Best Hybrid Cars from the Best Manufacturers

HYBRID CARS TO MAKE YOUR HEARTBEAT

As a petrolhead you might have found it hard in the past to get too excited about hybrids. All you've had to choose from up until recently were hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, both great motors but neither offering the finest in driving thrills or molly coddling.

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HYBRID CARS TO MAKE YOUR HEARTBEAT

While buyacar has written before about how all car makers must hit stringent CO2 emissions targets, there is now another equally pressing message that companies are beginning to push out to petrolheads. And this one appeals to our hearts as well as our heads. As anyone in branding knows, to ensure healthy, growing sales, you need to make the actual product itself extremely desirable.

This will be helped by the prestige marquees now working to create a real buzz among petrolheads. Two of these, Mercedes and Porsche, are at the forefront of moves to shift public opinion, saying green needn't be only 'right-on'. It also has to be sexy.

Mercedes has been raising eyebrows with its electric SLS, the EV version of its gull-winged wonder. With a 0-62 time of four seconds, a top speed of a limited 155mph and a practical range of 100 miles, this is a serious piece of performance kit but just as importantly, it looks supercar-fantastic inside and out.

Porsche in the meantime has unveiled a whole range of green goodies for drivers. The Panamera S Hybrid will be available in 2011, offering a 46hp electric motor mated to a 329hp V6 petrol engine. This is but a gesture towards the eco-friendly perhaps, and boasts luxury and sporting prowess in a greener package.

For the racetrack, Porsche has recently confirmed the production of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid, with its hybrid technology helping to add an extra 160bhp over the normal car's 480bhp.

Meanwhile the unique 200+ mph 918 Spyder is possibly the finest-looking hybrid car in the world with many insiders believing this car is on the cusp of production. Porsche has also confirmed it will release a sports EV in the future and will be field-testing three electric Boxsters in 2011 to see how viable EVs are in the real world.

One thing you may want to consider here are the prices of the very highest end models. The Mercedes SLS will cost an estimated £250,000, the Porsche 918 Spyder nearly half a million pounds. These are unreal prices but perhaps that's not the point.

In order that hybrids and EVs enter the public consciousness they need to be splashed all over the covers of specialist motoring magazines, opinion-bating TV programmes and, most tellingly, the walls of teenagers' bedrooms.

Does your son have a picture of a Prius on his wall? With cars like the 918 Spyder it's only a matter of time and that's the key. One of the greatest innovations that the premiere brands can offer the eco-movement is to make going green truly aspirational now and, most importantly, to the next generation of car buyers.

TOP 5 HYBRID DEALS

The results below show the top HYBRID deals on buyacar

Toyota Prius 1.8 VVTi T Spirit 5dr CVT Auto hatchback
Price £16,000 Read Prius Reviews	Save £6,731
Toyota Prius 1.8 VVTi T Spirit 5dr CVT Auto hatchback
Price £16,000 Read Prius Reviews	Save £6,731
Toyota Prius 1.8 VVTi T Spirit 5dr CVT Auto [Solar Roof] hatchback
Price £17,980 Read Prius Reviews	Save £8,480
Toyota Prius 1.8 VVTi T Spirit 5dr CVT Auto hatchback
Price £16,000 Read Prius Reviews	Save £6,731
Lexus CT 200h 1.8 SE-L Premier 5dr CVT Auto hatchback
Price £29,776 Read CT Reviews	Save £1,210
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