Jeep Renegade

We criticised the original version of the Renegade for being worse on fuel consumption and emissions than its direct rivals but, since then, Jeep has updated the model with a range of more modern and efficient engines to help it keep pace. More recently still the arrival of a full plug-in hybrid version improves matters further.

As ever it’s no one-size fits all solution, but at least you can choose between petrol, diesel and the hybrid according to your particular needs. Front-wheel drive petrols – known as ‘4x2’ in Jeep lingo – are the best of the conventional range for CO2 and fuel consumption, the more powerful ‘4x4’ versions offering genuine off-road ability but at a cost in emissions and fuel consumption that will hit company drivers especially hard.

Adapting that naming structure to ‘four by electric’, the new 4xe hybrid version costs a lot more to buy – nearly a third as much again compared with the base petrol version of equivalent trim – but the monthly savings in Benefit In Kind could well add up and make it more affordable as far as tax goes.