Toyota plug-in hybrids: reliable or risky?

On paper, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) seem to be the golden mean between petrol cars and electric vehicles, and can usually travel about 50-80 km on electric power alone. However, in practice, the complexity of this dual powertrain configuration leads to reliability issues.

Slash Gear reported it.

Overall reliability of PHEVs

According to Consumer Reports (CR), by the end of 2024, PHEVs had 70% more reliability issues than internal combustion engine cars and classic hybrid cars (HEVs). This is a huge gap, but still smaller than the 146% reported in 2023. So, there has been a significant improvement over the year. At the same time, CR included the Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV in its list of the ten most reliable cars.

JD Power rated the reliability of the 2021 RAV4 Prime as "excellent" (87 points out of 100). It was the year of the debut of the hybrid version of the best-selling RAV4.

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The newest PHEVs

In 2025, Toyota PHEV buyers will have a choice of two models: the RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid and the Prius Plug-In Hybrid.

The reliability of the Prius PHEV options is confirmed by the CR Recommended badge. It's an endorsement from Consumer Reports, which means the product has passed their evaluation with flying colors.

The Prius Prime received this endorsement for the 2017, 2018, and 2020–2022 model years. The 2025 Prius Plug-In Hybrid also has CR's endorsement. Its counterpart, the RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid, received similar awards for 2022–2025.

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