A report published at the weekend revealed the most fuel-hungry cars on the market and it was great news for small car owners.

The Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon were the highest users of petrol, with the average Commodore costing $2430 a year to run.

Coming in as the cheapest was the Toyota Yaris and David Hayes of Dubbo City Toyota said the car was definitely becoming more and more popular with consumers.

“In recent times as the price of petrol keeps reaching record amounts we have noticed a big swing to smaller cars,” Mr Hayes said.

“A lot of people are trading in their Commodores and Falcons for cars like the Yaris and that is becoming more common among retail customers.”

Also becoming popular are the new types of environmentally-friendly ‘hybrid’ vehicles.

Again Toyota led the way in this area with the its Prius model leading the way as far as carbon dioxide emissions was concerned.

Mr Hayes said the major benefit of the hybrid car was in its ability to switch between uses.

“When the Prius comes to a halt, it stops running off fuel and starts running off battery power,” he said.

“About 10,000 Prius have been sold in Australia since it came on the market a few years ago and we are finding they are becoming a more viable option for a lot of motorists.”

ben.walker@ruralpress.com