Depends on the budget!

Assume the CX30 is a diesel - - diesel cars still the best on bigger mileages & l o n g journeys.

A daughter in law ran a Lexus 200 CT - 1.8 ltr 122BHP never below 50mpg - great round town mileage and keeping speed at 60/65 on the motorway up to 58/60 - over 70mph the mpg falls.

The downside it was slow off the mark..

Equivalent today in Toyota Corolla has 1.8 engine and 140BHP (2 litre 196BHP) i.e. more power and the same MPG. The CT 100% reliable in 60K.

Up to 10 year warranty on new car assuming Toyota servicing .even on 2nd hand Toyota/Lexus can get the major item warranty with \franchise servicing. 15 year Hybrid battery warranty.

Suzuki Swace is same car as Toyota Corolla (Derby made), different badges - up to 7 years warranty assuming Suzuki servicing. 2nd hand it appears to be cheaper than the equivalent Corolla!

I think the answers so far tend to support my suspicion that I am unlikely to find a hybrid that would be significantly better than my current car. That's fine because I am not actively looking for a hybrid, I just thought it was something I should consider while I was looking at options.

Ultimately, I bought the CX-30 because it ticked all the boxes for me as had the Mazda's I had before. I may even choose to buy my current car once the lease period is up as it has quite low mileage as a result of lockdown and no more daily commute.

If I did go electric, the MG4 would be top of the list. I like the look of it, the specs and the price. I will be interested to see the extended range version that is supposed to be coming soon.

What sort of hybrid.

Plug in can work well on short journeys where charge at home, preferably from PVs, is possible. This way you get 20-40 mile range with no fuel cost. On longer journeys where ICE kicks in you are simply carrying a lot of excess weight and complexity.

Normal hybrid benefits depend on battery size. A small battery and motor are minor supplements which allow different engine tech to reduce consumption. I am not completely convinced by this - there is a weight, complexity and price cost which needs to be recovered through fuel savings - IMHO unlikely.

Some advice above to keep the current car and see how your use changes in the first month or year of retirement is very sound!

Within reason, the effect of weight is relatively insignificant at constant motorway speeds. Aerodynamic drag is what the car is working against most at 70mph.

Hybrids in relatively small aerodynamic cars like the Corolla, Prius, Ioniq etc are still very efficient (60+ mpg) at legal motorway speeds. Despite doing most of my miles in the motorway, my long term average (over more than 5000 miles) in the Swace only dropped marginally below 60mpg at the end of the winter and has risen above 61 again now. Although they don't make a non hybrid version, I reckon it would probably still do 55mpg just with the petrol engine.

In SUVs and crossovers, the hybrid fuel efficiency may look good on paper (and is at low speeds where the engine is off much of the time), but less good on the motorway in practice. Ultimately in that case you're still pushing a much taller and wider, less aerodynamic, lump of metal through the air with a petrol engine and there's no way of defeating the laws of physics.

So, in the OPs case, I'd say there's no compelling case to choose a self charging hybrid, but if the right car is hybrid and you're not paying a premium for it, it wouldn't matter if it was a hybrid.

I'd suggest plug- in hybrids would be less useful as they almost always carry a significant price premium over the non hybrid version. Also, for mild hybrids, make sure you have a decent test drive in them as the few I've had recently as hire cars (particularly the Fiat 500) have been rather wierd to drive, and very difficult to drive smoothly with no noticeable fuel economy benefit over similar cars.

but at this moment in time I do not see any deals that would work for us.

I'd second that. Usually I roughly know what my future shortlist is - currently I have no idea. Also many discounts seem to revolve around deposits for high interest PCPs. I've noticed dealers now seem to be less keen if you ask if it's possible to pay PCP off earlier.

Edited by Big John on 23/05/2023 at 21:58

Thats interesting to hear about your mates experience with the 2020 Corolla hatch 1.8 hybrid, Do you know anyone else who has had experience with other hybrid models or alternative vehicle options that you find more appealing?

Not a car I was aware of I must admit. I will certainly have a look.

That's OK. Not doing anything for a while. Got a busy few months coming up so will probably wait until the autumn before seriously looking at my options. Thanks for the heads up anyway.