WITH pump prices currently running higher than John Prescott's blood pressure, there's never been a more important time to check out the fuel efficiency of your next new car.

Short of the conspiracy theorists finally being proven right with the announcement that there is, after all, a clean and cheap petrol alternative locked away in a fuel company safe somewhere, it makes sense for all of us to keep in check how many times we have to hand over a cheque at the filling station.

Almost every day we hear about new technological advances in automotive energy, with futuristic sounding hybrid vehicles boasting both petrol and electric motors already clocking up the miles.

So it might come as something of a surprise when M.E.N. Motoring reveals that the winner of the title for the most frugal modern run-about is actually a vehicle powered by good old diesel.

Well, a couple of frugal modern run-abouts to be exact.

The winners - boasting a respectable 68.9 miles per gallon - are the Citroen C1 and the Toyota Aygo when powered by a 1.4 litre HDi diesel engine.

Extra miles

So just how do companies such as Citroen cram so many extra miles into their motors?

"The C1 is a small car to start with and that certainly helps," says Citroen spokesman Julian Leyton.

"Smaller means lighter and that obviously means that it's going to take less fuel to get things on the move.

"Aerodynamics also play a small part but the major factor is the fact that diesel, as a fuel, is massively more efficient than petrol.

"The 1.4litre HDi engine in the C1 boasts the latest technology - including advanced computer trickery and lightweight components - and is therefore a very fuel efficient car."

To put the performance of the diesel-powered C1 and Aygo into perspective, they both manage to beat the fuel efficiency of the latest hybrid cars boasting both a petrol and electric motor.

The new 1.4litre IMA Honda Civic returns 61.4mpg, while the Hollywood A-list's must-have motor - the Toyota Prius - is only slightly better at 65.7mpg.

Admittedly, both of them are bigger cars.

But they're substantially more expensive too, with the technology of fitting two engines accounting for much of the hike.

Citroen suggest that the next leap forward should be a hybrid car boasting both a diesel and electric motor and have already produced a concept version of their larger C4 saloon which managed 84mpg.

Unfortunately, they admit that the cost of putting a diesel electric hybrid into full production is currently prohibitive.

Stop-gap

In fact, the French manufacturer believes that hybrid technology is probably only a stop-gap solution before someone devises a truly green alternative to fossil fuels.

Or maybe until someone blows open the aforementioned oil company safe!

But if oil's well with you, and you have cash to splash, then you might be surprised to learn that it is the fast and furious supercars rather than much-maligned off-roaders which come top of the gas guzzling table.

There may, of course, be thirstier beasts around, but based on the most widely available statistics, it would seem that Lamborghinis and Ferraris are the motors which most like a drink.

Based on the same combined fuel consumption figures quoted for the Citroen C1, the Ferrari 575M Maranello manages only 12.9mpg, while the Lamborghini Murcielago is only moderately better at around 13 mpg.

But then Lambos and Ferraris can do things which the C1 and Aygo could only ever dream of, transporting their occupants luxuiously from 0 to 60mph in under four seconds and on to 200mph.

"People who buy Lamborghinis and Ferraris are not doing so because of fuel economy," a supercar expert explains.

"The Murcielago and Maranello is currently one of the most powerful performance cars on the market. Performance car ownership is never going to be cheap."

If you've got the money and didn't vote Green Party in the local elections yesterday, then the choice is yours: will it be the miles per gallon of the Citroen C1 or the smiles per gallon of something a whole lot more exotic?

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