Reviewing cars in our greenest motorway category requires a rather different approach than with conventional cars. We compare cars of any size (the slightly bigger ones score better here because they provide the necessary stability at motorway speeds) and shape, regardless of its propulsion, that is motorway capable, doesn't suffer from the range limitation, and falls into A band that is exempt from the Road Tax, or perhaps the B VED band where the Road Tax sets you off by £20 a year. So right now given the limited choice that is available, it is a question of practicality rather than style. In near future we expect to witness the irreversible shift of the mainstream motoring values towards the green motoring values.

At the end of the day as any green motorist probably already knows, speeds of over 60 mph, unquestionably worsen the official factory fuel economy figure, due to the increased aerodynamic drag.

This year the Toyota Prius Plug-in finally appears on the British car market, but is no match for the incredibly fuel efficient Vauxhall Ampera that also appeared this year. Ampera has 50 miles of zero-emission range when the 1.4-litre petrol engine kicks in to maintain the charge of the batteries for an extra range of 310 miles before recharging/refueling is required. This concept is called range-extender and promises the ability to cover 175 miles on a gallon of petrol, where the official figure is 235.4mpg coupled with 27g/km CO2 emission, and nither of the hybrids could come even close to that. The Ampera is also more practical than its electric car rivals, such as the Nissan Leaf, thanks to the petrol generator which means you don't need to wait for it to charge fully before you can go anywhere. It is in fact the first electric car not to rely on the charging infrastructure, refill the 35 litre tank and you can just keep going. With its coupe-like appearance and sleek aerodynamic lines it can go from 0-62mph in 8.7 seconds and has a top speed of 99mph. Incredibly high-tech but rather expensive to buy, with a starting price of more than £29,995 after the £5,000 Government grant. On the positive note it is eligible for five per cent Benefit In Kind car tax, and road tax is free of course.


This year winner in the greenest motorway car category is the FORD Focus Estate 1.6 TDCi Edge Econetic 115PS DPF. This Focus Estate is quieter and even more comfortable than its predecessor, thanks to its new underpinnings, it is also longer, lower and narrower than its predecessor, and clever cabin design means there's more room inside, particularly in the back passenger compartment. It has 1,502 litres of load space which is actually less then the rivals but still way more then with previous years winners in our greenest motorway car category, and Focus's interior has excellent refinement. It is still a bit underpowered as you might expect when a car with large body I coupled with a small engine, but it will still do 0-62 in 12.0s and a maximum speed of 116mph. For an estate size car this Ford model has impeccable green credentials of 83.1mpg on EC Combined cycle and 88g/km CO2 emission, and that is so good that this car can quite easily double as an all-rounder winner since you can easily drive it trough central London as many times you like, and Boris in sudden burst of generosity won't charge you the London Congestion Charge despite the cars relatively large size (quite handy for loading and delivering). Only that in repeatedly congested city driving conditions a hybrid car would still have a slight edge in terms of fuel saving, hence we still need the separate all-rounder category for now, but one can realistically expect that the borderline might gradually blur away in year or two.


To remain in focus Top Gear now reports on latest electric cars as well, so they did on Renault Zoe, giving it a decent review strait down from Geneva 2012 show. Basically a Clio-sized electric car which is a bit oversized by the standard of modern city cars, but we will nominate it for the best city car anyway because there is no better ones. It has an excellent a range of 130 miles on the official cycle, and that is longer than Nissan Leaf or any other mainstream EV. Not that a city car really needs that sort of range on everyday basis, but it might come handy to nip out occasionally to countryside. The price is competitive at only £13,650 in Britain, but there is a catch since the batteries are not included in that price, instead the battery pack costs an additional £70 a month to lease. And what about the electricity cost you might ask, well that is effectively negligible compared to the cost of leasing the battery pack. The car pricing arrangement may not be that appealing at the moment, but within a year or two the fuel prices will rise enough that you might have to spend £140 (i.e. twice as much or even more if you drive a lot), for fuel on your normal supermini. Strictly speaking Renault Zoe is not on sale in UK yet, but it will be soon and all those who reserved it on time should have it delivered before the winter kicks in.

Purely from the fuel economy point of view the third generation Toyota Prius hybrid is still the best all-rounder in 2011 on the UK market. However we now have a new hybrid contestant - Discover Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4, which is the world’s very first production car where Diesel and Electricity Now Run Together, it effectively fuses the wide range of benefits from a few different vehicle classes (SUV, MPV and hatchback) into one car. One version emits so little CO2 that Boris won't charge you the London Congestion Charge, and the road tax is just £20 a year. In the Sport mode this car will add to the diesel's 161hp its own electric 36hp so you are effectively getting nearly 200hp to play with. In 4WD mode the electric motor drives the back axle while the engine drives the front, something really nice to have in snowy / icy conditions. The ZEV mode stands for “zero emission vehicle” and is the electric only mode, that will do a few miles on battery power alone if driving under 30mph, a feature that is already familiar to Toyota Prius owners. These modes are easily changed with the flick of a button. Its dashboard also suggests that you're getting about three cars for the price of one, so this is our winner all-rounder for 2011.


The Volkswagen Jetta 1.6 TDI CR Bluemotion Tech S 4dr diesel saloon is an excellent choice for motorway driving and provides fuel economy of 78.5 mpg on EC Extra Urban cycle and 67.3 mpg on EC Combined cycle. You will get all that at rated 109g/km CO2 emission – quite impressive for a car of its size. Because of the above and 0-62mph in 11.7 sec and top Speed of 118 mph figures, this is the winner in the greenest motorway car category this year.

Few decades ago Mini Rover together with the original Fiat 500 virtually created the city car segment. And later when it first emerged, the BMW re-badged new Mini upset purists because it wasn't really a Mini city car as we know it, but its oversized cousin of a hachback size. Never the less BMW hit the jackpot because its new Mini is effectively a status car and is phenomenally successful. Meanwhile Audi would like its latest addition A1 to be seen as a new category of small but luxurious city car. Good trial but is no match for the Fiat 500 Twinair, which has only two cylinders and 875cc providing 85bhp to play with and, more importantly, 107lb ft of torque from just 1900rpm. This perky little engine will provide top speed of 105mph and 0-62mph takes 11.0sec and that is more then you will ever need while buzzing around in town. The year 2011 got to be the year of city cars and Fiat 500 Twinair has it all, the leather interior comes as standard with its characteristic retro look and very good fuel economy of 69.9mpg, coupled with the 95g/km CO2 emission, one of the lowest among the plain (non hybrid) petrol cars on the UK market, and quite importantly one of these little jewels won't break your bank account. If Top Gear guys like it then can't be that bad:


We will have to make a special note about the appearance of the long awaited Nissan LEAF electric car this year on the UK market. It doesn't really fit into any of the category we discussed here, but instead it sits somewhere in-between them. It has a range of 80-100 miles, so effectively it can't be driven on motorways on any lengthier journey hence it can't qualify as all-rounder either, on the other hand is too big (a medium-size hatchback that comfortably seats five adults) to qualify for a true city car. Perhaps the technology limitation will dictate the future development of a specific market for electric cars, and the consumers will accept them as they are with all their limitations. To be perfectly honest the problem of the limited range it is not just up to car manufacturers to resolve. For example the LEAF can be charged up to 80% of its full capacity in just under 30 minutes, so if the fast charging facilities are in place, taking 30 minutes breaks at every 60 miles wouldn't be that bad. But as we know that is not the case and such network of fast charging points just simply doesn't exist in UK yet. Otherwise its top speed is 89 mph, and 0-62 mph takes 11.9 seconds.

The third generation Toyota Prius hybrid is still the best all-rounder in 2010:

Volvo S60 brings green motoring into the segment of larger prestigious cars and comes in many models and variants where the impressively efficient DRIVe models D2s are 113bhp 1.6s, D3s are 161bhp 2.0s and D5s are 212bhp 2.4s, and there is also an extensive range of trim levels. The CO2 emissions of 114g/km is quite low although not the lowest, but that is not the point. You will get an exceptional mpg from this car, an official average is 65.7mpg on combined cycle that gives this S60 a theoretical range of 975 miles on a single tank, which is not bad indeed for a car of a size that slots between a large family and a compact executive segments, and has an elegant and stylish new coupé-like design. Its residual values suggest the S60 is retaining its value more in line with the likes of BMW, Audi and Mercedes. And as with all Volvos the formidable safety features come as standard. This car excels in the greenest motorway car category and is the winner this year. Its most frugal engine still provides for a way more responsive and comfortable driving with 0-62mph in 10.9s and maximum speed of 121 mph seconds, then the last year winner: Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic under the same conditions.


Peugeot Ion went on sale this year and is basically the same car as Mitsubishi iMiEV going on sale next year. It is the first proper electric city car in UK with a potential range of 93 miles. The quick charge facility could give you 50% power in just 15 minutes recharging, while a household plug will charge up to full capacity in six hours. That 50% in just 15 minutes is a truly impressive feature given that half of the full range is around 40 miles. Handling and performance is average but the feelgood factor scores surprisingly high, perhaps because Ion's refinement is notecably good. It can do up to 80mph, and that’s absolutely acceptable for a electric city car. The 0-62mph in 15.9sec is not the best figure as most of us would like to have a better performing city car. Its outstanding feature is that Peugeot Ion offers equivalent fuel economy of 134.5mpg which is quite impressive indead, but frankly speaking readily expected from a electric city car. The biggest setback as always with this kind of vehicle is its still relatively high price of some £24k, hence Peugeot insist on leasing its Ion instead of selling it.

The new third generation Toyota Prius hybrid stays again in the lead and is simply the most technically advanced family car you can buy at the moment in Britain. The CO2 emissions are now down to a market-best for hybrids: 89 g/km, far exceeding even the wildest expectations, meaning that there is no more Road Tax to pay.

The Smart Fortwo CDI, boasts the lowest carbon emissions of any current production car worldwide: 88g/km, and the fuel consumption is better than 84mpg. Being small and easy to park sounds as a good proposition for a city car, unfortunately the owner will still have to pay the London Congestion Charge, therefore this fancy little car can't be the winner.
Its siblling the petrol version of Smart Fortwo MHD, features micro hybrid drive as standard and emits 103g/km of CO2. Not bad at all for a petrol car, but is just short of the 100g/km target, additionnally it is not exempt from the London Congestion Charge, so again can't be the winner.

We believe the greenest city cars got to be electric, however this year we didn't see much development in electric city cars category. So for now we will have to stretch ourself a bit over to a slightly different category of electric sports cars.
With its limited range the Tesla Roadster is in fact most useful as a city car, and perfect for showing off at traffic lights, as it can do 0-60 mph in no more than 3.9 seconds (we have no data for 0-30 mph though).
It is certainly motorway capable and has a (electronically limited) top speed of 125 mph. It will take you further than any other electric vehicle currently on the UK market: up to 244 miles, when a 3.5 hours recharging is required using a special High Power Connector. The Tesla Roadster has an average 92% electrical efficiency, and that is equivalent to some 120 mpg.
Unfortunatelly it also has a massive disadvantage, and that is its high price tag that starts from £94,000 on the road.


Being used mainly for the motorway driving, the fuel economy is the decisive factor to consider in the greenest motorway category. This year a strong contestant is the Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe Start/Stop model that achieves a record braking fuel economy for a petrol based car of 83.1 mpg on the extra urban cycle, however with its CO2 emissions of 104 g/km, it also falls short of the 100 g/km target.
Therefore the winner car this year is the Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic with its whopping 88.3 mpg extra urban, 76.3 mpg combined economy and CO2 emissions of 98 g/km. It has a slight edge over the last year winner, the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion in terms of road handling. Its engine is also more refined at takeover and generally quieter.

Among the Britain's greenest all rounder cars in 2008 has been the Toyota Prius hybrid, because it is literally the only car that offers the convenience of topping up the tank with the commonly available conventional fuel (unleaded petrol) anywhere you like, and yet being exempt from the London Congestion Charge.
The CO2 emissions of 104g/km means the owner still has to pay a minimal Road Tax though, but one can bet that the new model (expected to be out in 2009) will beat the magical 100g/km figure, placing the new car in the Road Tax free A VED band. Although some sources suggests it will be a compromise, a slightly bigger car with improved fuel efficiency that throws out a bit more CO2 than its predecessors, but that will be hardly a problem, and as long as stays in the B VED band (up to 110g/km) the Road Tax would stay unaffected. The second-generation Prius' Hybrid Synergy Drive has won the 2004 International Engine of the Year award.

In the greenest city car category for now we have to settle with the G-Wizz, even with its limited rear seat space, and the tiny boot space (a major drawback for city shoppers). This 100% electric city car with rear wheel drive, has a range of just over 48 miles.


With its long 5'th gear the green diesel car Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion is right now the greenest motorway supermini, and thanks to its perky 3 cylinder 1.4 TDi diesel engine, this version of VW Polo achieves a staggering fuel consumption of 88.3mpg on Extra Urban cycle.
Even the ride and handling is not its strength (because the special narrow tyres, and the lifeless steering) it may still appeal to green minded drivers who will probably want to keep the speed steady as possible in order to squeeze out the best fuel economy. This revolutionary car is not perfect but is showing the way where the motoring industry is heading.