A CAR guru has picked out a handful of motors that drivers can buy right now that are brilliantly efficient on fuel.
Savvy motorists who often keep one eye on their fuel gauge will also be able to buy each set of second-hand wheels for less than £5,000.
Matt Goodwin, who’s an expert car dealer and the face of High Peak Autos YouTube channel, has sniffed out some of the best economical motors money can buy – after seeing his own monthly fuel bill.
He said: “It’s a new month, which means I’ve just had my fuel bill through from my local petrol station where I have an account, and it’s made me feel physically sick.
“Because of the job I do, I know this is unavoidable – I sell 40 cars a month and I buy many more and most of them need filling up.”
Matt says that this inspired him to search for the cheapest fuel efficient cars available on AutoTrader.
After turning his nose up at the Mazda6 and the Peugeot 208, he came across a Renault Clio 1.5-litre DCI from 2014 priced at £2,999.
Matt said: “The engine’s not bad actually, they’ve used that in loads of stuff over the years.”
He claims it’s capable of over 60mpg, adding: “This era of Clio, which ran from 2014 onwards, is quite a good car.
“The interiors are quite nice, they’re quite nice to drive, I actually think they look quite cool as well.
“That wouldn’t be bad, that’d be really cheap to run and I imagine the road tax is nothing as well, so that’s not a bad option.”
He gradually moves onto another French motor; a stylish Citroen DS3 1.6 HDI that looks to be in stunning condition.
Matt said: “I do quite like the DS, Citroens are always best in my opinion when they’re weird and I think the DS just gets that balance right.
“It looks cool and they’re quite nice to drive.”
After flirting with the idea of a Ford Fiesta and a Ford Focus, Matt stumbles across a turbo diesel Volkswagen Polo that’s got a corking 153,000 miles on the clock – but is priced at just £2,495.
But its fuel-efficiency stuns Matt, who said: “Wow, right, it does 58mpg around town, and on a run – extra urban – 83mpg.”
However, Matt does note that this particular model is quite slow.
He said: “It’ll do 0 to 62mph in 13.9 seconds – it’s a little 74bhp, three-cylinder diesel so it isn’t exactly exciting – but a decent car if you’re worried about fuel.”
For drivers looking for something a little bigger, Matt suggests the Skoda Octavia – which is just £5,000 for an estate example.
He said: “It’s kind of one of those cars that just does everything it says on the tin.”
He added: “If you need a large practical estate car for the family or for the dog, you pick an Octavia estate – it’s as simple as that.
Another £5,000 option is a hybrid Lexus CT, which is a car Matt reveals he once owned.
He said: “I had it for a year and it was a really good car – they’re basically a Prius underneath which isn’t the sexiest car ever – but the Lexus CT I was really impressed with.”
Matt revealed that the car would do 50mpg “no matter how I drove” while the road tax was, at most, £10.
He added: “Every time it needed fuel – they have quite a small fuel tank actually, I think you do about 450 miles between fill-ups – but every time I needed to tank it, it would cost £40 which is always a pleasure.”
This comes as we revealed to drivers the fast-charging EVs currently up for sale – including a Lotus that charges in just 20 minutes.
And elsewhere, Wheeler Dealers’ host Mike Brewer has urged drivers to seek out a recently discontinued hot hatchback that he claims will be a “future classic”.
