Looking for a planet and purse friendly car

Q: I’ve resisted for years, but I’m learning to drive. I would like to buy a green car but I’m on a tight budget.

It’s not easy being green with a newly acquired driving licence tempting you. It’s tougher still if you don’t have a spare £20,000 for a Toyota Prius, with a combined electric and petrol engine.

If you don’t have that sort of dosh, I’d suggest getting an old banger; there’s no point being flash if you are still having the odd encounter with the kerb. And buying second-hand is a form of recycling — the magic R word instantly bumps up your eco-status, especially if you choose a car with a high figure for miles per gallon and a low one for carbon dioxide emission.

Thanks to the Budget, owners of cars emitting 100g/km of carbon dioxide or less won’t pay any road tax (while 4x4 gas-guzzlers will pay up to £210 a year).

Low carbon emission is the accepted method of judging a car’s green credentials and last year’s Vauxhall Corsa 1.3CDTi scores well on this, so look out for one of those.

Also, diesel cars use less fuel than petrol cars and so give out less carbon dioxide. You can also buy Tesco’s unleaded petrol, which is made from 5 per cent bio-ethanol from plants and costs about 90p a litre.

How you drive is important: gentle acceleration and soft braking help to improve fuel economy, along with correct tyre pressure. And, although it’s a bore, clearing out the boot also keeps the car light and efficient to run. Tell me, honestly do, am I beginning to sound like a driving instructor?

Comments

[tom]

Does anybody happen to know a source of information regarding MPG for 2nd hand cars? I'm interesting in finding a ranking of older vehicles according to their MPG, but I'm yet to find such a resource.

[Philip Igoe]

You missed the most sensible option. Join a car club. Anyone who has laid out the serious money in buying, taxing and insuring a car will use it for most of their journeys even if there is a more rational mode available.

Members of car clubs only use the car when it is the most appropriate mode as these schemes enable people to make choices in a more informed way. Car owners who switch to a car club reduce their mileage by well over 50%. They also have access to newer and cleaner cars. There are now over 30 car clubs in the country with 6 000 people using 300 cars.


For further information, check out www.carplus.org.uk.

[Sian Evans]

A one year old car? A car which will more than likely be useless and worthless within 10 years, due to uneconomic repairs of many complex parts? Costing many thousand pounds?

Oh dear. I do keep thinking that the focus on C02 emissions at the tailpipe leads a lot of peple to make very silly decisions about environmentally friendly transport. Let's talk less about tailpipe C02, and not skip over particulates, manufacturing costs, lifespan, and minimising the use of resources. Many cars with lower C02 emissions actually use up far more petrol, and we all know oil reserves are dwindling.

I'm glad you suggest an old banger, even though the Corsa is a long way from that. Reducing and re-using are definitely the most important things we can do to save the environment. And, given the resources that it takes to build a car (from smelting steel, to galvanising, to producing plastics for the interior), you really need to expect a *minimum* 10 year lifespan out of each car for it to be worth buying a new fuel efficient car. Of course, the industry tries to steer us away from thinking about that - they make much more profit by convincing us to buy a new "efficient" car every 5 years than by telling us to service our cars religiously to keep them running well and make them last.

Personally, i'm utterly delighted with my brand new 20 year old Citroen 2cv. It has a 600cc engine, does 40+mpg reliably, has no trouble keeping up with traffic (although never tempting me to speed), parts are so easy to buy, and most can be replaced by an unskilled owner without special tools. And best of all, it's so much more reliable than either the 7 year old Ford it replaced (£300 to get it to run after sitting for 2 weeks), or the brand new hire car my partner drives (off the road for 3 weeks with less than 1000 miles on due to defective suspension components).

[Ryland Doyle]

Hi,

re buying a green car

perhaps the greenest choice is to buy a diesel and use 100% bio diesel. Bio diesel can be made from certain plant extracts such as rape seed oil, but in many cases is made from recycled frying oil obtained from chip shops and other fast food outlets.

It is perfectly legal to use different oils in your car as fuel providing excise duty is paid on it. If you buy bio diesel from a pump at a station then the duty will usually be paid and included in the cost.

A list of stations selling 100% bio diesel can be found at -
http://www.biodieselfillingstations.co.uk/

If there is no station in your area selling bio diesel, you could if really committed to green fuels etc fill your car up with any cooking oil etc bought at any retial outlet, providing you registar with the Customs and Excise, and pay the relevant duty yourself deirect to the C & E.

this is what i will be doing when i change my car later in the year

cheers

Ryland Doyle

[Michael Johnson]

I thought I'd add my ha'penny's worth to this thread. How on earth can you call a 2CV a "green car". Just because it does 1000mpg it doesn't mean it's green. OK it's made of plywood but there's less emissions comming out Mexico City than the back of one of those death traps.

Lastly, I have a question for Ryland... Would your car run better with extra virgin olive oil than with Tesco Economy sunflower oil?

All the best, Michael

[Phil Widds]

Groan! The Prius is not an especially green car - it's a fashion accessory that gives considerably worse fuel consumption than a small diesel (and modern diesels are considerably cleaner than petrol engines, too). And the Budget car tax move was a thinly-disguised way to raise more money from more motorists, and nothing at all to do with being "green". Very few people will benefit from cheaper car tax, a great many (and not just drivers of large 4x4s) will suffer.

In answer to the question, if you want to be "green" and drive, buy a second hand small car with a diesel engine, and use it as little as possible.

[Mark Loveridge]

The best thing to do is buy a 10 year old diesel super mini, run it on bio diesel. Or get a petrol and run it on LPG.
There are many alternatives and the Carbon used in production of the Prius far out weighs 'recycling' an old car. I drive a 1988 Toyota MR2. 40-45mpg, 141000 miles on the clock and still running perfectly. Far less worse than a new car. I cycle to work in the summer, use a motorbike in the winter (100mpg) and the car at weekends. It may sound bad having two vehicles but it is efficient and keeps my carbon impact down.
Like mentioned above the Prius is a fashion accesory. The Honda Insight is more harcore...but impractical.