I live in the Bay Area and charging isn’t too much of an issue. I’m wondering if making the switch to EV is worth it. I’ll still have an old ICE truck (Tacoma) but I’ve gotten so used to Toyota I’m wondering if Prius Plug ins can be better than let’s say an Ioniq 5. I’m scared of the new…..I can install a charger at home..
Appreciate the support ahead of time. I was victim to auto theft which left me in an interesting spot having to find a car after only 9 months into my current 2025 Ioniq 5 SEL. $173/15k with my trade in. That’s now a total loss.
So have been looking into larger alternatives. I probably will receive 0 from the settlement. Started looking at the Ioniq 9, but then found auto driving capacity and performance upgrades and space for 2 kids, where the Lyric, Rivian, etc are enticing. it’s got me considering other brands. We’re an absolute no go on Tesla. Especially considering non Hyundai with the theft being a Hyundai technology issue (digital key was created somehow)
Looking for advice on where I should look. Personal experience appreciated and if willing share your contract terms, even better!
Online info seems scarce on what actually distinguishes a Full Hybrid from a Mild Hybrid.
From what I can tell, it seems to slot right in between a Mild Hybrid and a PHEV, but without any ability to charge it. Is it just a MHV with an oversized battery pack that still can't be charged, so still just a MHV?
I can't make heads or trails of it; just came across the term recently.
Hi
I am planning to buy the plug in Hybrid XC90
I don’t see much recommendation on the best year to buy …. I don’t trust YouTuber as seems they get money for making biased recommendations… everyone talks about bout Lexus XT as best 7 seater car ever … I drove it and didn’t like it ..
AI recommending to get the 2023 + with the ERAD 3 as previous one keep failing not sure because it’s unreliable or people ignore fluid change or leaving the battery with no charge …also not sure what the most appropriate trim to invest in … people says the air suspension is firm … no idea !
Any recommendations are highly appreciated !
I see used 2023 going for good price
I am wondering if a PHEV is worth it for my situation.
The car would likely be used primarily for work commutes. 12 miles round trip and 24 miles round trip for spouse and I. We would also use the car for the occasional road trip a few hours away.
I’m wondering if PHEV is ideal for this situation or if EV would be better.
We also have a full gas vehicle that we could use as needed. This would be our second car.
Any recs, reasoning, etc would be recommended!
I have my eye on one that just came up for sale. 30,000 miles, $52,000. Any opinions from this wise group? Is this a good car at a good price? It's been so hard to find any PHEVs in stock that I tempted to buy it asap, but also worried that I'm jumping in too quickly, as I have not done lots and lots of reading up on this yet.
Hi everyone,
I was pretty much set on getting a Hyundai Tucson FWD Full Hybrid in the MAXX trim, but now, for only €1,500 more, I’ve been offered a Hyundai Tucson 4WD Plug-in Hybrid (252hp version) in the Black Line Techno Sky trim (Spanish Hyundai finishings)
Apart from being AWD, the plug-in hybrid comes with quite a few interesting extras: adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go and additional driver assistance systems, panoramic sunroof, leather interior, better sound system, etc.
The problem is that I don’t have a charger in my home garage, so I’m not sure whether it makes sense to spend a little more to get the PHEV with all those extra features, considering that quite often I probably wouldn’t be driving it with a charged battery.
My understanding is that, once the battery is depleted, the PHEV basically behaves like a regular full hybrid, but with the disadvantage of carrying more weight, which means higher fuel consumption, slightly less range, etc. Other than that, I don’t see many major downsides.
For only €1,500 extra, would you go for the PHEV despite not having a home charger?
Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated!
Hi! I am about to start commuting 60 miles per day, and am looking for a hybrid. Is there any hybrid you would recommend that has 35+ mpg and can tow 2,000-4,000 lbs? TIA!
Have nearly 2k miles on my new 26 Hybrid EX AWD with Pano Roof package and thought I would share my experience living with the car. This should all apply for 2027 as it’s a full carryover model.
Should I just get a Tucson instead?
I found the seats in the Sportage more comfortable and having a spare tire on the hybrid trim is nice as well.
How is the ride?
Comfortable and soft. The suspension, especially the rear, gets upset over bumps and broken pavement. On curves especially you can feel it moving around. I attribute that to insufficient damping on these cars. It is a bit more floaty than competitors.
What is my ACTUAL mpg?
Anywhere from 34 to 40 mpg, and that’s not going by the trip computer. Do the calculations at the pump. On the highway you’ll get 35 mpg, local streets you can get over 40 sometimes. I imagine in the winter it will drop as the engine will need to run longer to heat the cabin. Pound for pound I think the EPA estimates pretty much average out across all seasons.
What is it like to drive?
It’s a quick car. But if you are used to driving traditional automatics, the hybrid system has a different feel. Sort of akin to a DCT, you will need to get used to the feeling of the motor acting as the torque converter - creeping the car forward and filling in before the engine clutch can engage. Also has a full brake by wire system. It’s weird on hills. Take it on a good test drive, but it’s nothing you can’t get used to.
Wind noise is very well controlled as is tire noise for the most part however bump intrusions into the cabin are loud and reverberate/echo in the cabin. Like if you’ve ever sat in the back of a Tesla Model Y when it hits a bump. But on a nice relatively smooth road it is really quiet inside.
Headlights?
Not the best but not bad, auto high beams are a bit slow to respond to oncoming cars.
How is the driver assistance?
All trims have hands on detection for the lane centering which is amazing. You don’t need to put torque on the wheel, just keep a hand on it somewhere and the computer doesn’t complain. Lane centering likes to be a little to the right of center in the lane and can’t always handle quicker curves that well or is late to react. Kind of like it’s not looking down road far enough. The adaptive cruise reacts quickly but it’s not as smooth as I would like. I turned down acceleration to the lowest setting that feels the most natural to me. Also sometimes lane departure assist tugs the wheel because it thinks I’m drifting out of a lane that doesn’t exist.
Is it worth it over the gas trim?
Definitely it’s quieter and quicker. Both nice to have as a commuter car.
Are these cars reliable?
So far they have proven to be, the only big mandatory maintenance item that isn’t a fluid or brakes is the HSG belt. Do it by 70,000 miles or EV/Engine engagement will suffer.
Let me know if you have any other questions about it. The rest of the car is very comparable to the rest of the compact SUV segment.
I got a little out of control comparing the efficiency of the 2025 PHEV Pacifica vs my previous 2018 Pacifica and created a slide deck of sorts.
It's a click through page that has the data points of each tank of gas. The first tank in my tracking started back in mid-June and was mostly plug-in city miles where I was able to charge before it switched to gas.
My second tank was a road trip I just did to the Field of Dreams site to watch the St Paul Saints play the Iowa Cubs.
Check out the link and have fun clicking thru! I've had a blast working on the minute details and will update the site with each tank for a whole calendar year
Hi guys, sorry bit of a long question but here goes:
I’m In the market for a new car. My budget is max £25,000 and I’m looking at getting a second hand car.
My round trip to work is 60 miles which I do 5 times a week and I’ll have a 550 mile round trip once a month to visit family.
I have the ability to charge at home so an EV would save me a lot of money in fuel costs
I’ve mainly been looking at getting a polestar 2 82kWh (409 mile range) or a petrol plug in hybrid with a battery range of 70ish miles.
Main pros I can see for an EV is the lower cost of charging while the main pro I see for a plug in hybrid is the ability to not have to stop for too long/ worry about range on my longer trips.
TLDR: long range EV (300+ real world miles) or plug in hybrid with 70mile+ battery range
Just got a RAV4 PHEV. Absolutely love the thing. My building has two level 2 EV chargers, however they are frequently taken. Scoped out the garage and there are about 10 spots near a wall outlet. Only thing is the outlets have a weather protector that doesn’t let my plug sit flush and is stressing the cable. It works for now but long term could cause damage. Any ideas for an adapter? Needs to handle the amperage without melting. Considering a short 10 gauge extension cord but the control box would sit on the ground where it could get wet. Any ideas?
Eastern Canada here. Currently drive a 2015 Mazda CX5 AWD. It’s got 420,000 KMs on the clock, and also, my family of five has mostly outgrown it.
I am looking at my options for a PHEV SUV that gives me at least a little more room than my CX5.
The reason I want a PHEV is that I have 3000-4000 kWhs annually of excess solar generation. I estimate that this could cover 10-12k KMs of range.
Budget is CAD$30k max. Needs to be AWD. I do a lot of winter driving on rural roads and I have a steep 1000 ft gravel driveway that can be tricky in winter.
Other nice things to have would be more than 5 seats and towing capacity of at least 2000lbs.
The majority of our trips are within a 60km radius on a mix of highway and rural roads. We do a city commute every few weeks that is about 350kms round trip. Occasionally we do road trips further afield.
So far on my list is a used Mitsubishi Outlander ideally 2023 or newer, and the Kia Sorrento PHEV.
I am not sure what other options I should consider, either used PHEVs or otherwise. Part of me is drawn to the idea of buying a used standard hybrid minivan for the space and utility, but it would be unfortunate to let my excess solar generation slip by.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
We bought a 2025 Pacifica PHEV last march and was always curious what the MPG number truly represented. Thought I had the math figured out with MPGe but the math didn't match after the fill-up today. Decided to run the numbers and see how the energy cost compared to energy cost with our 2018 Pacifica we traded in for the 2025.
These numbers are based on my personal driving around the Minneapolis/St Paul metro area and the ability to plug-in midday and let fully charge with a phase2 charger. Utility rates are from my Xcel bill and ChargePoint account. The gas estimate for the 2018 Pacifica is based on a rolling average of gas prices in the Twin Cities from the same time period.
I am planning to buy a new BMW X3. I was thinking to go for a petrol one BMW X3 20 but my partner is arguing that the plug in,could be better option as more economic in fuel consumption but also in taxes in Geneva and that where the technologies are evolving to. I never had a car in Switzerland before, and the idea is to use it for long distances in the weekends but not sure how often to be used inside Geneva because all the traffic. The important note is I don’t have electric borne in our premises and I will need to resource it elsewhere, which’s I assume it will not be everyday as I am not commuting daily ? I have seen in the internet that after 80,000 km or 10 y of the car ownership , the maintenance of plug in is much higher than the petrol one.Theoretically, I will sell it after few years but I am not sure if the plug in is keeping better the price in used market because of the maintenance cost?. Any expert advice? Maybe also regarding the driving experience itself ( I have tested mild hybrid but not the plug in and I liked the 20)
We are planning to replace our 2010 Ford Everest with the current model. However, we are left with the dilemma na baka may ilabas silang Hybrid version in the near future. Can someone confirm kung mayroon ba?
After a LOT of research I finally got my first plug-in vehicle, a 2013 Outlander and I'm very much enjoying it.
I actually got it a month ago, but couldn't get the electrician to install the outlet until this week so now I'm actually enjoying the benefits.
I upgraded from a 1996 Jimny that I absolutely loved, but it was too small for my lifestyle and had severe rust problems to the point it would take more money than it's worth to fix than it's worth.
The newest car I've ever owned was from 1999 and I've been driving the Jimny for 8 years and it was old fashioned when I got it so clearly I can live without any gizmos and gadgets.
Here is why I got this particular model:
The AWD requirement, budget, and height restriction really limited my options and knocked any BEVs off my list. Even 2015+ Outlanders grew to 1710 or even bigger. It was essentially the Outlander, Eclipse Cross, or a ICE or hybrid Subaru or something. I test drove an Eclipse Cross PHEV and actually quite liked it but it would have been at bare minimum twice what I paid and I would have had to take out a loan and I did not like it twice as much. The extra space in the Outlander already has come in handy.
I'm genuinely surprised how much I like it. I loved the Jimny and held on to it much longer than I should have because it was such a fun car (unless I needed to go on the highway, then it was terrifying). The Outlander was a family oriented logical decision, not a fun one but I'm enjoying driving it more than I thought. Not plugged in, the gas mileage isn't great. Better than the Jimny but not by much which itself should be impressive since it weighs more than twice as much.
So now I'm finally driving my daily trips on electricity. I expect my next vehicle will be a BEV if prices come down and public charging improves (it's not great where I live but slowly changing) but that's 5-10 years down the road. I'm just happy with the Outlander now.
Dear All,
I have a kia niro hybrid with 12500 miles and 71 plate. Well used. Serviced by dealer. Only planning to upgrade as require more space. When we thought of changing we were thinking of EV - skoda enyaq, toyota bz4x also considering PHEV like toyota rav4. But torn between to buy new or used. Also worried about longevity as do not wnat to keep vahnging car every 3 years. We do mostly local runs and every 3 months go for family long journey. Also we ahve solar. Apprecaite any guidance as to if I should just continue with my hybrid niro till it dies or just upgrade to EV? Which car better ( opinions of proud owner of the brands we are considering).
Thanks
My lease is ending for my Kia niro EV and looking to switch to a PHEV
I personally really like the auto regen system it has where it will automatically apply the regen based on how far you are from the person in front of you. You don’t need to push the paddles for that.
Does anyone know a good Phev that has auto regen and also a 360 cam?
I’ve been doing research and it looks like maybe the some mercedes, Lexus, Kia, Hyundai and Nissan do but I was looking for other brands I could check out as well and also looking for anyone’s opinions if they owned any of these. I used to have a gas Mercedes with a 360 cam and I loved it.
The cheaper the better but I know 360 cam cars may be pricey so I might be asking for the impossible lol
***forgot to add AWD please (like I’m not already asking for too much 🤣🤣) I think that narrows down what I found on my research a bunch as well but I get so many different answers online it confuses me a lot