The most fuel-efficient petrol, diesel and hybrid cars you can buy in 2024
Fuel economy has always been a prime consideration among car buyers, but the cost of living crisis has exacerbated its importance. With prices predicted to stay high, there has never been a better time to look at reducing consumption.
For some buyers, the solution will be a switch to an electric car. But of course, that doesn’t work for everyone – for those who lack a driveway, for example, or for whom the public charging infrastructure can’t quite deliver the reliability they require.
So for many sticking with petrol or diesel is the only way. And that means hours of combing through facts and figures trying to work out which cars are the most economical.
Except you don’t have to do that, because we’ve done it for you. Below are the 10 most fuel-efficient petrol, diesel and hybrid cars you can buy in Britain right now.
They are ranked according to their official WLTP combined fuel consumption figures; while these probably won’t accurately reflect what you’ll achieve in the real world, they allow meaningful comparison since they’re obtained under the same predefined test conditions.
Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) have been excluded because while they boast fabulous official figures these are wholly dependent on how much charge they have and, therefore, how often they’re plugged in. Great if you have somewhere to do so – not so much if you haven’t.
And if you remain concerned about fuel prices and availability in the UK in the future, these are the cars that should be on your list to try.