The Best Premium Plug-in Hybrid SUVs
We’ve listed the best of the best in the green-SUV market
7. Volvo XC60
The XC60 sits as the middle child of the Volvo SUV range, bigger and bolder than the XC40 but more reasonably proportioned than the XC90. It’s a fine riding, ultra safe and super comfortable car to own and live in. The interior is best-in-class with ergonomic controls and perfectly shaped seats. The boot is massive too and there’s a very appealing central screen which manages most of the cars interior functions, meaning the dashboard is nice and minimalistic. It’s all rather swanky. The XC60 uses a particularly powerful 2.0-litre engine, which produces 317 horsepower, and mates it with an electric motor which provides a further 83 horsepower, leaving the total output at a nice round 400 bhp. Not bad at all, and the XC60 T8 hybrid starts from £55,680 - which means it’s certainly not the most expensive car on this list...
6. Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Mitsubishi might not be a name that you would typically put up alongside the premium manufacturers, but the Outlander PHEV isn’t your typical Mitsubishi. It’s the best selling hybrid car in Europe and it comes with a leather interior, semi-autonomous functionality, loads of interior luxuries and an award-winning powertrain which is good for 136 mpg if driven correctly. What’s not to love? It’s on sale from £35,760, making it the second most affordable and most accessible SUV on this list - which is probably why it consistently sells so well.
5. Range Rover Sport PHEV
We couldn’t list premium SUVs without dropping in the Range Rover Sport, which is now available as a hybrid model. Excellent. Choosing the hybrid doesn’t detract from the Range Rover experience any way whatsoever, it is still a frighteningly well-equipped car with a huge amount of luxury and space on offer. The Sport PHEV also out-performs the diesel versions as the 404 horsepower hybrid engine will do 0-60 mph in just 6.3 seconds. You can also get a blissful 26 miles of electric-only battery power and under normal driving, the Sport PHEV will emit just 69 g/km of CO2. The Sport PHEV is on sale now with prices from £72,785.
4. Kia Niro
KIA might not be a name synonymous with luxury, but it certainly is a brand famous for technology, reliability and refinement, and this Niro occupies the compact hybrid SUV segment, which has been surprisingly neglected considering how popular compact SUVs have been in the last ten years. So, how economical is this Niro PHEV? Well, when driven correctly, KIA reckons it will return over 200 mpg… which is unheard of in the market. Of course, this is a KIA so buyers get a nice 7-year warranty to go with every model. The Niro is on sale now with prices from £34,995, making it the most affordable car in this list.
3. Volvo XC90
The XC90 is the daddy of the Volvo XC SUV range and it is one seriously large piece of kit. It’s available as a seven-seater and is perhaps one of the safest cars on the market thanks to Volvos impeccable efforts to protect their customers. This makes it extremely desirable for family buyers, who will also like the fact that it can return 113 miles per gallon thanks to the electric motor working in tandem with the petrol engine. That motor does more than miles though, it adds serious power. The total output of the XC90 T8 Hybrid is a staggering 390 hp, which is good enough to get the car from 0-60mph in just 5.8 seconds. I’m sure someone once said hybrids were boring? The XC90 is on sale now from £67,375.
2. Range Rover PHEV
Oh, how the tables have turned. It wasn’t that long ago that full-sized Range Rovers were socially stigmatised due to being ‘gas guzzlers’ but now, Jaguar Land Rover is adding a huge range of hybrid models to their showrooms and the Range Rover hybrid is a pretty solid starting point. Despite weighing well over 2 tons, the hybrid Range Rover will still do up to 25 miles of fully electric driving while emitting just 72g/km of CO2… which is less than a Vauxhall Corsa. The starting price of the Range Rover hybrid is a hefty £89,300, so it’s probably a good thing that you’ll be making savings through ownership.
1. BMW X3 xDrive30e
And top of the leaderboard is the new hybrid X3 from BMW. BMW didn’t rush the process of electrifying their fossil-fueled cars. They have taken their time and look to have got it bang-on with the new hybrid version of their X3 SUV. The xDrive30e isn’t actually on sale until the end of the year, however, it was unveiled a few months ago at the Geneva motor show and early driving impressions indicate that the X3 has what it takes to become a top-selling premium hybrid SUV. The two takeaway stats are 117mpg and 56g/km of CO2. The former being good for the bank account and the latter being good (well, better) for the planet. There’s no nailed-on pricing structure for the X3 hybrid but we expect prices to sit around the £40,355 mark.