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Electric Car Awards 2025: Best hybrid executive 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 executive cars

In 1945, Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson published her first work featuring the Moomins, a family of roundish, snowy white troll characters resembling hippopotamuses. She coined the name ‘Moomintroll’ with the intention of conveying a sense of softness, and the Moomins became a symbol of benignity and kindness.

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Since then, a number of Moomin film and TV adaptations have been produced, yet Jansson always maintained that Moominvalley is a strict vehicle-free zone. But if, one day, the Moomins did decide to take to the road, we think the Mercedes E-Class would be a very good option, because it shares the gentle and easygoing nature that they personify.

Indeed, the E-Class is nothing short of pillowy, tackling both beaten urban roads and wide expanses of motorway with ease. Sure, there are some rivals – such as the BMW 5 Series – that handle the twists and turns of country lanes with more assured poise when pressing on, but the E-Class feels like it was built to be driven in a less hurried manner.

And if you drive like a Moomin might, the E-Class excels, combining that eiderdown-soft ride with a quietness that even some much more expensive luxury cars struggle to match. It’s a long-distance companion par excellence.

So, the E-Class is sumptuous and refined by any standard, but it’s also an excellent plug-in hybrid (PHEV). It marries a 2.0-litre petrol engine to a 25.4kWh battery under the boot – and with that electric power, it can officially manage up to 69 petrol-free miles. That beats the BMW 530e PHEV, which can officially travel for 64 miles on electric power in its most efficient form, and the resultant low benefit-in-kind tax will please company car drivers.

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It’s no sluggard, either; in fact, the E-Class’s PHEV set-up packs a proper punch. The petrol engine is quick to step in when you decide to put your foot down, and with a total of 328bhp, the 0-62mph sprint takes a hot hatch-rivalling 6.5sec. It’ll easily keep up with the 530e, then, if the Moomins ever take up drag racing.

Interior space is another thing that the E-Class doesn’t scrimp on; with the latest model having expanded in every direction compared with its predecessor, our tall and portly heroes would be comfy in its front or rear seats. They’d find a little more luggage room in the 530e’s boot, though.

In a world where everything seems aggressive and fast-paced, we think the E-Class is a real breath of fresh air. Perhaps we’re Moomins at heart.