Here are what I've considered and will probably buy one of the top 3 cars:

E92 335d or 335i - logical step forward really, but they're starting to look old already and I don't want to be in this position next year when I'm bored of looking at it

Mercedes C class 320/350 cdi - very comfy cars and I prefer the styling to the BMW, but the BMW 335d is more powerful, economical and pollutes less - also the emergency / parking brake thing is very confusing.

Audi A4 'vert or A5 3.0tdi quattro - Quattro ftw! everything else reminds me of a Skoda though...

And then I got thinking, do I (we) really need a big German car for the school runs and occasional weekend to London?

First thought was a Fiat 500, i love the styling and for my mrs I think it'd be fantastic, but only 2 small seats in the back mean it's completely unsuitable as my sons car seat is massive and would probably go on to 2nd seat, making the car a comfy 3 seater instead!

From the Fiat 500, I saw the twin air engine and thought about pollution and onto hybrid cars, only one car stood out from the crowd which was from honda:

I really like the look of the Honda CRZ - again 2 seats in the back slightly bigger than the fiat 500 but I was willing to compromise for a fun hybrid car and the price of these things aren't bad either.

I thought hybrid cars used only the electric motors under a certain mph and again when you floored it for some extra push. Wrong - they're petrol cars pretty much all the time and only the electric part comes in when you floor it, some research on fuelly.com shows hybrid cars give pretty pathetic MPG gains, which seems a lot of hassle for a car which will eventually need the batteries replacing - I have no proof of this, but I expect if you owned a hybrid from new and kept it for 10 - 15 years with maybe 2 battery changes you'd be out of pocket compared to a small petrol or diesel car. I feel sorry for people on the 2nd hand car market buying a hybrid and being whacked with a massive dealer bill for new batteries after a year or so.

Another odd car thought I had was a new KIA, I'd like to say I've never driven or even been in a KIA, but a new Picanto costs less than a year of my daughters school fees and the 7 year warranty is enough to get anyones attention, in fact I bet everyone who's seen the adverts has said "thats not bad actually".

Not a looker but a keeper (well until the 7 year warranty runs out)

The last car I've seriously thought about is a Clio 200:

This seems to tick all the right boxes, 3 seats in the back (just) is fun and quicker than my 320d bus and returns and moderate MPG compared to the turbo'd megane, Focus. Unfortunately the mrs says no and thats put a stop to that (I also think at 31 I may be too old for this car).