Let’s be honest with ourselves. Most of us don’t really care about the CO2 emissions of our cars. There are simply far too many other things that are more important if you’re buying a used car.

Sure, lots of drivers like to talk the eco-friendly talk – but when it comes to parting with their cash, they don’t point their wallets at that low emission 1 litre Wippo Thingamibob. And with good reason.

In fact, with at least five good reasons. Here are drivers’ top priorities when buying a used car, according to a new survey* of UK drivers:

1. Reliability – 77%: The only surprise here is that it isn’t higher. Are there that many people who like fixing their own cars?
2. Safety – 54%: I suspect this mostly represents buyers with families (and it’s also a popular justification for buying a 4×4!)
3. Performance – 48%: When you’re paying all that money, you want to enjoy using it – don’t you?
4. Styling – 33%: It’s all about image and lifestyle for some people.
5. Space – 32%: In the end, a car is useless if it won’t hold everything you need to carry – although it’s quite interesting that styling comes just above space…

*Source

So do any used car buyers care about emissions at all? The good news is that 26% of used car buyers rate emissions as important when choosing a vehicle.

The bad news is that this figure has fallen since 2006 – when 29% of people rated emissions as important!

Of course, this is only in the UK. To get some balance, let’s look at things in the USA.

Here, the latest J.D. Power study has found that only 11% of new car buyers – i.e. the ones with more money – are ‘very willing’ to pay more for an environmentally-friendly vehicle. Oh dear.

Despite people’s general concerns about greenhouse gases, it looks like helping the environment is going to have to wait until car makers can sell green cars and vans at the same prices as dirty ones, doesn’t it?