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From Times Online
May 9, 2007
Top ten green cars
Are environmentally-friendly cars sufficiently safe? Are they ready to compete with their gas-guzzling ancestors? Send us your views
The G-Wiz, recently declared unsafe by the Department for Transport, is one of a very small number of exclusively electric cars available in the UK today. The Government is seeking a review of the European regulations for similar cars after initial tests of their safety performance, following their growth in popularity as a more environmentally friendly alternative to cars.
The DfT's "serious safety concerns" about the G-Wiz arose after the Government conducted the first of two tests aimed at environmentally-friendly quadricycles.
Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman said, "The safety regulations that govern this type of vehicle were designed at a time when it was thought they would cover four-wheeled motorcycles and some small, specialised commercial vehicles, not city run-abouts that resemble small cars.” As a result the British government promises to conduct an “urgent review” in Brussels of the European regulations governing quadricycles.
Defending the G-Wiz, Keith Johnston, the Managing Director of GoinGreen, the company that imports the cars, said the real-world safety record of the car spoke for itself: “our customers have driven 20 million miles and have 4000 years of ownership with no reported serious injuries.” Times Online columnist Anna Shepard, in her Eco-worrier blog, says: "The fact is these cars are designed to be driven slowly, in built-up areas."
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Numerous manufacturers have commenced initiatives to reduce fuel consumption, for example the use of hybrid technology or other environmental programs such as biofuels. The Green-Car-Guide, an online resource dedicated to consumer awareness of issues surrounding fuel-efficiency and environmental impact includes only two exclusively electric cars in its top ten list of green cars: the G-Wiz and the Mega City.
In spite of recent technological advances most green cars still have limitations, and many quadricycles have yet to be tested in terms of their safety. Here is Times Online’s top ten environmentally-friendly vehicles and what our reviewers say about them.
“If you like the hybrid idea, at present there are two main choices — the Prius and the cheaper and outwardly more conventional Honda Civic IMA. The new Prius is bigger, faster and more sophisticated: green without compromise.”
Ray Hutton
“While I admire Honda’s dedication to the hybrid cause — it’s been making them for over a decade — I fear the result needs to be better than this if its technology is to catch on here as it has in America.”
Andrew Frankel
“Toyota plans to sell about 13,000 Aygos a year in the UK, which is a lot of student loans. And it is targeting an economic group for whom £7,000 is still a great deal of money. Will Toyota pull it off when you can buy a used car for half that with all the cool you can handle? Quite possible, I reckon.”
Gavin Conway
“In many ways, it’s the spiritual successor to the old 2CV, that poisonous upturned bathtub favoured by the sort of hippie who’s currently handcuffed to the tow hook of your Land Cruiser. If Citroën were really on the ball, they’d sell it in CND livery with Save the Whale bumper stickers ready fitted. And maybe get superhippie Steve Hillage to design the upholstery. Man.”
Jeremy Clarkson
“With its rough edges now buffed, and small cars making increasing sense, this radical little newcomer deserves to succeed.”
Richard Bremner
“Clearly the hybrid drive offers considerable economy and some emissions benefits but the talent you notice most is how driveable it makes the car, offering such instant urge in all conditions it makes conventional petrol engines seem a little impotent in the lower reaches of their rev ranges and diesels strangled by their inherently narrow powerbands”
Richard Bremner
“There’s an electric motor that automatically springs to life at times like this to drive the back wheels as well. Brilliant. That means the four-wheel-drive-ness of the nuclear-free peace-Lexus comes at no cost whatsoever to the planet. It’s an open-toed 4x4. A free-range SUV. The closest you can come to organic motoring.”
Jeremy Clarkson
“Because the internal combustion engine can run on either fuel with little need for modification, you can switch between hydrogen and petrol by pressing a button on the steering wheel.”
Andrew Frankel
“This, then, is the holy grail. It’s an MPV you buy because you like it. Not because you need it. And because it appears to be small and has no four-wheel-drive system, you’ll be able to park it outside church, knowing the vicar won’t come along and chop it up with his special nine-bladed eco-sword.”
Jeremy Clarkson
“It is absurdly cheap to run, does not pump noxious gases into city streets and is exempt from road tax. Apart from that, the G-Wiz needs only plugging in to the mains to refuel.”
Marc Rattray
Now more than ever there is a wide choice of different green cars, suited to a variety of different users. Do you own an environmentally-friendly car? Or did you consider one and end up buying a conventional automobile? Is safety one of your main concerns when buying a new car? Have your say in the comment box below.
If you look at CO2 emmisions per seat in the vehicle then you will actually find that the smart fourtwo is WORSE than an AUDI Q7 4.2 petrol! I am not saying everyone should buy a Q7, but we need to look at more than just CO2g/km!
Andy Humble, Hull, UK
GREEN/CARBON FOOTPRINT DEBATE
QUESTION. If cars are taxed in relation to its carbon footprint - what happens to its footprint when you add a caravan?
ANSWER. Tax the antisocial portable dunny loving caravan ownwers.
Tim Staple, Horndean,
How about the Mitsubishi i car ? £35 per year tax & 50+ mpg all the time
Alan Austin-Benbow, Norwich, U.K.
The number one green car for me is the Audi A2 1.2tdi automatic (I own one). It really is a lot better to drive than the prius, plus it's far more economical! The audi engineers really did a mindblowing good job, far before the green debate ever started in politics!
Stefan, Brussels, Belgium
The whole green debate is hoplessly confused so here are a few facts: 1. diesel cars are the big con of motoring motoring: they pollute at least as much as petrol 2. any calculation of efficiency should indeed calculate "cradle to grave" pollution, ie including production costs 3. any large car, and especially 4x4s are obviously far more environmentally damaging (why drive 2.7 tons of Land Rover metal unless you don't care about the environment?) 4. London taxis are the worst polluters 5. hybrids are not the way forward.
Saul, London,
Try a Suzuki Alto. One of the very few cars in the £35 per year car tax bracket, and surprisingly quick on the autobahn. But you'll have to buy secondhand, because Suzuki no longer import them!
Gordon Cardew, Norwich, UK
When calculating 'Greeness' the criteria should be 'conception to scrapping'.
I read a report in a car mag a while ago which published a league table of green cars using this criteria. Interestingly there was not a hybrid in the top 50 and the greenest car in the world came out to be a Jeep Wrangler!
This made me feel great because I just happen to own one and I was starting to feel guilty about the 14mpg it has consistantly returned from new. I can now forgive it for being the poorest quality, most basic, badly put together car I have ever owned.
Having said all that, it's the best fun car I ever had, especially where we live.
PS. Just remember anyway that all this global warming stuff is a load of old cobblers designed to force you to hand over even more of your money to the government.
Ian, Alicante, Spain
As correctly pointed out the Prius is not that green when you consider the manufacture and disposal of the batteries.
the design life is 7 years 15000 pounds and throw it away, My peugot diesel is 15 years old and has done 230000 miles and regularly returns 50 mpg is that green or what ?
As for wind farms they are just a trendy gimmick of no practical use, a lot of the time there is not enough wind.
david james, gosport, uk
Let's talk recycling folks. Recycling is the way forward...agreed? Then the best way of recycling an old car is to keep using it. Of course the car industry will hate you for doing so, that,s why they embrace all this "Green" rubbish so avidly.
John Marsh, Stockport, Cheshire
Look beyond the end of your nose. It's not just the emissions when in use which needs to be considered , it's the cost of making a car, how long it lasts and how costly it is to scrap. The generally longer-lasting 4*4 and many high-quality sports cars are most environmentally friendly because of their longevity.
Incidentally, only a fool boasts of selling their 4*4 and buying, say, a Prius. In one go, they've encouraged the manufacture of another car rather than get maximum use out of their existing car.
JAmes, Ewell, Surrey
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