February 19, 2008

With the new CO2 charge being imposed from October 2008 your driving has had a look at the governments CO2 rankings to see which car makers offer the best environmental performance. The results make interesting reading.

The Department for Transport’s website lists the ten most frugal cars in fourteen different car categories. The categories are; Supermini, Small Family, Family, Estate, MPV, Compact Executive, Executive, Coupe, Open Top, Hot Hatch, Compact 4X4, Large 4X4, Performance and Luxury. With the new CO2 charge being levied from October 2008 drivers coming into London will need to make sure they’re familiar with what their cars CO2 output is.

There are few surprises within the car groups as to which offer the best environmental performance with the city cars and small family cars performing best, all 20 of them coming in at 120 of less for their g per KM figures, the Figure for free entry into the current Congestion charge zone. As we move up the size range no family cars are CO2 charge exempt but three estate models squeeze in with less than 120g per KM.

Top Environmental performers

• Volkswagen Polo Blue motion Supermini
• Seat Ibiza Supermini
• Mini Mini Hatchback R56 Supermini
• Peugeot 107 Supermini
• Citroen C1 Supermini
• Toyota Prius Small family
• Honda Civic Hybrid Small family
• Ford New Focus Small family and Estate
• Renault Megane Small family
• Skoda Fabia Estate Estate

The car maker with the most cars in the top ten across the categories was BMW. Despite only having one car listed below the 120g per KM, escaping the CO2 charge, they had 23 in the top ten. Other manufacturers with good numbers in these top ten lists include Vauxhall with 19 and Peugeot with 11.

As we move up in both car and engine sizes the CO2 figures consistently rise and it’s no surprise that all of the performance class cars will be paying £25 to enter the former congestion charge zone with CO2 figures above 225g per KM. Six of the top ten luxury cars fall below the upper limit but this is a list of the top performing cars so as a rule of thumb if you’re looking to own a luxury car the chances are it’s not going to be environmentally friendly but it’s good to know that they are available.

Of the 140 cars that make up the 14 top ten performers 100 of them are diesel engines and 36 are petrol. This leaves just four that and Hybrid engines. Most modern cars offer diesel options that will offer performance levels as good as the higher end petrol versions and they will almost certainly give better fuel consumption.

The likelihood is that with measures such as the CO2 charge coming in and people being encouraged to be more energy frugal and recycle this will make it’s way into more and more of our lifestyle choices. As people look to take more responsible holidays and switch to energy efficient light bulbs they will also look at the CO2 per KM figures for their cars. The increasing costs of fuel will make people question whether performance is more important than economy and more frugal cars will increase in popularity. Given how much modern driving time is spent stationary you may as well sit in a car that isn’t costing you a fortune and adding to your carbon footprint.

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