Revealed: the UK's most driver-friendly cities
Our research analysed how many hours are lost in traffic, the cost of parking and petrol, and the amount of EV chargers
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It’s official: Coventry is the UK’s most driver-friendly city.
We've crunched the numbers on 25 UK cities to crown the winner.
The study looked at petrol prices, the number of electric vehicle (EV) chargers, congestion levels, parking spaces and more to find the urban areas that drivers find the most enjoyable.
Here are – statistically – the best cities to spend time behind the wheel.
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Here’s your top five
Sam Sheehan, our motoring editor, said: “The top-ranking cities all offer a combination of factors which make drivers’ lives easier on a daily basis.
“By looking at what’s most important to modern drivers – petrol prices, congestion rates, parking availability and price, and EV chargers per 100,000 people – we created an index to determine the best overall performer, with each city assigned a score between zero and 100 in relation to these metrics.”
“Our results show how cities can become more driver-friendly, while spotlighting some of the best examples around the UK.”
1) Coventry
Leading the pack with an overall index score of 100.00, Coventry scored well across the board for driver-friendliness.
Parking (£1.34) is very affordable, and congestion (45 hours lost per year) is low in Coventry, too.
But it’s EV chargers that makes Coventry stand out – a staggering 499 per 100,000 people, that’s more than double second place (London with 221.3).
2) Southampton
Coming in second with a score of 84.76 is Southampton.
It excels in parking availability – with 5,646 spaces in the city, the highest in our study.
Although it’s slightly let down by higher-than-average parking costs (£2.80), so you have to pay for that convenience.
3) Plymouth
Scoring 82.06, Plymouth is a great all-rounder for city-drivers.
It combines the least time lost to congestion (31 hours) with the second most parking spaces (3,918) but is let down by electric car chargers (71 per 100,000 people).
4) Portsmouth
Achieving a score of 70.90, Portsmouth benefits from lower petrol prices (£1.48) and decent parking costs (£1.41), but it only offers 54.6 EV charging points per 100,000 people.
5) Norwich
Norwich scores a respectable 70,37 in fifth place, thanks to a good balance of affordable petrol (£1.52), solid parking spaces (2,594) and parking prices (£2.23), and reasonable congestion levels (44 hours lost).
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Cheapest petrol prices
Naturally, the cost of petrol is very important to drivers.
According to the data, Brighton and Hove boasts the lowest average cost of petrol at £1.42 per litre, putting it at the top of the petrol price index.
Leeds and Birmingham, however, have the highest petrol prices – both £1.62 per litre. The more you drive, the more this is going to affect your wallet, but it’s still worth knowing.
EV charging infrastructure
EVs are more mainstream than ever, so it’s key that cities keep up with demand and put in place the charging points to keep cars juiced up.
Coventry stands head and shoulders above in this category, with 499 EV public chargers per 100,000 people.
Despite scoring bottom of the index overall, London was second for EV charging with 221 chargers per every 100,000 people.
In third, Brighton and Hove also performed well, with 158.1 charging devices per 100,000 population.
This strong infrastructure supports the city's push towards sustainable driving despite higher parking costs on the south coast.
Congestion levels
Congestion is just a bit rubbish all around – it takes longer to get to places, and it also increases the emissions coming from car exhausts.
As you might expect, London has the misfortune of topping this list. Drivers lose an average of 99 hours per year in traffic in the capital.
On the other hand, Plymouth stands out with the lowest average number of hours lost in congestion per driver, at 31 hours per year.
This makes it an attractive choice for those looking to spend less time in their used VW in traffic.
Parking spaces and costs
We all know the feeling of driving round in circles looking for a parking space. And, even worse, the space we find costs a fortune to park in.
Parking availability isn’t an issue in Southampton, which has the most parking spaces (5,646) of the 25 cities studied – and £2.22 as the average parking cost isn’t too bad either.
On the other end of the spectrum, Stoke-on-Trent offers the fewest parking spaces (268), with London only having 280 spaces and being the most expensive (£9.50 on average).
So, that’s that. Coventry is the UK's most driver-friendly city for the year thanks to its affordable petrol, impressive EV charging infrastructure, and reasonable congestion and parking costs.
And, while cities like London excel in EV charging availability, their high congestion (and not to mention congestion charges) and poor parking push them down the pecking order of driver-friendliness.