This year BMW entered a factory-standard 1-Series 116d EfficientDynamics diesel-powered five-door hatchback into the RAC Future Car Challenge from London to Brighton, and the car managed to achieve an incredible fuel consumption of 103mpg over the 64-mile route.

That performance won the cat the accolade of Best Internal Combustion Engine. The 103 mpg record was achieved by professional drivers from Green-Car-Guide.com editor, Paul Clarke, and engineering specialist Paul Andrews from Oaktec. You might not be able to hit that number in your 116d, but even the real world figure of 74.3mpg that BMW claims for the car is pretty impressive.

The 116d is a rear-wheel-drive hatchback with mediocre performance of zero to 62mph in 10.5 seconds, and top speed of 121mph. If speed is your treat, the 1-Series range includes many other models that will suit you, chief among which the brilliant M135i. This 116d is for those who want a cool and well-equipped Eco car for running around the town in.

Steve Chater, Corporate Operations Manager, BMW UK said: “We know our cars are class-leaders when it comes to efficiency and driving pleasure but this result raises the bar further. Being able to achieve more than 100mpg is an outstanding result and this is on top of it being the cleanest BMW ever offered for sale in the UK courtesy of 99g/km CO₂ emissions. 2012 has seen BMW launch ActiveHybrid models in 3, 5 and 7 Series guises, but while we push ahead bringing new technologies to market we will continue to enhance the conventional combustion engine as has been clearly demonstrated here.”