The Number One Best Eco Friendly Car.
Revised: August 29, 2008
Many in the green scene believe quite rightly in most cases that the words eco friendly and motor vehicle can not be married in the same sentence unless that particular mode of transport uses renewal’s such as fuel cells or electricity. However in our world of rising fuel costs and a more environment conscious society the car manufacturers have begun to, albeit slowly, bring about more and more environmentally friendly cars that are also light on the consumers pockets when it comes to fuel costs. The most environmentally friendly of these - the number one best eco friendly car in my eyes, is the Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion. This car is powered by a 1.4litre diesel engine however it manages to travel almost double the distance on one gallon of diesel than a 2008 edition of the 1litre petrol powered Vauxhal Corsa (the latest edition of my current car) in addition to this when you use the higher octane diesel that the engine is better designed to burn you’re offered an amazing 88.3mpg performance which many will agree is a figure worth noting when looking for a new car.
On top of the cars amazing performance when it comes to fuel economy, its emissions are below 100g/km for Carbon Dioxide and below 0.2g/km for Carbon Monoxide the two key global warming emissions from motor transport, this not only gives the driver an (admittedly snobbish) knowledge that they are harming the environment less than their fellow drivers they also are exempt from paying road tax as their vehicle falls into the governments VED band of A while most other cars fall into band C paying £120/year for road tax.
This tax break thanks to its low emissions and the typical cost of just £683 per 12,000 miles thanks to its fuel economy should make this car an interesting investment for any new car buyer who is both environment conscious and on a budget. It also looks really nice not only externally but internally too (click image for enlarged view).
However there are as with everything a couple of downsides worth noting, its 0-60mph performance is not too nippy at just over 12 seconds also you loose the air conditioning, electric mirrors and remote central locking. These have all been lost to reduce weight and thus make the car more economic, however given the choice between this car and one similarly priced with 60mpg performance and all the luxury add ons I can see people making the later choice just for the convenience. Priced at around £12,000 the Bluemotion is in the similar price band to these other choices however for me the saving of £120 a year in road tax and the fuel economy saving hundreds more makes it almost worth the price.
The Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion is a good first step by a car manufactur into the low emmissions, high efficiency vehicle market and while I am not in a financial position to buy one now in a couple of years down the road it will be first on my list of cars to look into and I can only foresee it getting even better by then.
Edit: Just a quick note this post on a car forum has stated that the car will have a 45litre tank giving it a theoretical range of 710miles. Across the road from me shell are selling diesel at £1.229 (29/11/08) so to run the car for 710miles it just costs £55 (Possibly £60 as that’s the price for normal diesel), a huge improvement on my 51 reg Vauhal Corsa which does an average of 400 miles on the same tank of petrol.
- Car Efficiency and Economy figures sourced from the ETA website,
- Further details where sourced from an auto express review,
- Images sourced from driveline blog found via google images.
Tagged: bluemotion, car, enviroment, global warming, review.
