Another day, another press release about global warming hits the inbox, but just before I hit the delete button, I see the magic word, “scaremongering” nestling in the opening paragraph and decide to read further.

The Association of British Drivers (ABD), which describes itself as being “run on a voluntary basis to lobby for the beleaguered British motorist” and is always first out of the blocks when it comes to responding to the latest bit of hot air expelled from the anti-everything lobby, has come out swinging in response to this week’s ITN reports from Antarctica.

If you haven’t caught any of the reports then the general tenor is that rising CO2 emissions are causing the ice to melt, sea levels to rise and we are all going to be swept away to hell in a handcart (an inflatable one, presumably) unless we stop driving.

And yes, while pictures of dripping glaciers are emotive, they don’t actually present the full story, as the ABD says. A study last year by Duncan Wingham, of the Centre for Polar Observation, using remote satellite imaging, concluded that the Antarctic ice sheet is actually thickening by about 28 gigatons a year.

Still, even though the jury is still out on global warming, I thought I would try to make a small difference by swapping my Mini Cooper CVT, which sits in the “makes polar bears homeless” band of the VED ratings system, for something a little more — oh I don’t know, eco-friendly? A little less polluting? No, that’s not it either. I know, cheap to run (another one of the ABD’s favourite statistics is that the British motorist contributes a seventh of all Gordon Brown’s income through taxation).

But while finding a small, second-hand city car in band B for about £5,000 is easy — a Smart ForFour diesel, a hundred different Vauxhall Corsas — finding an automatic one is nearly impossible. The problem is that automatic transmissions suck petrol and so increase fuel consumption, and while in the United States almost every car sold is an auto, here in Europe we’re not so keen and it’s still the devil’s own job trying to find something that gets you into the VED band above the horse.

The only option I could come up with is Citroën’s C3 HDI with the Sensodrive system and there are just two for sale nationally, according to the Autotrader website.

Mind you, my eye was caught while browsing by the 1985 Chrysler LeBaron on offer for £20,000. It was bought as a Valentine’s Day present for Frank Sinatra by his wife. However, as it’s an automatic and powered by a 2.2-litre engine which was a joint venture between Maserati and Cosworth, I fear for my bank balance. And the impact on global warming. Oh, in that case, I’ll have two . . .