The estate car used to be the model of choice for families, dog owners and antique dealers across the UK but has, in recent years, been knocked from its practical perch by the rise of the more fashionable SUV.
All isn't lost for fans of a straightforward wagon, however. Electric power and the more slippery, aerodynamic shape of an estate car are the perfect pairing for those who carry kids, shopping and boot-fulls of garden rubbish to the tip, and want to travel long distances.
You can read our guide on the best electric estate cars, but what if you're not ready to go all-in with an EV estate?
A hybrid (or ‘self-charging hybrid’), which pairs a petrol engine with a small electric motor, can be a good option for those wishing to dip their toe into electric motoring and want to carry lots of stuff. A plug-in hybrid, meanwhile, offers a larger pure-electric driving range and can be plugged into a charging point just like a normal electric car.
Read on to discover the best hybrid estate cars on sale.
We're huge fans of Peugeot's current renaissance and rank models like the e-2008 crossover and e-208 hatchback as our favourites. The 508 is more of the forgotten child in the range, but in many ways it's even more appealing.
Admittedly, we say that because of the way it looks. While many of the mainstream brands like Ford and Vauxhall have abandoned the family estate car market, Peugeot is sticking at it with its stunning 508 SW. Its super sharp design is matched with a quality interior and a surprisingly large 530-litre boot (1,780 litres with the seats down). The rear seats fold down with neat handles in the boot and the seat backs lie pretty flatly. There's even a ski hatch.
Peugeot says the 222bhp 1.6-litre plug-in hybrid should give up to 39 miles of electric range, while company car drivers will love how the 508 emits a low 26g/km CO2. There's even a high performance model on offer called the Peugeot Sport Engineered (or 'PSE' for short), which packs 355bhp, yet still offers up to 34 miles of EV range.
9. Volkswagen Passat GTE Estate
Our pick: Passat GTE Advance
Price: Range from £44,380
Electric range: Up to 36 miles
The Passat GTE was actually one of the first plug-in hybrid estates available in the family sector, originally going on sale in 2015. Despite the car’s large dimensions, the boot isn’t the largest at 483 litres (you can blame the placement of the batteries under the boot floor for that) but it is of a good shape. The interior is also really nicely put together and it’s a comfortable car to soak up the miles.
While many of the plug-in hybrid cars on this list are available in different trim levels, the Passat only comes in GTE guise. While GTE might denote some sporting pretensions, the Passat GTE is far from being a sporting PHEV load-lugger like the Peugeot 508 SW PSE, with the big VW favouring a more relaxing driving experience. The 1.4-litre plug-in hybrid set-up is the same you’ll find in other hybrid estate cars featured further down this list, and here it develops 215bhp. The 13kWh battery gives a range of up to 36 miles, while VW claims CO2 emissions are between 31-38g/km – good but quite a few rivals are even cleaner and will cost less to run as a company car.
The Passat is due for replacement soon, but even the old car is a fine lugger
8. Cupra Leon Estate e-Hybrid
Our pick: Leon Estate VZ2 e-Hybrid
Price: Range from £40,000
Electric range: Up to 32 miles
Cupra is taking electric seriously. It already has the Born EV and the Formentor plug-in hybrid SUV, but it hasn’t forgotten about the good old estate car. The Leon Estate e-Hybrid isn’t as sporty as petrol-powered versions, but it offers a good blend between performance and super-cheap running costs.
Apart from sitting marginally higher off the road (and the charging flap) you’d struggle to tell the difference between the PHEV and the powerful petrol Cupra Leon Estates on the outside, and that’s a nice touch. The e-Hybrid still has all the visual aggression we’ve come to expect from SEAT’s sportier sister brand, and, like the Golf and Passat GTEs, pairs a 1.4-litre petrol engine with an electric motor. In the Cupra there’s a punchy 243bhp allowing a 0-62mph sprint in a very respectable seven seconds, while the 12.8kWh battery gives a claimed 32 miles of silent electric running.
The sporty exterior is carried over to the inside where there’s plenty of bronze trim and a pair of sport seats up front. In the back, there’s plenty of headroom and the boot measures a very impressive 470 litres – that’s almost as much as the Mercedes C300e featured further down this list.
The Leon uses the same powertrain as the Passat and isn't short of space either
The Corolla Touring Sports is the only car on our list that’s a conventional hybrid, or a ‘self-charging hybrid’, as they’re sometimes known as. You don’t plug it in like the other cars on this list as it has a very small battery; consequently the electric range is very small, but – and this important – it’s still incredibly fuel efficient with 64mpg possible (in our testing it’s possible to get over 70mpg).
Toyota has been building hybrids for over 25 years now and the expertise shows as the Corolla is very pleasant and relaxing to drive. In contrast to earlier Corollas, the interior is attractively styled and nicely made, and it’s a very easy car to live with. It’s quite good looking too, we think, and there’s more than enough space for a family in the back with decent head and knee room. The boot is absolutely enormous – there’s between 581 to 596 litres on offer, depending on the engine you choose, rising to around 1,600 litres with the seats folded.
The Corolla Touring Sports is a very rational car, but beware of the Suzuki Swace. It’s identical to the Toyota but comes with a set of Suzuki badges instead, and is noticeably cheaper to buy.
The Corolla is more interesting than its reputation would suggest
6. Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer
Our pick:Astra Sports Tourer Hybrid GS
Price:From £39,785
Electric range:Up to 35 miles
Vauxhall is lining up to be an all-electric brand in the next few years and you can already buy a fully electric version of the Astra Sports Tourer. But if that’s not quite right for you, then the plug-in hybrid could be a winner.
Unlike most models on this list, you can have your Astra Sports Tourer with two different engine options. They’re effectively the same petrol/electric powertrain but tuned to produce 178bhp or 222bhp. The more powerful version is, predictably, a bit quicker (0.2 seconds on the 0-62mph run) but other than that, there’s nothing to choose between them. Both will do 35 miles of electric-only driving with CO2 emissions of 30g/km and are pleasant enough to drive.
What’s impressive is that the relatively small Astra offers a roomy 516 litres of boot space with the rear seats still in place - more than some of the larger premium models on our lists. The interior isn’t as polished as some alternatives but as a straightforward family load-lugger, there’s plenty to like about this latest Astra.
The latest Astra estate is a decent load lugger with a choice of PHEV motors
5. Peugeot 308 SW Hybrid
Our pick:308 SW Hybrid GT
Price:From £39,160
Electric range:Up to 35 miles
If you're a nerd like us and know your cross-brand platform sharing then you’ll know that under the skin, the Peugeot 308 SW is largely the same as the Astra above. So like the Astra, you can get an all-electric version and plug-ins with two different power outputs.
We’ve placed the Peugeot higher partly because it’s more interesting to look at inside and out and partly because it’s fractionally cheaper. More importantly, though, the French spin on this particular plug-in setup has a bigger boot. Its 548 litres is even bigger than the 508’s and beats every other car on this list.
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The 308 just beats the Astra on style and practicality
4. Mercedes-Benz C300e Estate
Our pick: C300e AMG Line Premium Plus
Price: Range from £60,585
Electric range: Up to 65 miles
Mercedes has dabbled in both petrol and diesel plug-in hybrid motoring for a while now, and the new C300e is probably its best yet. The 1.5-litre petrol engine may seem a little small for a mid-sized Merc but the 25.4kWh battery certainly isn’t – it gives a whopping electric range of up to 65 miles, which is large for a plug-in hybrid. More than that, the C300e can travel up to 70mph in pure EV mode, while fast-charging is possible at speeds of up to 55kWh – that’s very impressive.
The C300e uses a lot of the larger S-Class PHEV’s hardware and there’s a whiff of the posh limo inside, too. There are plenty of expensive feeling materials used while the tech is arguably best-in-class with plenty of features accessible through the large (optional) 11.9-inch portrait touchscreen. And while previous PHEV C-Classes felt spatially compromised due to where the batteries were placed, that’s not the case with the new one – there’s still a useful 490-litre boot that grows to 1,510 when the seats are folded.
Emitting just 14g/km, the C300e falls into the 8% BiK bracket which undercuts its nearest rivals like the BMW 330e Touring. But you have to pay for that three-pointed star on the nose and that long EV range – the C300e isn’t a cheap hybrid estate car, that’s for sure.
The diesel PHEV's tax bracket is as attractive as the rest of the C-Class estate
3. Mercedes-Benz E300e Estate
Our pick:E300e AMG Line Advanced
Price:From £70,270
Electric range:Up to 69 miles
If the C-Class isn’t quite enough car for you, then there’s always its brand-new big brother.
From the outside, this rival to the BMW 5 Series looks an awful lot like the smaller C-Class, but inside it’s an even more swanky and luxurious affair. It's also bigger, for passengers and their luggage, with a 460-litre boot that extends to 1,675 with the rear seats folded.
The E300e uses the same plug-in drivetrain as the C300e, so you get a 2.0-litre petrol/electric setup producing 313bhp and 406lb ft, and allowing a 0-62mph run time of 6.5 seconds. Somehow, though, Mercedes’ technical wizards have managed to eke even more electric range out of the same 25.4kWh battery, so your E-Class will cover up to 69.5 miles under purely electric power. And its 14g/km CO2 emission rating means a BiK rate of just 8% for company drivers.
While the C-Class is pretty high-tech, the E-Class takes things further with up to three digital screens spread across the dashboard and more advanced driver assistance than even the mighty S-Class features.
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The E-Class is literally miles ahead of most PHEVs when it comes to electric range
Other hybrid estate cars in this list have longer electric driving ranges, but none seem so complete at the BMW 330e Touring. It’s a car that can really do it all – it looks good in the company car park, it can easily accommodate the family dog, it handles well and (if driven properly) can be cheap to run.
Unlike the Volvo V60 Recharge, the 330e has a smaller boot than petrol and diesel versions of the 3 Series, but at 410 litres it’s still of a good size. There are also plenty of neat touches, too, like the rear window glass that can be opened separately from the boot, making it easy to throw in a couple of bags of shopping.
The 330e uses the same 2.0-litre engine as the petrol-powered 320i, but adds a 68bhp electric motor for a combined 288bhp. It's quick with 0-62mph taking less than six seconds, while its EV range is between 32 and 37 miles depending on spec. That's some way off the Mercedes C300e, but the 330 has lovely rear-wheel drive handling (there is a four-wheel drive xDrive version available if you need extra grip) and is entertaining to drive.
1. Skoda Superb Estate iV
Our pick: Superb iV SE L
Price: From £40,985
Electric range: Up to 35 miles
From a purely logical perspective, if you want a hybrid estate car then you want one that has a big boot that can haul around lots of things, right? It's for that reason we love the Skoda Superb iV Estate as it has the largest boot of any hybrid we can think of.
There's a vast 510 litres of space on offer, but more than that the boot is very wide, it's of a good shape and the rear seats fold down flat. If you need to move things then the Superb is the car for you.
Aside from that, the interior is well made, the styling is tasteful, it's quiet and refined on the move, and it uses the tried and tested 1.4-litre plug-in hybrid set-up which other hybrid estate cars use in this list. That gives silent motoring up to 35 miles and the 26g/km of CO2 means it's good for company car drivers.
The only fly in the ointment is the imminent arrival of the new Superb, which means this current generation is being discontinued. You can still by brand-new pre-configured examples from Skoda, but you’ll need to move fast. Or wait for the new car, which promises a range of more than 60 miles and the latest in-car tech when it arrives in mid-2024.
Grab a bargain with the old car, or wait for the new?
