There is no doubt that running a big car in Britain is getting harder and harder. Insurance continues to rise, the cars themselves are not becoming any cheaper, road tax doesn’t do a thing to help, and petrol isn’t what you would call good value. More and more owners of such cars are looking to downsize in a bid specifically to reduce their expenditure on fuel. “Hold your horses” says Mercedes.

The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Bluetec Hybrid maintains all of the perks of such a machine, but with much reduced fuel consumption. This E300 is powered by a 2.2 litre 201BHP diesel motor that is also paired with a 27BHP electric power source. The result is that a car of this size can now achieve 65.7MPG whilst producing less than 109g/km of CO2. Mercedes also say this it can be switches to electric only mode for short distances. Despite its “green” credentials the Hybrid can still complete 0-62MPH in a brisk 7.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 150MPH.