Best-Value Green Cars

SUZUKI SWIFT GL

What’s a green car? Hybrid? Electric? We think it’s one that gets you from A to B with the lowest emissions – and fuel use – possible. And, with an eye to the value focus of the Best of the Best awards, it has to do this while representing good value.

So our 2018 winners are a mix of three- and four-cylinder, turbo and non-turbo petrol engine cars.

We set just two criteria. Each model must have sub5.0L/100km ADR combined cycle fuel consumption using petrol or hybrid power (so the comparatively dirty diesel models don’t make the starting grid). And it has to have a five-star ANCAP safety rating. This leaves us with what the industry calls “light hatchbacks” – one size smaller than “small cars”.

There’s no better example than the Suzuki Swift GL, which mixes driver entertainment, value and efficiency exceptionally well. It’s less costly than all its immediate rivals, to more than offset a three-year resale forecast that’s about average for the class.

The Mazda2 Maxx costs a bit more than its competitors but has a stout 55% three-year resale that reflects the model’s established driver and ownership appeal. And, like the Suzuki, the Mazda gets excellent economy from a normal 1.5-litre petrol four-cylinder engine that’s a near match for rivals that adopt a tiny, turbo three-cylinder engine in the pursuit of low fuel use.

One such car is the 1.0-litre petrol-engined Skoda Fabia 70

TSI in third place. It uses only 4.5L/100km – a figure that is only bettered by the Toyota Prius C and Corolla hybrids.