Volvo XC90

At launch in 2002, it was one of the best SUVs around – Volvo’s XC90 was voted Car of the Year in Auto Express’s 2003 New Car Honours. But it has fallen well and truly out of fashion now.

I found this 30,000-mile 2006 2.4 D5 SE for £17,995 – that’s a bonkers £17,872 less than it was new two years ago!

Mind you, what you save on price you’ll have to pay out for with big fuel and tax bills, plus hugely expensive tyres, among other things. And that’s only going to get worse.

The big Swede puts out 219g/km of CO2, so owners will be stung if the Government does bring in its new tax legislation in 2010, as it currently plans to.

Such enormous bills are the day-to-day reality for most SUV owners at the moment – unless you need an off-roader, you should go for something smaller. But if you can afford to run it, at half price, this XC90 is a lot of car for the money.