Real MPG: most economical cars for town driving

For many, driving through congested towns and cities is a daily occurrence, whether you live in one or have to travel into one for work. Heavy traffic means lots of stopping and starting, which can have a huge negative impact on your fuel economy.

However, there are cars which can lessen this impact. Indeed, all the models we’ve listed below returned more than 60.0mpg during the town portion of our Real MPG test — with the most efficient car managing more than 100 miles from a single gallon of petrol.

Here we count the top 10 cars that will save you the most around urban areas, as well as the three which will have you stopping at the petrol station most often.

How we test for a car's Real MPG

Most of the official WLTP and NEDC fuel economy figures that appear in brochures are more generous than how the car would actually perform in the real world. This is why we carry out our own Real MPG tests.

Each car is tested on a rolling road under laboratory conditions, and they undertake a real-world-inspired driving route comprising town, motorway and country driving. This eliminates the chance of any uncontrollable variables – like weather or traffic conditions – affecting the accuracy of our results, and we avoid unrealistic driving scenarios or ‘hypermiling’ techniques.

We also check the tyre pressures of each car to make sure they’re set to the manufacturer’s recommended levels, and ensure the climate control is set to 21 degrees. If the car has manual air conditioning, the temperature dial is set to the midway point and the fan speed to its lowest setting. Headlights and any other electric equipment, such as the stereo, are also switched off.

The Real MPG results are calculated using the average data from an exhaust connection, which measures the car’s emissions at every second.

Read more: How we test a car’s Real MPG

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