Economy Drives: City cars Citroen C1

Anti-lock brakes are standard. Cornering stability control prevents skids if you stamp on the brakes mid-turn, too.

C1 joins C2 and C3 (and C3 Pluriel) in the made-for-city segment; Citroen reckons it's the only car maker to have four models in this smallest class of cars.

The 107 is being targeted squarely at the 18-24 year old age group. Peugeot expects 68% of buyers to be women.

The wide gaping front bumper echos that of bigger Peugeots - especially the 407

Unless you've been living in complete isolation for the past few months, you can't have escaped the reports of Britain's declining economic situation.
Our mortgages have got dearer, the cost of food, heating and most basic necessities has risen, and despite recent price-cutting moves by the supermarkets to bring down the price of petrol, motoring isn't exactly cheap.

We've all got to tighten our belts and save some money: here's our pick of the best and lowest-cost city cars.

These tiny city cars - all made in the same factory, and mechanically identical - promise excellent fuel economy, low insurance costs and low tax bandings. They're not the cheapest cars in this class to buy in the first place, though there's savings of up to £1,500 off list price if you shop around. But high demand on the secondhand market means that they hold their value very well.

Tough, solidly built and with a good four-star Euro NCAP crash-test rating, these three can carry a pair of tall adults quite comfortably in the back, and with the rear seats folded flat, provide a surprisingly large load-bay. Three- and five-door versions are available, and a wide choice of trim levels and options: no need to lose out on creature comforts when trading down to a car this size.

We'd go for the 1.0-litre petrol model: it's classed in insurance group 1, and is super-economical, returning 61.4mpg and emitting 109g/km of carbon dioxide (Band B tax). And if you hang on until early next year, the revised versions will deliver a superb 62.8mpg - so why spend out the extra on the diesel? Given the hike in purchase price and the dearer cost of diesel fuel, you'd have to do a huge annual mileage to make it worthwhile.

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