Autoblog UK

Once the butt of many a joke, the Trabant was a big a symbol of East European communism as Leonid Brezhnev's eyebrows.

Unlike Brezhnev, the the Trabant is on the verge of making an unlikely revival...

Gallery: Trabant

We British have something of a reputation for being eccentric, and the BBC programme 'Top Gear' has shown that we are particularly fond of messing about with fast cars. A team of research engineers at the University of Warwick have now gone a stage further and built an environmentally friendly Formula 3 racer. Powered by chocolate, steered by carrots and with bodywork made of potatoes, it can still corner at 125 miles per hour. And all of this while complying with the international F3 regulations, the only exception being the biodiesel engine which is perhaps one for the future.

Every component of this vehicle has been manufactured from renewable materials. The monocoque has been made from vegetable fibre, with flax fibre and soybean oil going into in the making of the driver's seat. "The project dispels the myth that performance needs to be compromised when developing the sustainable motor vehicles of the future" claims Project Manager James Meredith in an interview with TD Daily . The car has already been put through its paces. "Last week, we drove it round the campus car park. Next we'd like to try it out on a proper racetrack," adds Meredith. Soon thereafter, they want to enter it for a race – and they aren't fussy which.

The attribute "green" was always one that would have seemed to suit Italian supercar manufacturer Lamborghini as well as fire suits water. The buzzwords that are more likely to spring to mind are ones like "expensive", "elegant", "fast" or "beautiful" in the case of Lamborghini. But the Italian manufacturer can hardly be seen as a major "CO2 sinner", given that they only construct a few thousand vehicles per annum in one central plant. Apart from that, owners tend to drive these vehicles less than average car owners do. But even if performance is still going to remain more important than fuel consumption with these racers, at least a gesture is being made towards environmental protection and the CO2 emissions of the factory are being cut substantially. To contribute to this, a 17,000sqm large solar plant is to be installed on the roof of the factory before the end of this year. For next year, it is planned to reduce energy consumption by 30%.

The VW Passat 1.4 TSI EcoFuel Trendline is the first car to score five stars in the ADAC eco test, pushing the Toyota Prius, the long-term leader, into second place. This makes the Passat the most environmentally friendly car in Europe today. Wolfsburg's natural gas-powered mid-range vehicle was especially impressive in the pollutants test, where it notched up the maximum 50 points. Even in realistic driving cycles (i.e. CO2 emissions), the Passat scored a highly creditable 42 points. Until now, the hybrid Prius was the uncontested leader in these tough environmental rankings, with a score of 89 points.

On test, the Passat used 4.9kg of natural gas per 100km, equivalent to CO2 emissions of 134g/km. Amongst the low pollutant values, the figures for nitrogen oxides were outstanding. In contrast with the manufacturers' statutory data, which forms the basis of other environmental assessments, ADAC's eco test has been using realistic driving cycles to provide practical fuel consumption data since 2003. In addition to CO2 emissions, exhaust pollutant content is also measured. Unlike the regulatory tests, this method takes air conditioning operation and motorway usage into account. The leading German motoring association has now tested a total of almost 900 vehicles.