Hybrid car choice - ?

[simongt]

When we eventually need to replace our current ICE car, I was debating getting a hybrid.
As far as I understand, the advantage of a hybrid is that at low speeds e.g., in town traffic, the electric motor does the job, the ICE only cutting in at 'open road' speeds, thus economising on fuel consumption.
However, of the modest 5k. or so annual miles we cover, between 80 - 90% is open road driving, thus the electric motor probably wouldn't have much opportunity to do the business except in leaving home for the journey and occasionally in traffic holdups and so on. So aside from insurance & servicing costs which could tip the balance, would it be worth getting a hybrid for the very modest fuel saving, or simply stick to an ICE car - ?

 

[Aristotle Kristatos]

Keep the car you have running and wait for hydrogen

 

[Gillstay]

I looked into this and just decided to make my car more fuel efficient and got it up to similar mpg as a hybrid.

 

[cyberknight]

Were similar , we would like a new car but as our mileage is so low the break even point would be more than likely after we moved onto another vehicle .

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

My wife had a Toyota CH-R for 4 years, 2018 onwards
She loved it, but it was like a coffin inside; black carpet, black leather seats, black head-lining
It had that ridiculous 'privacy glass; in the rear, when coupled with windows the rough size of a sheet of A4 paper, it was dire

Economy/MPG; maybe if she wasn't as lead-footed, it might have faired better?, it barely gave better than 45MPG (plus regular fill-ups due to a smallish tank), whereas my Octavia was £30VED, & it was a bad day, if the averages worked out on brimming the tank, were lower than 55MPG averages
Would she have another one?...YES!

 

[Drago]

I've been the hybrid and the diesel way, and much as it pains me to say it the diesel was quicker and rather more economical. However, if if you're motoring is composed of shortish journeys for the most part it wouldn't be ideal for you.

I can recommend the one except to that rule, which was our XC90 T8. That was a plug in, and used assiduously could give electric motoring all week (I could get well into the 30s, Mrs D rather less) and only spark up the petrol motor at weekends when heading out of town. The downside there is it was a £77,000 car on 2020, and rather more now, so an expensive way to save a few quid on fuel.

In your position I'd stick with the ICE.

 

[DRM]

In my experience I've had 3x hybrid cars as courtesy vehicles, the Toyota ones with a CVT gearbox, my over riding memory was for long motorway runs they guzzle petrol like there's no tomorrow, the engine is fair screaming as you try to get up to the speed limit on the motorway, and the hybrid system will not come into play, our own car is a Suzuki Swift hybrid, this works just like an E=Bike with pedal assist, i.e the electric motor assists the engine, which doesn't have to work as hard to keep at a set speed, but charges the battery on the over run, or when descending a hill, this seems to average around 58 to 60 MPG on a long run

 

[Drago]

Technically a lot of the stuff being touted as hybrids or mild hybrids for the likes of Ford, Peugeot, Suzuki, etc, are actually Integrated Motor Assist. Honda were there with thet a quarter century ago. Its time has long past.

My all means stick or twist, but for the most part this supposed halfway house of hybrid is neither fish nor foul. Its just an excuse to relieve you of an extra dose of shekels on the way to electrification - save your pennies and jump that step entirely if you ever go the e route.

 

[biggs682]

The old Honda IMA was a hoot to drive or at least the original Civic 4 Dr saloon I had as a company car was back in the day .

Our neighbour has a new Golf Hybrid and he loves it, not sure I am convinced it is the way to go personally.

 

[CXRAndy]

Keep the car you have running and wait for hydrogen

Everyone will be waiting a Very long time before hydrogen cars become the dominant transport

 

[Aristotle Kristatos]

Everyone will be waiting a Very long time before hydrogen cars become the dominant transport

Nah they have them ready for production already

 

[CXRAndy]

If you are doing longer journeys stick with ICE or go full electric

Hybrids, overall are poor. Unless you can get the ones which have a a charge port and can do 40+ miles on electric .

 

[Tenkaykev]

Everyone will be waiting a Very long time before hydrogen cars become the dominant transport

I don't think they ever will Andy, maybe a niche for fixed locations like docks / quarries, but not for general transportation.

 

[Jameshow]

Technically a lot of the stuff being touted as hybrids or mild hybrids for the likes of Ford, Peugeot, Suzuki, etc, are actually Integrated Motor Assist. Honda were there with thet a quarter century ago. Its time has long past.

My all means stick or twist, but for the most part this supposed halfway house of hybrid is neither fish nor foul. Its just an excuse to relieve you of an extra dose of shekels on the way to electrification - save your pennies and jump that step entirely if you ever go the e route.

No so with a plug in hybrid if the majority of miles are local with the occasional motorway jaunt.

Something like a Volvo v60 or outlander would be ideal.

 

[simongt]

If you are doing longer journeys stick with ICE or go full electric

The majority of our journeys are longer; we don't use the car for short runs, bikes are the first choice and with the current hype / contradictions about EVs, range, varying power and availability of charging points, temperature variations affecting charging and range, ( who do you believe - ? ) think we'll stick to ICE.