April 1, 2008...4:35 pm
Would you buy a ‘green’ special edition?
We reviewed the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion, which uses an ultra-efficient diesel engine emitting just 99g of carbon dioxide per km.
And with the recent Budget announcement changing the rules for road tax, the new Polo Bluemotion is road tax-exempt.
Another car with the same philosophy is the new Seat Leon Ecomotive. It uses a new diesel engine producing lower CO2 emissions, and its lower weight helps save fuel. Would you buy one of these cars?
Carmakers are using increasingly innovative technologies to reduce the carbon emissions of their cars, saving the motorist money in fuel and road tax, and crucially, saving the planet too.
Ford is set to introduce the Econetic range, starting with the new Ford Focus Econetic, and even BMW has made massive cuts in the CO2 emissions of its cars – famously taunting London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s “preferred choice of transport: the black cab.”
Some people prefer these ‘green editions’ of common cars over those like the Toyota Prius which are designed for environmentally-friendly technologies.
The Prius is a proper hybrid car which uses a battery pack at low speeds and a conventional petrol engine at higher speeds. It has been courted by celebrities the world over and is touted as the ultimate green machine.
Even sportscars are getting in on the act, with the launch of the new Tesla Roadster electric car.
Do you drive a ‘green edition’ like the Polo BlueMotion? Or a hybrid like the Prius?
Which is better?
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6 Comments
April 3, 2008 at 11:54 pm
No I wouldn’t buy a ‘green’ car they are pathetic. I drive a fairly fast car because I enjoy the performance… I would hate to have to drive some annoying little hatchback or twitmobile like the Prius. If a Prius crashes what happens to all the environmental acid anyway? Also if someone wanted to save the environment (not that it needs saving) they would be better off getting a second hand car thus ’saving the world’ by not wasting energy making a new one. All these people in these pathetic hybrid cars would be doing more for the natural world if they had gone out and bought a Impreza P1 instead.
April 15, 2008 at 9:40 am
i would definately buy a “green” car. I can not understand why cars are built to reach speeds which are not even legal on the roads in this country. seems like a cmplete waste of time and money to me. We must look to the future; we have been told that the oil is runnning out. However if land space is used to grow rape seed which makes biofuel then the land which is used to grow food will decline and become more expensive. personally i would buy a green car, however i think biofuel cars could create more problems.
April 15, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Please don’t buy a ‘green car’ thinking that you will be saving the world, because you wont be. Only buy a car you actually like. Manufacturers don’t make these cars because they have any intention of changing the natural world for the better. They simply produce so-called environmental cars to fill a market niche created by the current eco-panic that seems to be sweeping the west at the moment. Simply don’t be fooled into thinking you have a duty to buy a companies product just because it is marketed as being kind to the environment, the marketing chaps will say whatever they want to increase their profit margin; by buying a ‘green car’ you are falling into their trap. While I’m on the subject of the environment I would just like to point out that a majority of journeys would be less wasteful of the worlds resources if catalytic converters were not fitted to cars exhausts… catalysers need to reach a working temperature to be of any use, which typically takes about 15 minutes by which time a lot of journeys are over. For the whole of that time the engine will have been working harder and using more fuel to push the exhaust gasses through the unneeded catalyser than it would have done without it.
April 17, 2008 at 10:22 am
Where is the MINI Cooper D?
CO2- 104 g/km
MPG - 72.4
Road Tax Band B
The best bit - 0 - 60 = 9.6 seconds.
April 29, 2008 at 1:26 pm
In a word no!!! But if a manufacturer came up with a so-called “green” car that produced the same type of performance as petrol or diesel equivalents then I would consider it but only to get out of paying ridiculous road tax and fuel duty costs. I certainly wouldn’t use my hard earned money to buy what’s on offer for now. Still, no matter what type of fuel we are using in the future the governments will still ensure they take their ludicrous cut in tax!! And on the subject of climate change what caused the ice age to end? Warming of the earth perhaps? How many cars were there then?? And, why is it the UK motorist is hit the hardest every budget?? Am I right in saying that the UK contributes a mere 10% (or thereabouts) to the world’s carbon emmissions? It’s time the car owner was given a break!
May 1, 2008 at 7:39 pm
If they could build ‘greener cars’ like VW’s bluemotion range so easily by tweaking and modifying their normal cars, why didn’t they do it in the first place?
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