable TC auto 4WD, looked at BMW and found I still don't like them, and bought a Mitsubishi Outlander diesel. The choice of petrols was poor.

I'd be more averse to the DSG on the Ateca than the diesel engine.

I don't expect city bans on Euro 6 diesels anytime soon and if it happens it won't affect me much. I tend to keep cars a good while (the last one was 6 years) so I'm not too worried about value.

Not sure if you're buying new or used, Guygamps. If new, there shouldn't be much difference in waiting time between petrol and diesel: I've got an Audi Q2 2.0 petrol on order and the waiting time seems reasonable but if I'd gone for the 1.4 TFSI I could have had one within days as there are plenty in dealers' stocks. The same may well apply to the Ateca, and I'd recommend you try one (or the smaller Arona) with the 1,4 or 1.5 petrol engine.

The other car I looked at seriously was the BMW 2-series Active Tourer, which I seem to remember from your last thread you also had in mind. For reasons known only to BMW GB, they won't let dealers have the 225xe for demonstration unless they are big dealers with a lot of fleet sales. But the 220i was impressive.

If you're going for used, then yes, there will be more diesels as until the scares started in the press, the type of car you're looking at sold mainly in diesel versions. I have one now, a Volvo V60 which was almost impossible to get with a petrol engine. One of the reasons it's going is that there could be even more adverse publicity driving residual values down, because Arthur Punter doesn't understand that Euro-6-compliant engines like mine are much less polluting than the older engines.

I wouldn't myself go near the Peugeot: Peugeot and Citroen have succumbed to the touchscreen fad and you can't even adjust heating and aircon without taking your eyes off the road to prod a whole lot of sub-menus. Personally I think that's dangerous.