Best self-charging hybrid cars you don't have to plug in 2024

Welcome to not only the best hybrid car you can buy, but also our 2023 Family Car of the Year. The 181bhp hybrid setup in the Honda Civic allows for brisk performance – it managed 0-60mph in 6.8sec in our tests – while you should see upwards of 49mpg without needing to try too hard to drive gently.

Around town, the electric motor does most of the work, while the 2.0-litre petrol engine is pleasantly hushed when joins in on faster roads. Add to that lots of equipment even on entry-level models, a smart interior and space enough for a growing family – you can fit more into it than you can in the rival Vauxhall Astra, for example – and the Civic is a clear winner.

See our full Honda Civic review 

The Hyundai Santa Fe once played second fiddle to the Kia Sorento in the large SUV stakes, but now it's our reigning champion – in fact, we named it the best seven-seater at the 2023 recent What Car? Awards.

Helping to seal that win is the fact that there's generous space in the third row for adults, as well as in the second row, and that, in five-seat mode, you can fit 10 carry-on suitcases into the boot. Throw in the efficiency of hybrid power, plus a decent turn of speed if you put your foot down, and the Santa Fe is easy to recommend.

Be aware, however, that the Santa Fe's transition from petrol to electric power isn't the best around. In this regard, the rival Nissan X-Trail feels smoother.

See our full Hyundai Santa Fe review

The latest Honda Jazz is the small car to beat for passenger and luggage space, and its unique and incredibly flexible rear seating adds to its practicality.

It's not the most fun car in the class to drive (that’s the Ford Fiesta), nor the one with the nicest interior (that's the Mini Electric), but its excellent visibility helps make it easy to drive, while its economy, resale values and equipment levels are impressive. Its 1.5-litre petrol engine and electric motor produce a combined 96bhp, and it managed 0-60mph in a respectable 8.6sec in our tests.

See our full Honda Jazz review

Toyota clearly knows a thing or two about building great hybrids, because the Toyota Corolla is the first of two models from the Japanese manufacturer to appear on this list.

The Corolla offers super-low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions that make it an excellent choice as a private buy or as a company car. The ride is cosseting, while even the cheaper, 138bhp 1.8-litre version offers all the performance you need. The interior feels well screwed together, but the Ford Focus offers more adjustability for its driving position, and the Seat Leon places you lower down inside the car for a sportier feel. The Corolla strikes back with a long list of standard equipment.

If you want hybrid power with more space, take a look at the estate car version, the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports.

See our full Toyota Corolla review

This version of the five-star Kia Sportage – our favourite family SUV – combines a 1.6-litre petrol engine with an electric motor, and can run on electricity for short distances. It works so well that it's our pick of the Sportage range, and offers all the performance you could want. Indeed, it can hit 60mph in as little as 7.2sec – that's faster than hybrid versions of the rival Ford Kuga can manage.

It also has enough space for your family and all the luggage they might want to take with them. Indeed, you can fit more into the boot of the Sportage than you can into a Nissan Qashqai. We think the Sportage is so good that we named it Best Family SUV at our 2023 Car of the Year Awards.

See our full Kia Sportage review

Like every car on this list, the Kia Sorento is powered by a combination of a regular combustion engine – in this case a 1.6-litre petrol – and an electric motor, which assists the engine and allows the car to run for short distances on electric power alone.

It's nippy enough, reaching 60mph in 8.7sec, and can tow up to 1650kg behind it, so pulling a caravan should pose little trouble. Hybrid power should help to lower your fuel bills – the hybrid Sorento managed a respectable 37.1mpg in our real MPG tests.

What sets the Sorento apart from some large SUV rivals, such as the Land Rover Discovery Sport, is that all versions come with seven seats as standard, and adults will fit just fine, even in the Sorento's third-row seats.

See our full Kia Sorento review

With 227bhp, this hybrid version of the Hyundai Tucson family SUV is no slouch; it can hit 60mph in just 6.8sec, and that's faster than the rival Ford Kuga or Kia Sportage can manage.

The Tucson is especially good if you need to carry tall passengers in the rear regularly: two six-footers will be comfortable on its rear bench, even with the front seats slid well back. Elsewhere, the Tucson's interior features quality materials that should stand up well to the rigours of family life, and every version comes loaded with kit.

See our full Hyundai Tucson review

It's best to think of the Nissan X-Trail as being like the big-selling Nissan Qashqai family SUV but with a bit more space for passengers and luggage. That's because while mild hybrid versions of the X-Trail are available with seven seats, the regular hybrid version gets the same five-seat layout as the Qashqai, but with more room across the board.

The X-Trail's hybrid setup is rather special too. The 1.5-litre petrol engine never directly powers the wheels – instead, it charges the battery that feeds the 201bhp electric motor driving the wheels. If you value a softly sprung ride, then the X-Trail will suit you well, being more supple than the Mazda CX-60 and fidgeting less on the motorway than the Hyundai Santa Fe.

See our full Nissan X-Trail review

You can get the Kia Niro as a hybrid, as a plug-in hybrid and even as a fully electric car. It's the regular hybrid we think will tempt most buyers, though, because it feels reassuringly 'normal' to drive, and the 1.6-litre petrol engine and electric motor work together to maximise your fuel economy. With a combined 139bhp, the hybrid model isn't sports-car fast, but it's plenty quick enough for most situations. It's also smart: its sat-nav can recognise low-emission zones in city centres and save its battery power for when you're driving through them.

Space on board the Niro compares well with its family SUV rivals, and you can fit more into its boot than you can in the Honda HR-V or Lexus UX.

See our full Kia Niro review

The Toyota Yaris Cross is outstandingly efficient, returning an average of 60.1mpg in our real-world tests and an incredible 103.3mpg on our urban route. That's the kind of figure you'd expect to see from a plug-in hybrid car, achieved without the faff of dealing with cables when it's time to charge it.

Elsewhere, the Yaris Cross impresses with an interior that's well put together and easy to get comfy in – and which places you higher above the road than the rival Ford Puma and Skoda Kamiq – plus you shouldn't have any concerns about things going wrong, because Toyota is consistently a top performer in our annual Reliability Survey.

See our full Toyota Yaris Cross review

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