Buying a new car is a substantial outlay for most citizens. The price that must be paid for a vehicle fresh from the factory implies an economic effort that many families can only afford by financing its acquisition. To this amount of money, other fixed expenses will have to be added later, such as insurance, road tax or the consumption of fuel, electricity or gas, so it is important to take these concepts into account when opting for a vehicle in concrete.
The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) recalls that fuel consumption is one of the main expenses of a car. And to highlight it, he gives as an example that a gasoline car that consumes 7.5 liters per 100 kilometers will have spent about 13,000 euros on fuel per 100,000 kilometers. A fact that we should not overlook when calculating the outlay of owning a car.
For this reason, the OCU has prepared a ranking with the five cars that consume the least for each type of engine (gasoline, diesel, micro-hybrid, non-plug-in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric, LPG gas and CNG gas) with the data provided by the own manufacturers. The organization, however, warns that the approved consumption indicated by the brands is lower than that obtained by driving in real conditions. Even so, these data serve as a reference to compare the consumption of the different models.
The vehicles in this group have the DGT environmental label C. Within them there are large differences in consumption. The most efficient cars are the Toyota Aygo X and the Hyundai i10 1.0, which consume 4.8 liters/100 km. On the other hand, on the opposite side we find the Mercedes AMG G63, with an official cost of 16 l/100 km, that is, more than triple that of the most ecological cars in the category.
Diesel-powered car sales are in decline. In a decade, its sales have gone from almost 70% of the total, to barely 13% so far in 2023. The OCU points out that this change in market trend may be due to three factors: the emissions scandal that was detected a few years ago, the complexity of its anti-pollution systems and the high price of diesel in recent times.
According to data on approved consumption, the three models that consume less belong to three European manufacturers: Renault, Peugeot and Skoda. As in the case of gasoline cars, the car with the highest consumption is also from the Mercedes brand, specifically the Mercedes G 350d model, with 12.5 l/100 km.
Engines of this type have a mild hybridization system that recovers part of the energy during braking, which is used by a small 48V electric motor, but which normally cannot move the car on its own. Although the fuel savings compared to a gasoline car is very small, they are entitled to the DGT ECO label.
The Fiat 500 1.0, with a consumption of 4.6 l/100 km, leads the ranking of the most efficient cars in this category. Instead, the Audi RS Q8 TFSI 600 CV closes the list with an official consumption of 13.2 liters per 100 km.
This category of cars allows significant fuel savings in the city. Being powered by a thermal engine and an electric one when the vehicle is moving, consumption and emissions are zero.
The most 'saving' models are the Mazda 2 hybrid and the Toyota Yaris 120 h, both below 4 liters per 100 km. Instead, the hybrid car that consumes the most is the Lexus LS 500h, with 9.5 liters per 100 km. Even so, this model continues to be well below those that consume the most in other categories, highlights the OCU.
In the homologation process for cars with a plug-in hybrid engine, the gasoline engine only works in a part of the consumption measurement cycle, which is less the greater the autonomy in electric mode of the car. For this reason, the first on the list of plug-in hybrid cars that consume the least are high-priced cars with great electric range. The consumption indicated is that of the gasoline engine.
In this case, the Mercedes GLC is the vehicle that consumes the least (0.4 l/100 km), while the Jeep Wrangler PHEV, with 4.1 l/100 km, is the one with the highest consumption approved within the cars in this category. Despite this, it has a 0 emissions label, while other cars with similar or lower consumption have a C label.
This type of vehicle still does not arouse the interest of drivers in our country, where its presence in the park continues to be almost testimonial. In the first quarter of the year, registrations of pure electric vehicles were barely 4% of the total.
The Fiat 500 e is revealed as the most ecological model with a consumption of 12 kWh per 100 km. On the other hand, the electric car that consumes the most is the BYD Tang, which reaches an electricity consumption of 23.8 kWh per 100 km.
Cars that can use LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) are cars with two tanks, one for gasoline and the other for gas, and can run interchangeably with any of the two fuels. They are entitled to the DGT ECO label. There is little difference between the consumption of some models and others. In fact, the one that spends the most is another Dacia model, the Dacia Duster, with 8 liters of LPG per 100 km.
Cars that can use CNG (compressed natural gas) can also run on gasoline. The model offer is very small, and they all belong to the Volkswagen group. In this category, there are also not very considerable variations between the most economical models and the rest. The car that consumes the most is the Skoda Octavia Combi DSG, which reaches 4.3 kg of CNG per 100 km.
