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Electric Car Awards 2025: Best hybrid estate car
With fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars now coming in all shapes and sizes, we’ve named the best new and used buys in every class. Here we look at the best hybrid estate cars...
Volkswagen Passat 1.5 TSI eHybrid 204 Elegance
In 1993, when electronic dance act D:Ream performed U R The Best Thing on the BBC’s Top of the Pops, a gyrating Brian Cox was on keyboards. He had already earned a degree in physics before D:Ream stormed the charts, though, and today we know him better as a broadcaster and authority on astronomy and particle physics.
It’s what he was destined to be, and the Volkswagen Passat was always destined to be an estate car. Or so it seems; after all, for some time, VW’s long-running ‘big’ car has sold twice as well as an estate than as a saloon. Hence the decision to offer the latest generation only as an estate. A good call, we reckon; it’s one of the most practical cars you can buy.
Our favourite version, the eHybrid plug-in hybrid (PHEV), has a much bigger boot than any direct rival; the only more capacious PHEV estate is the much pricier 530e version of the BMW 5 Series Touring.
Interior space is vast, too; the five members of D:Ream’s live band could travel together without squabbling, thanks in part to limo-like levels of rear leg room.
The Passat is a very good estate, then, but it’s also an extremely good PHEV. Thanks to its sizeable, 19.7kWh (usable) battery, it can officially manage 80 miles of petrol-free motoring on a single charge. That means the petrol engine might not chime in at all on a typical journey, spelling low fuel bills and company car tax.
Even when the engine is running, though, it fades into the background once you’re up to speed. In fact, the Passat is in its element as a long-distance cruiser, because wind and road noise are also well suppressed. And while the ride can be a little choppy on uneven urban roads, it has a wonderful loping quality to it on the motorway.
Yes, as estates go, the rival BMW 3 Series Touring is a more entertaining drive, but – as Professor Cox would no doubt agree – the most important thing is space.
Best used hybrid estate
BMW 530e Touring (2021-2024)
Price from £19,000
All the desirability you’d expect of a 5 Series, with added practicality and the bonus of a handsome electric-only range.
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