Cheapest cars to run in the UK (2026)

Not by much at today's prices. The best diesel here costs £1,378 a year for 10,000 miles and the best petrol £1,380. Diesel gets more miles per gallon, but it cost 199.52p a litre against 174.88p for petrol in the week of 5 October 2026, which cancels most of the gain.

No. They use official WLTP laboratory figures, which the Vehicle Certification Agency says may not be achieved in real-world driving. Expect higher bills from short trips, cold weather, motorway speeds and heavy loads. The figures are best used to compare one car with another, not to budget to the pound.

The standard rate of £200 a year that applies from the second payment for cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 (2026/27). The first payment depends on the car's CO2 figure. An extra £440 a year applies for five years to cars with a list price over £40,000 (over £50,000 for electric cars), so the standard rate understates tax on those cars. The VCA data has no list prices, so the tables do not apply the supplement.

No. Insurance group data is not freely available, so insurance is left out, and so are servicing, tyres, parking and depreciation. These pages cover fuel or electricity and standard road tax only.

The VCA database lists cars currently on sale, so it is the only complete official source of mpg and miles per kWh. Many of these models and their earlier versions are on the used market, but a used car's real economy depends on its age, condition and history. A vehicle history check shows the finance, write-off, mileage and MOT records for the exact car.

A plug-in hybrid's official mpg assumes the battery is charged regularly, so one cost figure would mislead. A driver who never plugs in gets far worse economy than the label, and one who plugs in every day gets better. We left them out rather than guess at charging habits.