Honda's revised CR-V is now available to order with a new diesel engine and auto option, but the petrol automatic offers lower BIK tax.
The 2.2-litre i-DTEC engine was introduced on the Honda Accord in 2008, and is now the diesel option in the CR-V. Like the Accord, it is available with Honda's own five-speed automatic transmission as an option.
However, company car drivers will face higher BIK tax bills driving the diesel automatic than driving the petrol automatic because of the hike in emissions compared to the manual version as well as a high price premium for diesel versions.
The new diesel is quicker than the old model and manual versions produce CO2 at 171g/km - a slight improvement on the old 2.2 i-CTDi model.
However, the i-DTEC auto has CO2 emissions of 195g/km, putting it into the 30 per cent BIK tax bracket for the remainder of the current tax year, rising to 31 per cent from April 2010.
Meanwhile, the 2.0-litre i-VTEC auto has CO2 emissions of 193g/km placing it in the 26 percent bracket for BIK tax until April 2010, and increasing to 27 per cent afterwards.
This, combined with a premium of £2000 for diesel versions over petrol versions - the outgoing 2.2 i-CTDi was just £1460 more expensive than the petrol model - results in significantly higher BIK tax bills for the diesel auto.
For example, a 40 per cent tax payer choosing the 2.0 SE auto would face an annual BIK bill of £2290 from April 2010.
However, the same driver in the 2.2 diesel SE auto would be liable to pay £2877 annually from April 2010 - almost £700 more.
Although the diesel offers better fuel consumption than the petrol version, its £2000 price premium would need many thousands of miles extra to recoup the extra cash spent on it.