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The eight best economical petrol cars for 2019

19th March 2019
Goodwood Road & Racing

In the market for an economical car? Well there really is no time like the present as modern cars are capable of sipping fuel slower than ever before, and, thankfully, economical cars don’t have to be boring, soulless boxes. So here’s are run down of the best economical cars for 2019.

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Audi A4 1.4 – about 50mpg

PistonHeads’ forums are full of people swearing blind they get 50mpg or 60mpg from their 1.4-litre engined Audis on all sorts of journeys. A very nice car indeed, for that sort of economy.

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Mini Clubman Cooper S – about 50mpg

Another PistonHeads favourite, with screen-grabs of the car’s readout consistently showing 50mpg. Definitely not a hair-shirt option, thank goodness.

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Smart ForTwo Coupe 1.0 – about 43mpg

According to nextgreencar.com, this dinky city car with the six-speed automatic will get you into the forties to the gallon, and you’ll be able to park it anywhere in town.

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Fiat 500C 0.9 Twinair – about 45mpg

The above version, or the 1.2-litre Pop, with 69 horsepower, so don’t go loading it up too much… You can get a semi-automatic five-speed and the combo will give you the above figure, plus you’ll have the wind in your hair with the small roof furled.

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Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium 125 – about 45mpg

This is our pick of the bunch. With fantastic Ford handling it feels like a far more expensive car than it is, and that 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine punches well above its capacity.

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Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI 130PS – about 43mpg

It’s a lot of car for a decent return. You’ll squeeze a couple more miles for every gallon of petrol out of the 1.0-litre engine in both the hatch and the estate, but we like this version with VW’s DSG transmission.

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Mazda2 1.5 75PS SkyActiv-G – about 43mpg

With a sweet, short-throw five-speed manual ‘box and Mazda’s dynamic chassis in a small package this a very tidy option. Mazda does petrol engines like few others – rev-happy, eager, light and joyous.

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SEAT Arona 1.5 TSI 150 PS – about 43mpg

Another recommendation from nextgreencar. A six-speed manual gearbox in this compact SUV and some jazzy styling options from the resurgent SEAT brand.

  • Audi

  • A4

  • Mini

  • Clubman

  • Smart

  • FourTwo

  • Fiat

  • 500

  • Ford

  • Fiesta

  • Volkswagen

  • Golf

  • Mazda

  • 2

  • SEAT

  • Arona

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