Sportage, C-MAX, 11k budget - all explained below!

[Stoofa]

My brother is looking for a new car. He has a relatively old Civic at the moment and wants something bigger. He has a young daughter now and what with her and additional luggage he needs bigger.
He really likes the Sportage. I can only assume he's got a friend who owns one or he fancies the higher drive height etc. His budget is £10k plus whatever he can get for the Civic, so I'm thinking somewhere in the £11k - £11.5k area. He won't want anything really high mileage and I think he'd like something "newish".
2014 diesel Sportage or 2012 petrol Sportage seem to fit in his budget. Are these things worth a punt? Should he be looking at petrol or diesel? Any particular trim level he should be looking at?

He has also mentioned the C-Max. I do know a mutual friend of ours owns one, so that maybe the reasoning behind that. Once again the budget seems to allow for something in the 2014 - 2015 area.
Once again, what is the general opinion on these? Petrol or diesel? Trim levels to look for keeping within budget?

Finally, what else might he consider based on the two, different, vehicles he's listed above? Again, the budget is a hard budget.

Thanks for any PH input.