Top 10 cheap green cars

One of the few good green things to come out of Alistair Darling's Budget was his shake-up of vehicle excise duty -- better known as road tax -- to penalise gas guzzling cars. The new rules mean that when you buy a new car in 2010 which emits more than 130g of CO2 per kilometre you'll get stung with a 'first year rate' charge -- ranging from a minimum of £115 for a BMW 3 Series E90 right up to £950 for a Porsche Cayman S.

Obviously the way to beat the budget is to buy a greener car, but what if you don't have £20,000 to lay down on a Lexus hybrid? Worry not -- we've hunted down ten great motors that won't maul the planet or your wallet.

All the cars on our list emit 130g of CO2 or less per kilometre -- dodging that new first year rate -- and our chosen few range from £17,100 at the upper limit down to £10,500 at the bottom, covering the spectrum of car sizes. We've deliberately left out electric cars, which are only really suitable for city living. If you're in the market for one, though, check out our electric cars roundup.

In no particular order, here are our top affordable eco machines. 

1: SEAT Ibiza, 1.4 TDI 80PS Ecomotive, diesel (pictured above)
CO2 (g/km): 99
Price: £11,000
SEAT's probably not the first name you think of when it comes to green cars, but this three-door supermini's both cheap to buy and cheap to run.

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