SKODA OCTAVIA
90g/km
Greenline was Skoda-speak for a model geared towards economy, at a time when diesel was still the go-to for saving cash, and the brand offered Greenline versions of everything from the Fabia to the Yeti and the Superb. But for maximising space and minimising bills, the 90g/km Octavia Greenline III Estate is hard to beat.
As the name suggests, it wasn’t the first Octavia Greenline, but it was the most efficient. With a 110PS version of the Volkswagen Group’s 1.6-litre four-cylinder TDI diesel, Skoda quoted a remarkable combined fuel consumption figure of 80.7mpg. You might have to work hard to achieve that out in the real world, but the benefit is zero-rate tax and day-to-day economy in the 60s. It’s Euro 6 too, which makes it ULEZexempt for the time being.
There’s enough performance to get out of your own way too, though like the proverbial short-shifting minicab drivers that flock to cars like the Octavia, the Greenline is at its best at a more relaxed pace. It makes light work of bumps and even lighter work of a motorway cruise.
The cabin’s solid feel and logical layout is arguably better than the fourth-generation Octavia that replaced it, too.
Third-generation Octavias are pretty stout so shouldn’t throw up many issues, and their commonality with other Volkswagen Group products means parts are easy to get hold of too. The 1.6 TDI is reliable provided it’s been serviced and not abused, and as the Greenline III is manual-only, there are no worries over DSG complications either. Ex-taxis may be showing more wear than most, but high mileage isn’t necessarily a problem – the Octavia’s pretty much designed to put miles under its wheels.
BMW 3-SERIES
45g/km
Plug-in hybrids are a fast-track to low CO2 emissions and should grant them tax benefits well into the future as a result. Take the F30-generation BMW 330e for instance, sold between 2015 and 2018 with a 45g/km CO2 emission figure well under half that
