Best Hybrid Cars Of 2023, Ranked

As all-electric cars continue to gain popularity in the American auto marketplace, the landscape of the auto dealership is beginning to change. Even the baddest muscle cars on the planet are getting their last gas-powered hurrahs with special superpowered final editions like the Ford Mustang Dark Horse and Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. It certainly seems like the electric automotive revolution is upon us.

However, with customers still having concerns about charging infrastructure and a high initial purchase cost for electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles aren't going away anytime soon. The reliability and power of a gas engine, paired with the additional driving range of a self-charging battery, make hybrids appealing to many who aren't ready to adopt an all-electric car or SUV just yet. A lower price point and a wide variety of body styles and feature sets add to the appeal of these hybrid autos.

With that in mind, we've rounded up and ranked the best hybrid cars of 2023. This list represents all kinds of vehicles, from compact models to full-size luxury sedans, and all have amazing fuel efficiency while still giving drivers the creature comforts and new tech they demand.

When Toyota dropped the Avalon from its lineup in 2022, it seemed like a logical move based on America's general shift towards SUVs over sedans in recent years. It was, however, unexpected that the Japanese automaker would replace the Avalon with the Crown. It's a similar enough vehicle that it could have just been a redesign, but the Crown is a lot more than that.

The 2023 Toyota Crown falls somewhere in between a midsize sedan and a large one. Its design features a two-tone setup not seen on many four-door cars, with black blocking on the fastback-style back window, rear end, and doors. It rides higher than a traditional sedan by about 4 inches as well, making it kind of a crossover that leans more towards the sedan side than the SUV. The interior has a good-sized infotainment screen and wireless charging pad, and the suspension is soft and comfortable like one might expect from a luxury ride.

What's most important is the gas mileage, and the Crown does not disappoint in that regard. The base hybrid engine boasts around 41 miles per gallon – although that drops to around 30 mpg if drivers opt for the Platinum trim and its beefier engine.

Introduced in 2022, Ford's little four-door pickup has a front-wheel-drive hybrid under the hood in the base XL model that can get drivers around 42 miles per gallon in the city and 33 on the highway. It's a decent, reliable truck that's smaller, but also more affordable, than Ford's other offerings, the F-150 and Ranger. And while it's not technically a hybrid car, the fact that Ford made a hybrid compact pickup made us want to mention it anyway.

As one of the only remaining compact pickup trucks being produced today, the Maverick tries to balance efficiency, comfort, and work-truck ability while sharing a skeleton with Ford's SUVs like the Escape and Bronco Sport. It succeeds for the most part, as the hybrid engine setup provides 191 horsepower and 155 ft-lbs of torque. The bed can safely stow up to 1,500 pounds, although the hybrid Maverick is limited to towing 2,000 pounds. A reasonable 4.5-foot bed and several storage points around the cabin allow room for whatever gear the Maverick is hauling, and all trims feature an 8-inch infotainment system and onboard Wi-Fi hotspot. There's even a bottle opener built into the tailgate!

As the most efficient and affordable pickup available in 2023, the Ford Maverick has a lot going for it, even with the hybrid engine as opposed to the more powerful gas options that are available.

With a classy redesign and multiple trim options, along with both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive options, Toyota looked to upgrade the Corolla while at the same time keeping it a fairly reserved, affordable, and reliable hybrid. What it isn't is all that exciting, taking nine seconds to go from zero to 60 and even longer when the hybrid battery is drained.

The refreshed design gives the Corolla a sleeker front end than last year's model, and the lack of trim options has given way to an overabundance of them — four trims, plus sedan and hatchback versions, front- and all-wheel-drive options, and hybrid and conventional powertrains. Both the front- and all-wheel-drive variants of the Corolla get great gas mileage, with the AWD LE getting 48 mpg, although its engine has no horsepower advantage over the front-wheel-drive option. The FWD Corolla with the LE trim gets an impressive 50 miles per gallon while also starting at over a thousand dollars less.

The overall consensus from reviewers is that the 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid is good enough to make our list, but not quite good enough to get anywhere near the top — there are simply better, more efficient versions of similar vehicles all over our rankings.

Back in 2019, Kia introduced a concept car they called the "HabaNiro." This all-electric crossover impressed with its bold design, "shark's snout" inspired front end, eclectic red interior, and the ability to read and react to drivers' emotions via Kia's "Realtime Emotion Adaptive Driving" system. Kia has taken some of the more practical cues from that concept vehicle and applied them to the Kia Niro, a hybrid with some interesting design ideas and a full-on redesign for 2023. It's more of a crossover than previous Niros, with a larger footprint and a contrasting aeroblade. The interior went fully eco-friendly, using recycled materials for the headliner and a seat made using components from pulverized eucalyptus trees.

The Niro includes a ton of driver assistance features as standard components as well, including Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist. Unfortunately, the emotion-sensing software from the HabaNiro didn't make the cut.

With the hybrid engine getting about 53 miles per gallon and a base price of around $28K, the Kia Niro Hybrid is a roomy, sporty, and fuel-efficient addition to our list.

The lone luxury sedan on our list is the 2023 Lexus ES300h, and it's a luxury vehicle in every sense of the word. The Lexus is quiet, comfortable, feature-rich ... and a little boring, if we're being honest. But when one invests in a luxury sedan, one isn't looking for excitement or speed. Where the Lexus excels is in creating an environment that feels important, secluding the driver from the sounds and discomforts of the outside world.

The ES300h is widely regarded as one of the softest rides on our list, with cloud-like suspension and comfortable leather seats. Pair the dreamy ride with a nearly silent interior, an updated infotainment system that drops the unpopular center console trackpad (the Remote Touch Interface), and a spacious trunk area, and the Lexus harkens back to the Oldsmobiles that our grandparents drove.

The ES300h is no slouch in the fuel economy department, either. With an estimate of 44 miles per gallon, this luxury hybrid sedan is fuel-efficient enough to compete with many of the hybrids that advertise fuel savings as one of their main draws.

The Hyundai Elantra has seemingly been around forever. This reliable albeit kind of vanilla sedan has been a mainstay of Hyundai's roster. In 2021, the company introduced a hybrid model, and several reviews note that the 2023 Elantra Hybrid actually has slightly better acceleration than the gas-powered version — a little extra pep in its first step.

The Elantra's exterior is actually pretty dramatic when compared to the bland exteriors of years past. Sharp angles and details are used all around the vehicle, from the front bumper, across the doors, and along the rear end as well. The interior is comfortable and roomy, although the abundance of plastics used in the Elantra can feel a little bit cheap. There's an 8-inch infotainment touchscreen. Overall, though, it's a good-looking car inside and out. And if anything goes wrong, Hyundai covers their vehicles with an outstanding 10-year or 100,000-mile warranty for the powertrain and free maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles.

Fuel economy is, of course, a concern when checking out a hybrid, and the Elantra does not disappoint in that arena. The Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Blue, essentially the base Elantra Hybrid model, gets an estimated 54 miles to the gallon, a stunning amount for an engine that, while by no means overpowered, certainly gets the job done.

In many ways, the 2023 Toyota Camry Hybrid is exactly what one would expect from a Camry: it's a nice-looking, reliable car with a slightly aggressive front-end design and a bevy of standard driver safety aids. It's not well-regarded in terms of pickup, power, or fun, but it does get great gas mileage and offers a feature-rich package, even at the base level.

It's comfortable on the inside, with plenty of room for passengers and no sacrifice in trunk space for the hybrid battery pack. While the infotainment screen is a little small at only 7 inches standard, Camry includes compatibility with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Amazon Alexa, giving drivers a lot of flexibility in their smartphone integration options.

The base trim for the Camry Hybrid, the LE, averages around 52 miles per gallon – one of the highest mpg in our rankings. Other, pricier trims offer more bells and whistles, but even with just Toyota's standard features, the Camry Hybrid is a well-appointed hybrid sedan that starts at under $30,000. Toyota also includes maintenance for the first two years, saving drivers a little more money.

The 2023 Honda Accord Hybrid has been fully redesigned, with a two-motor hybrid system for increased torque and updates from the frame to the interior. Safety, performance, comfort, and tech have all been addressed to make this year's Accord the best yet. All Accords in the 2023 model year feature Honda Sensing, a suite of driver assistance features that monitor collisions, road departure, blind spot, cross traffic, and cruise control. It's a great set of safety features, and they compliment passive systems like multiple airbags and automatic collision notification. There's also a new 90-degree forward camera and 120-degree radar system, both used in the Accord's blind spot monitoring.

In terms of performance, the Accord Hybrid is a better option than the standard four-cylinder, gas-engine Accord. Honda's new hybrid powertrain puts out 204 horsepower and, according to the manufacturer, can operate in EV mode without engine assistance. A new motion management system assists with turns to help maintain front-wheel grip, and quieter powertrains and increased insulations keep the cabin quiet. The EX-L Hybrid gets around 48 miles per gallon, while the Sport Hybrid (the lowest-priced option, at just shy of $32,000) achieves a respectable 44 mpg.

Inside the Accord Hybrid, leather-trimmed seating and a honeycomb-like design increase seat comfort and seamlessly hide air vents. The center console features a large 12.3-inch touchscreen, and the gauge display is customizable. Google Play and Apple CarPlay are supported, and there's also a wireless phone charger.

Achieving an estimated 52 miles per gallon on the base Blue trim, the 2023 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is an excellent sedan with a great features list and an impressive exterior. It's got a great infotainment package, a roomy interior, and plenty of standard safety features as well.

The first thing one will notice on the Sonata is the lines on the exterior. Not as severe as the Hyundai Elantra, the Sonata's accents flow with the lines of the vehicle, creating depth and texture along the hood and sides. The front and rear ends also feature a design that follows the contours of the car while adding some interesting lines along the bumpers.

The interior of the Sonata features a 4.2-inch digital gauge display and an 8-inch center infotainment touchscreen. Larger options are available on the more expensive trims, but the Blue variant starts at around $28,000 and features the same 10-year or 100,000-mile warranty as the Elantra. It's another great midsize sedan with great features, excellent gas mileage, and a good look to match.

The weird little car that drivers made fun of when hybrids were just starting to enter the market, the Toyota Prius now stands tall as the best hybrid of 2023. Ironically, while it's the best hybrid option, it's a little less "Prius" overall, as the fresh redesign seems to have leaned into aggressive design over utilitarian functionality.

The Prius is longer and sleeker this time around. Its new shape is paired with more power — at 194 horsepower, the front-wheel-drive 2023 Prius produces 75 more horses than last year's model. Acceleration has improved as well, with the new Prius going zero to 60 in 7 seconds, compared to last year's 10.7. Prius still leads the way in combined miles per gallon as well, with an estimated 57 mpg. The LE trim, the most affordable at $27,450, still has all the safety features that come standard with Toyota's hybrid lineup, and it includes two years of free Toyota maintenance and three years of 24-hour roadside assistance.

The new design has somewhat reduced cabin space, something Prius owners long valued for their weird little eco-car. The roofline is a little lower, the center console features a standard 8-inch infotainment screen, and the gauges now sit behind the steering wheel. The rear seats have a little less room, and the hatchback is a little smaller than in past years — but at 20.3 cubic feet, it's still got plenty more room than most comparable sedans.