Top Five Congestion Charge Dodgers

  Fairly dramatic changes to the London Congestion Charge came into being at the start of 2011 (4 January, to be precise). The good news is that the controversial Western Extension is removed, though the remaining zone is now subject to increased fees: £10 if paid on the day of travel; £12 the following day; £9 for those using Auto Pay.
But the change we're really interested in here is the Greener Vehicle Discount, which any driver with a qualifying car can register for. It entitles a Euro 5 compliant car with CO₂ emissions of 100g/km or less to travel in the zone completely free. Well, apart from an annual £10 fee per car.
Transport for London says it will review the 100g/km limit over the next 18 months and intends to reduce it to 80g/km eventually. For now, though, it means that a bunch of very good, conventionally engined cars are considered green enough to be exempt. It could save drivers over £2,500 per year, which equates to a canny little pay rise, really.
So, here are our top five of the new breed of C-Charge dodgers - and not a hybrid in sight.

1: Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion
CO₂ emissions: 99g/km
Once again a Golf takes top honours. You'll notice that all the other cars on this list are superminis, whereas this is a fully fledged family hatchback. It's quite amazing, then, that it scrapes into the C-Charge and VED-free category. In fairness, SEAT has a Leon that does the same thing cheaper (the very good E Ecomotive), but given the choice we'd take the Golf.


2: Ford Fiesta Econetic
CO₂ emissions: 98g/km
Like the Ibiza, the Fiesta trades on being stylish and fun to drive - and it has the Spaniard licked on both counts. Still the dynamic yardstick for superminis, the Econetic version is even more tempting now for city-based buyers. It's quite punchy too, so if you ever make it out of a traffic jam and onto a proper road it still feels relatively sporty.

3: Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion
CO₂ emissions: 91g/km
The European Car of the Year 2010 was recently dethroned by the zero emissions Nissan LEAF, but the BlueMotion version of the Polo is hardly an eco criminal. No small car has the Polo's ambience of class and sophistication, making it the perfect executive supermini.


4: SEAT Ibiza E Ecomotive
CO₂ emissions: 92g/km
SEAT's new badge philosophy is slightly confusing, so let's clear it up here, if we can. Basically, lots of the diesel models are badged 'Ecomotive', which indicates they've got some fuel saving measures - gear change indicators and the like. However, the E Ecomotive version is always the greenest of the range. The Ibiza E Ecomotive is still great to drive but returns 80.7mpg.

5: Vauxhall Corsa EcoFLEX
CO₂ emissions: 94g/km
Vauxhall claims it has eight models that are Congestion Charge exempt, but it's really just eight versions of the Corsa EcoFLEX. Prices range from £14,080 to £15,580 for a top-spec Exclusiv version.
Post Source: http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/