Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £9,149 to £9,149
Planet friendly, cheap to run.
Interior looks cheap, range fluctuates, seats feel flimsy and unsupportive, expensive lease.
A real electric car that's great for the city and kind to your bank balance.
The i-MiEV is easy to drive. Deactivate the immobiliser, turn a switch and wait a second or two for the the green 'Ready' symbol to appear on the dash. Then you're good to go.
Slip the conventional gearlever into Drive and you're off. As electric motors deliver all their torque at once the i-MiEV feels surprisingly willing and very smooth.
While cruising you can move the lever into Eco, which limits the torque and reduces the drain on the battery. Slip the lever a notch further into B and this allows the battery to regain some charge from the energy that would otherwise go to waste through braking - say down a steep hill.
There's one area where the batteries come into their own and that's the handling. Having 200kg of weight in the floor of the car lowers the centre of gravity, so you can pile in to a corner with full confidence that the car isn't going to topple over.
