The Greener Side of 4x4's

Lets face it the SUV, Off Roader, 4x4 or whatever you like to call them, they are a very popular option for many of road users no matter what stigma is attached to them. I remember the time when only farmers and "country folk" would be driving these beasts but now they are everywhere, businessmen in the city to mother's taking their offspring to school.

With the demand for such a fuel thursty vehicles manufactures have taken some responceablity and evolved the once dirty diesel 4x4 and come up with a much cleaner, more "earth loving" off roader to satitfy the appitite of the general public.

We're not talking about the monster 4x4's such as the BMW X5 or Audi Q7, they are still very much frowned upon. We are celebrating the birth of the "compact SUV" with the likes of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Ford Kuga and most recenlty the Audi Q5.

Most of the major car manufactures have made considerable effort to break into this new market but not all have the same eco friendly credentails. So this is where we are taking a look at our favourites, the elite green compact SUV's.

VW Tiguan
The clever people at Volkswagen have outdone themselves with the beautiful VW Tiguan. The Tiguan BlueMotion 2.0 TDI is the preferred choice with CO2 emissions of just 139g/km and a combined fuel comsuption of 53.3 miles to the gallon.

Audi Q5
The Audi Q5 is well worth talking about although it doesn't give the best eco friendly results. The Q5 2.0 TDI quattro manual is the most friendly model delivering 43.5mpg with a reasonable 172g/km of CO2. No bad for the Audi Q7's little brother.