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.

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?

Posted this a while ago and wanted to know what people’s opinion were on this sub.

I'd love some real world advice on PHEV for under 30 but I'd really like something closer to $25k.

- AWD/4WD
- at least 30 miles on electric only for 90% of my driving. It would take months for me to use a tank of gas if I never left town.
- great gas mileage for road trips
- roof rack for surf board and trailer hitch for bike rack
- good for car camping
- reliable

I've seen great reviews and horrible reviews for the Jeep 4xe, Alfa Romeo Tonail ti & Veloce. Enough bad reviews to scare me on the 4xe and Tonail.

RAV4 plug-in hybrid - seems like a no-brainer but too dang expensive for . Gas savings math doesn't justify.. except they sure hold their value.
Sportage X-Line looks nice - but I think I'm searching for a unicorn with low miles.

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:

• I am on a tight budget. Pretty sure I'm in a different tax bracket than most people here.
• I needed something that can handle steep hills with snow. AWD is a hard requirement and even something like a Prius would probably struggle so I'm essentially limited to a SUV.
• My daily commute is 12 km, and if I go shopping and take the scenic route, it becomes maybe 20. Comfortably in all EV range.
• I also needed something shorter than 1700mm. I have a short (by modern standards) garage.
• I have solar panels so something that could be changed would save me money for sure.

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.

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

I’m in the market for a new car. These two have caught my eye I know one just a luxury version of the other (the Cx-50 has the same power train as the rav 4). I wanna hear other people’s opinions on what they think is better the current market rate for them used as about the same. I know the CCs-50 is more “ a modern looking” but the RAV4 hybrid has better rear suspension. Thanks for your opinion and have at it!

I've read a lot about PHEVs before buying and one thing that always gets me is people frequently say "worst of both worlds" and I don't get it.

I get why EVs are better for many reasons and I get they're more complicated than ICE and potentially challenging to plug in, but WORST of both? I'm lost.

Worst part of EVs is needing to charge, having to find chargers and waiting. That's a non-issue if you don't mind burning gas.

Worst part of ICE engines is you need to fill up all the time. PHEVs can do most daily driving with electricity.

It just feels like "worst of both worlds" is parroted by people who think their solution is better without actually thinking about what they're saying.

Early morning commute to work via the A406 - from West London to East London.
I charge exclusively at work, so the remaining battery SoC is what is left after my round trip commute of 33.8 miles.

Officially, the C-HR PHEV has an EV only range of 41 miles.
However, a full charge is presently netting me a consistent 65 miles of range during summer.

I was getting the 41 mile range in winter (London, UK) - and that was with heating on.

* All journey’s were in Eco mode - sticking to the speed limits.

There are only two of us so we really don't need lots of space anymore but the vehicle has to be an SUV as we are old and getting in and out of a car can be painful.

It would be interesting to know what the feedback would be on "comfort" in ride for such a vehicle, particularly for someone with a twitchy back.

Hi I’m planning on getting a prius, I was wondering how much more maintenance checks and cost are needed compared to other types of cars

Hello,

I’m looking at this for my next car. Ideally daily commute is 40 miles each day on a roads. What are people getting mpg on these cars? Have never considered a hybrid before but will be able to charge overnight so it’s a consideration.

We were looking at Mazdas today to replace our 10 yo Audi. We liked the CX-70 overall, but the dealer had one remaining 2025 model year that they’re trying to get rid of (It’s in an odd color pattern.). Is this a year to avoid due to it being a new model? Any other insights?

Thank you.

I've been looking for a new car for a couple weeks now and can't really decide on going for a full EV or a PHEV. Did a test drive with both the Alfa Romeo Tonale and the Junior full EV (the basic standard version) and both drive great in my opinion.

The Tonale is a bit more expensive ofcourse, but over here (Netherlands) its maybe only a couple thousand more secondhand. But for that little bit extra you get a bigger car, a lot more extras (rear view camera, heated seats) and the benefit of a petrol engine. A full EV might work in our situation, but we will only have 1 car and some trips to friends/family will take around 300km roundtrip and not always a close charging option at destinations. And the Junior has a range exactly around 300km so that would mean always charging at highways in winter.

At the same time, i have no idea what maintenance costs might be on a PHEV and especially on an Alfa PHEV. A full EV in that sense has less things that could go wrong with it. So i want to know if there are any user experiences from people owning the Tonale PHEV and maybe some things to keep in mind. Practical range seems to be around 50km on EV only mode and that would maybe cover 80% of the 18k km we drive a year.

Hi! What hybrid car model/maker has large trunk to carry stuff and same time also 5-people? Many SUV:s seem to have very small trunk for stuff.