Recommend me a greener car?

[red]

we have a diesel corsa. it does about 45 miles to gallon, and thats with country lane driving, which is not the most efficient.
it comes in at the 35 quid a year tax bracket because of the low emmisions.

[maggienetball]

Sorry, hate to disagree with you all but by far the best, cheapest, most mpg is the dieisel citroen ax.

It's got a largish boot, can seat 5 adults, cheap insurance, cheap tyres, parts etc, 70+mpg (yes really true - most economical car on the road), get good retrun on investment to.

I've had 3 of these. I years ago when the kids were little and it was brill. As they got older and we camped a lot I upgraded. The other 2 were presents for my daughters as they turned 17. Learned to drive, passed their tests and still have them.

Much better than the saxo. Lovely original styling. Expect to pay £450 - £800 for one with 12 months mot

Argue if you want, but this is the very best value for money, all round maintainable car you'll find.

Prove me wrong!!

[Thurston Garden]

Although I have no experience of Citroen, I would echo the earlier posts on Polo or Golf. I had a 1.9TDi Golf as a company car and never got below 55mpg in it. The best I had was 70! (I was really taking my time that day though).

My folks were looking at the new Polo - apparently does 80mpg? I think I have convinced them to inject a few grand into their 1968 Morris Traveler (which they were going to sell with their Gaylander, VW pick-up and a second Traveller ) to fund the new car. Sell the Gaylander, and pick-up then plough some money into the best Traveler tomake it a long lasting, reliablecar (40mpg/no tax/£98 to insure) and use the other Traveller for spares. They should also drastically cut their mileage (both retied with Scotland's Free Bus Passes) - no nipping to the shops every day. Took some doing but I think they are up for it!

[Stonehead]

My folks were looking at the new Polo - apparently does 80mpg? I think I have convinced them to inject a few grand into their 1968 Morris Traveler (which they were going to sell with their Gaylander, VW pick-up and a second Traveller ) to fund the new car. Sell the Gaylander, and pick-up then plough some money into the best Traveler tomake it a long lasting, reliablecar (40mpg/no tax/£98 to insure) and use the other Traveller for spares. They should also drastically cut their mileage (both retied with Scotland's Free Bus Passes) - no nipping to the shops every day. Took some doing but I think they are up for it!

Definitely keep the Morris. I used to have a Morris Minor, but it was a little thirsty. Something to do with the supercharged Sprite engine....

[red]

keep in mind that those miles to the gallon figures are for optimin use.. probably travelling at 60mph on a motorway. you have to try and work out what you actual driving life is, and how much you would save. Then way that against the cost of changing a car.. and the eco effect of that etc.

walk more !

[Martin]

-don't come much greener! (possibly, in all senses of the word )
Pictured in it's homeland (China) a tiny battery-powered car - before someone asks, not yet available here, and I don't have further details (yet!)
Being a cynic, I'd want to use one for a while, and do a LOT of sums regarding battery construction/recycling before pronouncing it greener than a diesel Polo.........

[Fahrenheit]

Unfortunately battery powered cars and Hybrids are not green. It's just clever marketing aimed at people who don't think about things too deeply. Where does the electricity come from to charge the car? It comes from the national grid. The national grid transmits electricity over thousands of miles of power lines loosing masses of power along the way. They burn non-renewable solid fuel and run at somewhere between 20-30% efficiency........couple this with all the eco unfriendly batteries and plastics conatined within the car and you have a very un-green vehicle. I'm sure you wouldn't be much worse off driving a Mustang or Corvette!

The only way electric cars can be green is if you can charge them via wind/solar/tidal........you wouldn't be able to do many miles a week using the current technology though:-)


Bio diesel is the only real way to help out. Even then we simply don't have enough land to produce fuel for the world.

I had a 1.5 Renault Meganne Diesel.........i managed to get around 60-62mpg........I paid £3500 for the car and sold it a year later with an extra 20,000 miles on the clock for £4500.......it doesn't get much better than that.

[niknak]

Citreon C3 1.4 HDi
Great little car, reliable, nippy,£35 road tax, cheap to insure and economical on fuel.

[Enormous Sage]

Where does the electricity come from to charge the car? It comes from the national grid. The national grid transmits electricity over thousands of miles of power lines loosing masses of power along the way.

Another fact that gets overlooked is that if everyone started using plug in rechargable cars, the national grid just isn't up to the job of supplying that amount of extra power. It's barely up to the job it has to do now.
It would have to be upgraded massively, along with building countless extra power stations to meet the new demand.

[Fahrenheit]

Exactly right.....there are also issues with Honda's ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle).......whilst technically the car's emissions may be ZERO (as the car's only by-products are heat and water) in reality they are not. The car requires Hydrogen as it's fuel........Hydrogen is created by electrolysis........once again this takes huge amounts of electricity........which comes from the national grid.......which comes from coal fired power stations........Doh!

I'm sure one of the big car manufacturers will have a solution for when the oil runs out but none of the current methods and technologies are realistic solutions.

[mrsflibble]

do not buy a small rover, it will cost you more in repairs than you can imagine.

[Mydreamlife]

Hi I too am Looking for a car that is kind on my pocket as well as the environment. I have about £2000 to spend although that is flexible. We have three children under 5 and two dogs so need a car that can accomodate us all... Any ideas??

[ina]

We have three children under 5 and two dogs so need a car that can accomodate us all... Any ideas??

Just the other day I was thinking about that... How the definition of "family car" has changed. When I was young, a Beetle would have been the perfect size for a family. (Not for my family - we never had a car at all - for us it was bicycles with kid's seat!) For East Germany, it was the Trabbi - until the wall fell in 1989. You could "easily" get three kids and a dog (ok, maybe not a very big one!) into that....

Nowadays, you mostly see "people carriers" for families, even with only two kids. They do have advantages, I can see that (less cramp in your legs); but they would have been considered HGVs a few decades ago.

[Stonehead]

ust the other day I was thinking about that... How the definition of "family car" has changed. When I was young, a Beetle would have been the perfect size for a family. (Not for my family - we never had a car at all - for us it was bicycles with kid's seat!) For East Germany, it was the Trabbi - until the wall fell in 1989. You could "easily" get three kids and a dog (ok, maybe not a very big one!) into that....

My parents could squeeze themselves, three kids, a dog and luggage into a Mini. Then we'd have a sing-a-long as we didn't have a radio.

Modern Minis are positively huge by comparison.

[Annpan]

My Mum (pregnant with me), Dad, Gran, 3 Sisters, 2 Brothers, and Cat all went camping in our old Beetle (it would have been 1980) That includes all the camping stuff with them too.... and no I don't know why you would take a cat camping