Honda Civic: best green car award

The Environmental Transport Association has announced the winners and loser in its 2007 Car Buyers’ Guide. The awards rank cars by their environmental impact and awards the best cars in class.

The Honda Civic wins the overall award for the second time in two years, and also wins the Small Family Car category.
The Vauxhall [Vauxhall quotes] Corsa 1.3 CDTi won the Supermini category, and was the overall runner-up.

The Toyota RAV4 five-door diesel and the Jaguar XJ 2.7 diesel won their respective classes of Best Off-roader and best Luxury vehicle.

The Car Buyers´ Guide awards rankings in terms of power, CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, noise and safety.

The Guide also names the worst offenders in terms of damage to the environment with Lamborghini Diablo Roadster named worst offender for the third year running, and the Murcielago Roadster taking second place.

“The issue is that people are still buying cars that are much too big for their real needs,” explained Andrew Davis, director of the ETA.

“Large off-roaders, like the Jeep Cherokee or the Porsche Cayenne, highlighted as the worst Off-road cars are three times as damaging to the environment as, for example, a Mazda 6, winner in the Large Family Car category.

Consumer pressure

“It is not surprising that the winner this year is again the Honda Civic Hybrid. What is more striking is the huge range between the best and worst - the greenest and the least green cars in Britain today.

“Manufacturers don´t make cars that consumers won´t buy. It needs consumer pressure alongside government leadership to help persuade manufacturers to allow us the choice to buy cars that are more environmentally sound.”

The winner for the first an Innovation Award was Saab for its Bio Power Flex-Fuel Technology. Saab has developed the first production car that runs on E85 bio fuel.

Top ten cars in this year´s Car Buyer´s Guide:

• Honda - Civic Hybrid

• Vauxhall - Corsa 1.3CTDi

• Toyota - Yaris 1.4 D-4D Manual

• Renault - Modus 1.2 16V VVT

• Daihatsu - Sirion M300

• Citroen - C1 1.1

• Toyota - Aygo 1.0 Manual

• Peugeot - 107 Manual

• Daihatsu - Charade Manual

• Fiat - Panda 1.3

The worst ten cars in the Car Buyer´s Guide:

• Lamborghini - Diablo Roadster

• Lamborghini - Murcielago Roadster

• Ferrari - Supermerica

• Ferrari - Scaglietti

• Bentley - Azure

• Bentley - Arnage RL

• Aston Martin - Vanquish

• Aston Martin - DB9 Manual

• Bentley - Continental Flying Spur

• Ferrari - Spider