The “old technology” 1.9-litre diesel engine has been axed from the Citroen Xsara five-door hatchbacks and estates with the introduction of PSA's 110bhp 2.0-litre HDi unit to the range.

It joins the 90bhp 2.0-litre HDi engine in the line-up and is offered with the option of auto-adaptive automatic transmission - a system is designed to adapt to the style of the driver and mimic manual gearchanges for increased braking assistance.

On-the-road prices for the new HDi start at £12,350 in manual hatchback LX form, a £500 premium over the less powerful model. The 90bhp L entry version is priced from £11,150.

Carbon dioxide emissions of 138g/km place the 110bhp manual hatchback Xsara in the least expensive vehicle excise duty category and in the lowest diesel band for company car benefit-in-kind taxation 18% of price new) from April 2002 through to 2005.

Auto-adaptive transmission is offered only with LX trim (£13,370 hatchback, £14,170 estate). The 90bhp HDi has been discontinued from the better equipped SX, in which the 110bhp HDi option is priced at £13,850 on-the-road.

Official combined fuel economy figures for the new engine are 54.3mpg (manual hatchback), 48.7mpg (automatic hatchback), 53.3mpg (manual estate) and 47.9mpg (automatic estate). Standard equipment includes air-conditioning, ABS brakes and four airbags. Its best 0-62mph acceleration figure is 10.3 seconds and top speed 119mph.