ETA: Green car of the year 2008 announced – 1300 cars named and shamed

ETA logo for press releases

Friday, 13, Jun 2008 12:00

The Toyota Yaris has been named Green Car of the Year 2008 by the Environmental Transport Association. The least green car is the Dodge SRT-10 sports car. The announcements come ahead of the start of Green Transport Week (14th – 22nd June)

The Environmental Transport Association has looked at over 1300 models of car currently on sale in Britain and examined their power, emissions, fuel efficiency and even the amount of noise they produce to create the definitive guide to buying the greenest vehicle.

The Guide was first published by the ETA in 1992 in response to requests from its growing membership and has since become the environmental benchmark for the car industry and the public, championing the greenest cars in Britain.

The results are as follows:

Overall Winner: Toyota Yaris

Overall worst: Dodge SRT-10

Category Winners

Supermini: Toyota Yaris

Small Family: Honda Civic Hybrid

Small MPV: Renault Modus

City: Citroën C1

Large Family: BMW 3 Series 320d Saloon

Sports: Vauxhall Tigra, MY2008 2-door Convertible

MPV: Peugeot 207 SW Outdoor

Executive: BMW 5 Series 520d Saloon

Off road: Toyota RAV4

Luxury: JAGUAR XJ 2.7L Diesel Saloon

A full list of best and worst cars will be available on Friday 13th June at www.greencarawards.co.uk

Andrew Davis, director at the Environmental Transport Association, said: “With the increasing costs of motoring and the threat to the environment there has never been a more important time to choose greener cars.”

As well as recognising the best performers, the guide ‘names and shames’ the worst offenders in terms of damage to the environment with the 8-litre-engined Dodge SRT-10 being named overall worst car.

“The discrepancy between the best and worst - the greenest and the least green cars in Britain today – is striking, but the market is changing and a combination of consumer pressure alongside government leadership will result in an increasing choice of environmentally-sound cars."

“The big problem is not the Dodge SRT-10s and Lamborghinis because there are not many of them on the road,” explains Andrew Davis, director of the ETA. “The concern is that people are buying cars that are much too big for their real needs. “

The popularity of large 4x4s like the Porsche Cayenne, which is many times more damaging to the environment than for example a BMW 320d, winner in the Large Family Car category, is already on the decrease; a revised system of emissions-based road tax next year will see owners of gas guzzlers paying up to £455 per year.

Increasing numbers of people are making informed choices about cars, particularly in terms of carbon emissions and the damage caused to the environment, but research commissioned by the ETA shows eighty-four per cent of British drivers are unprepared for the radical changes to road tax rates which will see a million people pay more than double over two years. The graduated rates of vehicle excise duty in 2009 will be based on a car’s emissions, but the research reveals that only 16 per cent of people know the current tax band into which their vehicle falls.

The ETA Car Buyers’ Guide is designed as an easy way to check how much CO2 a particular car emits and as a result how much road tax it will pay. The car buyers’ guide is at www.eta.co.uk

ETA Car Buyers’ Guide Results 2008

Overall winner: Toyota Yaris

Overall Runner-up: Honda Civic Hybrid

Overall Bottom: Dodge SRT-10

Overall 2nd Bottom: Lamborghini Murcielago Model Year 2007

Overall Top Ten Winners:

Toyota Yaris

Honda Civic Hybrid

Toyota Prius

Renault Modus

Citroën C1

Toyota Aygo

Peugeot 107

Renault Clio

Toyota Auris

Suzuki Swift

Overall Worst Performers:

Dodge SRT10

Lamborghini Murcielago Model Year 2007

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Bentley Motors Arnage (from 2007 model year)

Bentley Motors Azure (from 2007 model year)

Bentley Motors Continental (from 2007 model year)

Ferrari F430

Ferrari F430 Spider

Aston Martin Lagonda DBS

Best and worst in category

City:

Best: Citroën C1 1.0i

Worst: Ford Street Ka 1.6i

Supermini:

Best: Toyota Yaris1.4 D-4D

Worst: Mini Convertible R52MINI Cooper S Convertible /John Cooper Works Tuning Kit

Small family:

Best: Honda Civic Hybrid1.3L Petrol Electric Hybrid

Worst: Volkswagen Golf 3.2 V6 4Motion

Large family:

Best: BMW 3 Series 320d Saloon

Worst: BMW 3 Series M series

Small MPV:

Best: RENAULT Modus 1.5 dCi 86 Quickshift 5

Worst: Mercedes-Benz Viano (639) 3.5

Executive:

Best: BMW 5 Series 520d Saloon

Worst: Mercedes-Benz M-Class (W164) Estate

MPV:

Best: Peugeot 207 SW OUTDOOR1.6 HDi (90 bhp)

Worst: Mercedes-Benz R-Class (251) R63 AMG 265 Tyres at rear

Off-road:

Best: TOYOTA RAV4 2.2 D-4D 180 5 door

Worst: Cadillac Escalade 6.2 - V8 AUT

Luxury:

Best: JAGUAR XJ 2.7L Diesel Saloon

Worst: Aston Martin Lagonda DB9

Sports:

Best: Vauxhall Tigra 2-door Convertible 1.3CDTi 16v

Worst: Dodge SRT-10 cabriolet

Ends

For further information, including photographs, please call Yannick Read at the ETA press office on 0845 389 1064

Notes to editors

The Environmental Transport Association is a not-for-profit ethical breakdown organisation, providing carbon-neutral breakdown cover and insurance products. As well as encouraging responsible driving to reduce carbon, the ETA campaigns for sustainable transport www.eta.co.uk

The research carried out by the ETA shows that only 5 per cent of drivers know precisely how much CO2 is produced by the car they drive and a further 11 per cent know the emissions-based tax band into which it falls. Total sample size was 2,060 adults. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all British adults (aged 18+) Owners of models of the Renault Espace, Vauxhall Zafira, VW Sharan, Ford Galaxy, and others that emit more than 225g of CO2 per km will pay £430 in 2010 compared with £210 this year.