You can get the parameters you require in a car fitted with the VAG 1.9 PD 130 HP diesel engine - but there are some catches.

My Skoda Superb will comfortably (literally) meet all of your performance requirements, albeit not in a small car. There are other VAG products which use this engine - which is regrettably getting a bit elderly now. Choose your badge and your body as required - for example, some late previous model Octavias were fitted with this engine, but beware, most were rotary pump engines.

The PD engines which followed the 1.9/130 were, in my view, not as good and some were catastrophically unreliable. Some 2.0 PD engines suffered oil pump drive failure, balance shaft drive failure and piezo injector failure - all totally unacceptable. The supplier of these engines has not met my standards of trading integrity when dealing with these failures.

Do your homework very carefully. If you are prepared to accept a degree of compromise in terms of noise and smoothness, a good specimen of the 1.9 PD fitted with Bosch electromagnetically actuated unit injectors will give you unmatched running efficiency and life. This engine is in my "top 5" (I used to test engines for a living).

Avoid any variants with automatic transmission - efficiency and reliability are seriously compromised due to the high torque of this engine. Inline 6 speed transmissions are not exemplary in terms of reliability and are not significantly higher geared than the (more reliable) 5 speed units.

659.

Edited by 659FBE on 11/08/2013 at 15:36

Prius matches your specification to a T.

For 100 miles a week of easy motoring, I'd pose some questions: why spend £9,000? At relatively small annual milages, the depreciation and purchase cost (and a service) are likely to far outweigh the variable fuel costs (say from 40 to 50 mpg).

For £5,000, you could get a great....well anything really. And spend the £4,000 saved on a motorbike for the summer months.