What Car? Q&A - What cars beat the Congestion Charge?

Q: I live on the outskirts of London, but drive into the centre everyday. Public transport isn’t an option as I have to carry a boot full of files and papers. I’m fed up with paying £8 a day, so would like to buy something that’s exempt from the Congestion Charge. I’m not too concerned about the badge, but would like something reasonably classy, and don’t want to pay more than £20,000. Any ideas?
Craig Small

A: At present, certain alternatively-fuelled vehicles are exempt from the Congestion Charge. These include hybrid cars (like the Toyota Prius and Lexus RX400), electric vehicles and those powered by gas or batteries.

Early next year the criteria looks set to change, though, so that only cars emitting fewer than 121 grams of C02 per kilometre will be exempt from the charge. That means some of the cars currently exempt will soon have to pay, regardless of whether they are hybrids or not. The Lexus RX400h is one such car.

On the other hand, plenty of small, conventionally fuelled cars will soon be able to travel into Central London for free.

If you need your new car to be exempt from the charge immediately, we’d go for the Toyota Prius T4. It has a list price of £18,577, but after a bit of haggling with your Toyota dealer you should get it for £17,363 or less. It will still be exempt when the rules change next year, because of a low C02 output of 106g/km.

If you can put up with paying the charge for a few more months, there are better cars that will shortly be exempt. The new Audi A3 1.9 TDI e, for example, is priced at £16,660 and emits just 119g/km. It will only cost you £35 a year to tax, will do 55mpg and has the touch of class you’re looking for.

Our Green Buyers' Guide lists all cars according to their CO2 output. To access it, click here