The Honda Civic hybrid, regarded widely as one of the lowest emitting cars, performed the worst in the tests.
Instead of the 109g/km of CO2 claimed in the makers’ specifications, it was found to put out 171g/km. The testers said its electric motor was “not strong enough to propel the oddball four-door Civic on its own” and they concluded that the vehicle “failed to match the firm’s economy claims”.
The second car labelled a gimmick was the Lexus GS450h, leased by David Cameron, the Conservative leader. It managed fuel consumption of 26.7 miles per gallon (mpg) in the road test compared with the claimed 35.8 mpg – meaning higher carbon emissions. Diesel rivals were said to “produce similar emissions and better economy”.
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