Would diesel, hybrid or PHEV suit my needs?

Diesel, hybrid or PHEV? I do a 200km round trip commute most days. A mix of 140km motorway and 60km small rural roads and stop-start city traffic. Other days I could do 300/400km of which 25 per cent would be city type traffic. Is diesel still my better option? For a PHEV I could plug in at home or at my destination most times.

Declan Brady (Cavan)

Oct 2016 Filed under: choosing new car

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Expert answer

Hi Declan,

It’s a tough one. Generally I’d say for the moment, diesel is still best for that kind of mileage, especially day-to-day. A model with a good stop-start system should help keep the consumption down in heavy traffic (Mazda’s system on the 6 2.2 diesel is especially good) and those long motorway miles are just what diesel was designed for. A plugin hybrid is really for those doing short urban journeys most days, with only an occasional long trip, so I don’t think any would be really suitable for you. It would be worth looking at a new-shape Toyota Prius hybrid though – we managed to average 60mpg in one recently over the course of a week, including several long motorway runs, so it’s worth thinking about.

Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor
@neilmbriscoe