Britain’s top penny pinchers

There’s more to keeping your motoring costs down than buying a budget car. A low screen price could be a false economy if the model starts racking up the costs on the road.

Before signing on the dotted line, it pays to get a more accurate idea of how deep you’ll have to dig into your pockets over the life of the vehicle. And that’s where the pence-per-mile figure (ppm) comes in. Calculated over three years and 30,000 miles of motoring, this simple indicator includes all the major financial factors of car ownership, such as purchase price, depreciation, fuel economy, servicing and insurance.

So, what are the most piggy bank-friendly new vehicles on sale in the UK? To find out, we’ve selected five models from the most popular sectors – city car, supermini, family hatch, large car and compact SUV. Our winners all serve up the lowest running costs using the official ppm formula. They aren’t necessarily the cheapest to buy – rivals might be hundreds of pounds less – yet our picks won’t set you back as much long-term.

But will saving money be satisfying? To find out, we’ve also judged our ppm champs on the road. Can they prove that by cutting costs, you don’t have to miss out on desirability, fun and creature comforts?