Stolen car / Need help picking a new one

[VeeDubBigBird]

So having recently had my pride and joy stolen, I'm now in the market for a car but have no idea what to choose.

I've created a list of the sort of things I'm looking from a new card but having never bought a practical car so I have no personal experience of the usual suspects (i.e. Audi's BMW etc.) and would appreciate the wisdom of the PHer's.

Requirements:

4 doors
reasonable MPG - 30 to 40 mpg
Fairly cheap to maintain
Second-hand
Not a Vauxhall

[BritishRacinGrin]

Budget? How many miles per year? What sort of journeys will you do? How much space do you need? How long will you keep it?

This info will help people come up with recommendations.

[VeeDubBigBird]

BritishRacinGrin said:

Budget? How many miles per year? What sort of journeys will you do? How much space do you need? How long will you keep it?

This info will help people come up with recommendations.

I'll probably cover about 11,000 miles mostly on motorways to and from work. Space wise I'll need enough to do the shopping and not have to chop the legs of my family members for them to sit in the back. I normally keep my cars until the very end.

Budget wise I was thinking of up to £4000, however if there was something over and it was worth it that would increase.