Toyota prius

ESSENTIALS Volkswagen Golf GTE Price: £40,140 Powertrain: 1.5 4cyl plug-in hybrid, 268bhp 0-62mph: 6.6 seconds WLTP efficiency: 196mpg Official EV range: 81 miles Annual VED: £620 Toyota Prius Excel P

PLUG-in hybrid cars, depending on who you believe, are either a wasteful technological dead-end or a sensible compromise and valuable stepping stone to pure-electric vehicles. The truth, as ever, is m

THE COOPER S WAS A SOGGY effort and this isn’t any better. You can forgive a hot hatch appalling ride but when it’s on top of a transmission that’s hard to gel with, an uninspiring soundtrack and impr

Engineers don’t like plug-in hybrids. It’s the ‘two engines rather than one’ factor, and all that extra associated ballast. Marketing types have always liked them, though – dare I say, because they un

Our pick 1.5T Plug-in Hybrid SE List price £31,995 Target Price £29,106 MPG 565.0 CO2 12g/km For Great value for money; long electric range; plush, spacious interior with lots of kit Against Compromis

1 FIAT GRANDE PANDA PRICE: £20,975–£23,975 The Panda was distinctly endangered for a while there (though you can still buy the old petrol one in Italy), but it’s been given a new lease of life with an