The best fuel-efficient petrol cars you can buy in 2022

With the cost of living rising, it’s no wonder more and more car buyers are making fuel economy their top priority. In the past this meant opting for a diesel model, but with diesels now falling out of favor many more buyers are opting for petrol instead.

So the obvious question is: can you get an economical petrol car without having to switch to a diesel? The answer is yes – although even the most economical petrol engines can’t quite compete with the best diesel engines. Mind you, you’ll be surprised how close they can get.

You’ll see what we mean when you read this countdown of the 10 most fuel efficient pure petrol models on sale in the UK today. We ranked them according to their official combined WLTP fuel economy figures; While these may not reflect what you can actually get out of these cars on the road, they do at least allow for comparison as they were all obtained under the same testing conditions.

We’ve also ruled out plug-in hybrids because while they boast impressive official numbers, these depend entirely on how much charge they have and therefore how often they’re plugged in. We’ve also left out full hybrids – look out for a similar article dedicated specifically to those coming soon – but we’ve included mild hybrids as this more basic hybrid technology is now standard on many petrol cars.

So if petrol is your fuel of choice but you want to maximize your fuel efficiency then sit back, grab a warm beverage and let’s count the most fuel efficient petrol cars for sale today.

The most economical petrol engines

10. Skoda Fabia