A new survey by a leading insurance comparison website has found the cars which will travel furthest once the fuel light on your dashboard has started flashing.

Compare the Market asked 1,000 British drivers how they think they can drive once the fuel light has come on, and 37% of those questioned believed that it was less than 20 miles. The research found that even the worst car on the list for fuel light driving, the BMW M3, could still manage 32 miles.

The best performing car was Volkswagen’s Passat, which had an impressive 75 miles of range with the fuel light. The Passat has an impressive record for longevity, having entered the Guinness Book of Records for the greatest distance driven on a single tank of fuel, covering 1,581.88 miles in Croatia back in 2011.

The most impressive car brand across all its fleet for extra driving miles with the fuel light on is Volvo, with an average of 58.83 miles across all their cars, the Volvo V40 the star performer with 70.6 of additional range.

Ford, Lexus, Volkswagen and BMW complete the top five, the 5 Series Beemer more than making up for the M3’s poor performance with 68.33 miles of extra coverage.

The worst performing brand overall was the Mini, offering only 37.52 miles once the fuel light comes on, which is good to know if you are caught out in the countryside.

Top Performing Cars
1. Volkswagen Passat - 75.0 miles

2. Volvo V40 - 70.1 miles

3. Ford Mondeo - 70.0 miles

4. BMW 5 Series - 68.3 miles

5. Toyota Prius - 66.6 miles

6. Mercedes-Benz E-Class - 64.0 miles

7. Audi Q5 - 63.8 miles

8. Range Rover Sport - 63.4 miles

9. Mazda 6 - 63.0 miles

10. Audi A6 - 62.1 miles

Sell or part ex your car today