Top 10 cheap green cars

Anonymous User 19 March 2008 12:50pm

I like the fact there are more eco-friendly cars being produced, it should encourage more of the population to use them. If they are cheap to run AND they help the environment, it should tempt the subborn of us!

Anonymous User 20 March 2008 08:33pm

Whilst i fully support the idea of green cars I cannot support the politicians argument .

Firstly I have run two smart for 2 city cars ------The average life that I have received from them is around 72000 miles ( From there they require just about everything replacing )

The other Vehicles I have are 1) A jeep wrangler 2) A bmw x5 -----Both of these cars are over 4000 cc---Driven carefully I can get 23 miles per gallon-----More from the Jeep because it also has a gas conversion .

Now my point is that nothing has been replaced and the combined mileage is now 210000 miles .

I am now at a loss as regards to buying another small expensive car which will last a lot less than the above.

Therefore my argument is why are people so critical of big cars -----Eg---Look at the cost of replacing parts life expectancy cost of rebuilding etc .

Anonymous User 20 March 2008 09:44pm

It does seem that there are significant trade-offs associated with just about every "green" product - higher cost, shorter life, fewer features, or significant "black" side-effects. For the most part, though, the green option is a step in the right direction, and with greater demand (followed shortly by greater supply) we will see many of these trade-offs fall by the wayside.
Kent
www.ecounit.com

Anonymous User 22 March 2008 05:12pm

I notice that the new leaner Fiat range is not mentioned,
maybe that they have not under gone your tests

Anonymous User 23 March 2008 05:08pm

its a fair point that some of the small cars may require more regular maintainance and not last so long. I experienced this myself when the engine on my nissan micra gave out after just 60000 miles. This is not true of all the greener options however, I recently and regrettably had to change my 14 year old astra 1.6td for a larger family car. I bought this second had for £500. and it gave me three years of trouble free motoring. Generally it would give me 45 to 55 MPG despite having 125000 on the clock. With a bit of searching we can all find better options within our budget. The new car by the way is a three year old citroen piccaso 2.0hdi, this is giving well over 50mpg and cost £4000 again second hand. It also comes within the £115 road tax band. My point is, decide what your needs are than look at the available cars which meet them. Within each class of car there are better options for the environment and your pocket, I believe that is the point of the road tax shake up and it really does make sense.

Anonymous User 23 March 2008 07:43pm

bicycle good. in russia i am use this one and horse nice

Anonymous User 24 March 2008 03:35pm

Did you know, that the area around the factory that makes the batteries for Priuses and no doubt Civic Hybrids', is a wasteland. the emissions from the factory that makes the batteries have destroyed all living organisms within a 2 mile radius. So really good for the environment then.... Also they have to be shipped around the world to reach Mr Smith's house in Milton Keynes, on a massive tanker, which is also about as economical as a Bugatti Veyron. The Prius isn't even that economical. And another thing, with both of those hybrid cars children vomit just at the sight of them for they are so UGLY.Buy a VW Golf Diesel and it will be far more economical and it won't have to be shipped half way accross the world. In fact cars add up to only 14% of the Human contribution to global warming. There are billions of cars in the world and if all of them only add up to less than a fifth,what difference is Mr smith with his Prius going to make??? NONE WHATSOEVER. Finally, humans are less than a fifth of the world's global warming so even if every single person stopped using their cars tomorow it would make a difference of less than 1%. And lets not kid ourselves; It simply ain't gonna happen.

Anonymous User 24 March 2008 03:41pm

A reply to Anonymous User 19 March 2008 12:50pm's comment. Cars are only 14% of the HUMAN contribution to Global warming, so what good is even everybody in the Uk buying an Eco car going to do? Nothing. And also I asked my american cousin, who is a Teacher at her local and respectable school in the USA, what her Carbon Footprint was. She did not know what carbon footprint was. So if a Teacher in the world's richest and most powerful country knows nothing about Carbon emissions, can you seriously suggest that there is any hope?

Anonymous User 25 March 2008 01:31pm

Stop quoting percentages and use your commonsense. This planet has something called a living ecosystem, which humans do not live within. We do not follow the laws of our atmosphere, we mayaswell be the worlds biggest volcano. Volcanoes release massive amounts of co2, most of which is good for our planet, however the life on earth requires a certain amount of oxygen & co2, and when this balance is disturbed (sometimes by Mother Nature, at the moment by us), life begins to starve and eventually will die. We are only inhabitants of Earth, we do not control it or own it, therefore it is unacceptable to disturb the balance of the ecosystem for our own greed. If our culture was not so obsessed with greed and perpetual growth, we might sort out the balance of our ecosystem before we continue growing at such an astounding rate. That is the basics of it: it does not matter that 'cars only account for 14% of global warming' because the simple fact is that cars account for global warming in some way. Which, unless the human race is meglomanic enough to belive that it owns the planet (wouldn't surprise me), is unacceptable.

Anonymous User 27 March 2008 01:20pm

right on! I did the same (bicycle, not horse) when I lived in Germany. Unfortunately I am stuck in the rotten backward UK for the time being. Public transport is pathetic here, and even as a pedestrian you are constantly in severe danger of some thug car driver trying to deliberately run you over.

Anonymous User 27 March 2008 03:04pm

I am all for going green, honest I am. I recycle everything if it stands still long enough for me to find another use or home for it. But these little cars ... well, they aren't terribly sexy or fun (with the possible exception of the little Smart car) are they?!

PS ... I drive a little Clio and ride a bike, neither of which are sexy or fun.

Anonymous User 27 March 2008 10:17pm

I have done 45,000 miles on my mercian bicycle which I bought second hand in 1987 and I havnt even had to replace my brake blocks!

Anonymous User 28 March 2008 10:06am

Hi. Based on the known fact that the environmental cost of producing a vehicle and transporting it to its point of sale will cause a bigger negative effect on our planet than you can ever achieve by running it, would it not be really green (as opposed to politically being seen to be green) to keep the necessary vehicles we have on our roads as long as possible but maintain them to keep the emissions down?
I run a Landrover Discovery TD5 and a Range Rover Classic. Both run on 100% recycled biodiesel, the Range Rover has covered >450,000 miles and the Discovery I bought last week with 63,000 miles to avoid corrupting the planet with another new vehicle. Both vehicles have between 10 and 20 years useful life left in them PROVIDING THEY ARE MAINTAINED PROPERLY.
If politicians really cared they would offer tax relief on fuel conversions to older vehicles, penalise people for buying ANY new vehicle and give the motor inductry an incentive to maintain existing vehicles in an affordable manner. Most vehicles are taken off the road and scrapped due the the exhorbitant cost of the labour to repair them.
I need to run 4-wheel drive vehicles for my forrestry business, yet I still put up with abuse from the left wing anti-car brigade. Messrs Blair and Brown and their cronies are accompanied around London my a team of bodyguards in a Range Rover. I know the speed bumps in the city are a nuisance but they're hardly a demanding off road environment.
I make my own biodiesel legally and I'm willing to help anyone who would like to achieve the same genuine green credentials. There's plenty of information freely available on the web, but if anyone would like any help or advice, you can email me at andyhawkings@yahoo.com.

Anonymous User 30 March 2008 12:08am

Lets not forget cost, we all care about the environment we would all like to reduce our impact on it but we all have our wants and needs. I need to travel to work there are no options where i live other than car or motorcycle. Push bike takes around 2 hours there is no bus, there are no alternate employers within the immediate area and a house closer to work is beyond my budget. So if you can sell me a car that will give better millage and cost less in tax I will happily buy it. Lets face it car manufactures didn't start vastly improving the economy of their new models because the board cares about the environment they care about profits and realised you can sell a car on economy. Lets not forget that we will run out of oil and it can only get more expensive as time goes on. The planet isn't big enough to grow bio-fuels and provide food for its residents so what do we do? Personally I would suggest making the fuel we have last as long as possible. Perhaps it wont stop climate change in its tracks but at least there will be more fuel around to run your air con when things get too much.

Anonymous User 31 March 2008 01:23pm

AT £10k for the Smart and (at a guess) £40k for the X5, you clearly don't understand the main COST of owning and running a car ie "Depreciation" !!!. The depreciation you've suffered on the X5 would have bought you another two Smarts and that's before getting into the running cost comparison. So stop being a numpty and work out the real cost per mile travelled before making such ridiculously mistaken statements.

Anonymous User 31 March 2008 02:12pm

Far better run a 30 year old car! There is more damage done to the environment by manufacturing a car than there ever is running the damn thing. So the older your car, the greener you are, even if you run leaded fuel!! Don't believe me? research it yourself. So all of you buying a new car every two years, not matter how low the emissions of it, are trashing the planet! That is truly ironic isn't it?

Anonymous User 31 March 2008 08:26pm

couldn`t agree more with the forester !!!! i have a 4x4 i use for work as im a stone mason and need to get trailers to ridiculous places, often. my hilux which is now 19 yrs old and runs recycled veg oil is great and all it took was a little wax oil to stop its decay. all vehicles should be designed to last 200000 miles at least.
ps the 106d i just got for trips into town is returning 55mpg all the time even though i screw it, how does that compare to a prius? considering the ones by me all drive around with 1 person on board ! i simply cant agree with such a large, heavy car being touted as green......sorry rant over buy and old diesel, save your money and the planet the 106 cost £100 and just passed an mot, no work needed

Anonymous User 02 April 2008 10:28am

Sometimes I pine for a long forgotten era when horses were the only alternative means of transport. However back in the real world....Unfortunately we live nearly 20 moles from the nearest town, we do not have ANY public transport to our village. My partner works in London and commutes weekly which means either overnight bus (I have to drive him to the nearest bus station) or 1 hrs drive to an airport. Which also means we have to have two cars!This flight costs about £20-£30 the train cost around £100 -£150. I guess my point is the government should be browbeaten not just to take action on greener cars but also to improve public transport and make it cheaper. Other countries manage to do this.

Anonymous User 02 April 2008 10:30am

Re the above. I do of course means miles not moles. oops!

Anonymous User 08 April 2008 08:11pm

sounds like jeremy clatkson to me - food for thought thanks

Anonymous User 21 April 2008 10:04am

We run a 4x4 (2.5litre) - we get 5 kids in the back on the school run that we share with 2 other families so we cancel out two other cars on the road. We get 33 miles to the gallon - a little better than most family estate cars...and its going to last for 15 - 20 years because its built like a tank thus creating less waste. Where is the downside? Do we want more cars on the road or more waste? Also what else can you do with 3 kids, a muddy labrador and a couple of bikes, boots and all the other clobber you have to cart around at the weekend??
If we had a guzzling 6 litre Hummer doing less than 10 to the gallon - and thats on a shopping trip to Bond Street, then the anti 4x4 lobby would have a point....

Anonymous User 18 August 2008 12:34pm

skoda fabia greenline has no spare wheel to make the car lighter which to me is ridiculous, Iwould not have any confidence driving without a spare. Apparently it has some kind of repair kit to seal tyre. I think i will just stick with my fabia vrs.

Anonymous User 03 September 2008 08:16pm

just as well!
Did you know that youe brake blocks contain ASBESTOS!?

Anonymous User 02 October 2008 10:55pm

Errrr SmartPlanet. Diesels are NOT GREEN. They emit carcinogenic particulates, amonst other things. That is why the govt penalises diesel company cars. So why not do a review of 'green' cars (a bit of an oxymoron anyway, maybe greenER cars is a better description) that are not nearly all diesels.

Anonymous User 24 October 2008 09:47am

I actually have this model of car and This car may well be a green car, but what everybody forgets to inform you is because it is a green car it is installed with a diesel partition filter and unless you do longer journeys in your car it will clog up at least 1 a month and this cost around £90 to get fixed !!!!!!! if you are looking for a good run around car where you start and stop alot this car is definatly not worth buying i have had mine 3 months and it has done it twice on me which at £90 approx a go it gets very expensive.