New system helps you choose best car for environment

MOTORISTS can choose the most environmentally friendly cars on the market, owing to a major new consumer survey on the pollution levels of the most popular models.

A new ranking system has been launched by the British government in conjunction with What Car? magazine as part of a campaign to help tackle climate change. The survey showed many popular models on Irish roads — such as the petrol version of the number one seller, the Ford Focus — have CO2 emission rates in excess of the EU’s target level of 140g/km.

The survey comes as the new Programme for Government includes a commitment to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 3% a year on average through a range of measures. This includes the introduction of a carbon tax on vehicles. It is expected such a system will replace existing Vehicle Registration Tax and will be based on the CO2 emission rates of cars.

A recent EU survey showed that Irish people were most in favour of tax incentives on car prices as the best way to reduce CO2 emissions from road transport.

Steve Fowler, editor of What Car magazine, said car buyers were facing increasingly difficult choices about which vehicles to buy.

“These car rankings are exactly what consumers need to make an informed choice about the type of car to buy in order to minimise their fuel consumption, save money and help tackle climate change,” he said.

Motorists are being urged to consider the environmental effects associated with their choice of vehicle as it estimated that drivers could reduce their engine CO2 emissions by 24% by choosing a similar-size car with a more fuel-efficient engine.

The survey shows that the petrol hybrid version of the Toyota Prius and the diesel version of the Volkswagen Polo are the most environmentally friendly vehicles on the market, with C02 emissions of just 104g/km.

Petrol versions of the Citroën C1, Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107, Daihatsu Charade and Opel Corsa also recorded low emission rates of less than 120g/km.

Most high-performance vehicles by manufacturers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz create over twice as much pollution as cars with the lowest rate of CO2 emissions.

* For car CO2 emission levels, check www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk