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  1. Five of the sexiest ways to avoid the new £25 congestion charge
  2. Lotus Exige S Performance Pack
  3. Land Rover Freelander TD4 HSE
  4. Mercedes-Benz SLK 350
  5. BMW 635d
  6. Audi A8 3.0 TDI quattro Sport

Mercedes-Benz SLK 350

It's amazing how the car manufacturers manage to keep adding power while also managing to reduce consumption and emissions. The new SLK is the perfect example, the revised SLK 350 gaining 32bhp over its predecessor -to boast a nicely rounded 300bhp - yet it achieves this with a reduction in CO2 from 242g/km to 219g/km. That's under the £25 charge zone, meaning you can drive the SLK 350 - a 155mph, 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds capable car - around London for just £8 a day. There's a but though: the SLK 350 only sneaks under that CO2 threshold if you opt for it with the 7G-Tronic automatic transmission, the manual being 2g/km into the hefty £25 charge area.

Still, Mercedes admits that only around 7% of customers opt for manuals, and of that 7% most are the smaller engined versions. That makes manual SLK 350s a rare beast indeed, and means any new SLK 350s you see enjoying London's sights with the roof-down are almost certainly autos and on an inexpensive £8 sight-seeing trip.

Tuesday February 19