Best seven-seat hybrid cars 2024/2025
Families typically need a big car with low running costs – and the best seven-seat hybrids fit the bill
Until quite recently, the default choice for a large family car was diesel power. With torque to deal with associated weight, and greater fuel economy on long runs, there’s still a lot to recommend that approach, but in 2024 electrification can make the most sense – especially for company car users and those who spend most of their time driving around towns and cities. The best seven-seat hybrid cars have the qualities to make anyone think twice about another diesel.
Broadly speaking, there are three types of hybrid on the market: mild, full and plug-in. Mild hybrids are fitted with a small generator instead of a traditional starter motor to improve efficiency, but they can’t travel on pure-electric power. Meanwhile, full or ‘self-charging’ hybrids usually combine at least one electric motor and a battery alongside their internal-combustion engine. This combination is used to supplement the power of the engine, which itself also charges the hybrid-system battery. The result is greater efficiency and the ability to travel on electric power over very short distances.
Plug-in hybrids work in much the same way as full hybrids, but add the ability to charge the (much larger) battery with an external cable. The result is a much higher pure-electric range, supplemented by an internal-combustion engine – which can also help charge the battery.
The best seven-seat hybrid cars on sale
Below we’ve picked out nine favourite new hybrid cars with a seven-seat option for large families. We’ll be ignoring mild hybrids here for the most part, and instead focusing on more efficient self-charging and plug-in variants – powertrains that work particularly well in large family cars such as these.
1. Dacia Jogger
We named the Dacia Jogger our Family Car of the Year in 2022 and 2023 because of its MPV-like practicality, impressive flexibility, decent driving manners and incredible value. It comes with seven seats as standard and the choice of two engines: a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol or a 1.6-litre four-cylinder self-charging petrol-electric hybrid.
The hybrid is great for urban driving, running mainly in electric mode at low speeds and when pulling away; on the open road, the engine gets welcome electric assistance and feels punchier than its 1.0-litre non-electrified sibling. The Jogger is much lighter than just about every other seven-seat car, and this translates to a great driving experience, too.
Crucially for a seven-seater the rearmost seats are easy to access, and there’s also decent space back there for adults. The trade-off is a very small boot with all seats in place – 160 litres – but fold down the third row and this increases to 565 litres. However, fold both rear rows and you’ll have a van-like 1,807 litres to play with.
2. Hyundai Santa Fe
The latest generation of Hyundai’s largest SUV, the Santa Fe, follows recent trends for squared-off designs, and is sure to attract fans on looks alone. The new car is available only with hybrid powertrains, either self-charging or plug-in, and whichever you pick there’s a decent trade-off between performance and efficiency for such a large vehicle. It’s also comfortable to drive, and is surprisingly easy to handle around town thanks to good visibility.
The plug-in hybrid version makes good use of its battery, favouring electric drive at lower speeds and offering a pure-electric range of 33.6 miles, while the hybrid system in the non-plug-in does a good job of helping the petrol engine get up to speed. Efficiency is good across the board considering the Santa Fe’s appreciable size and weight.
Inside, the Santa Fe offers a plush cabin with loads of space; seven seats come as standard, but a more luxurious six-seat option is also offered, with two captain’s chairs for the middle-row passengers.
3. Kia Sorento
Closely related to the Santa Fe above, the Kia Sorento has less aggressive styling but is similarly capable as a large seven-seater family car. While previously pitched as a value proposition, the latest incarnation of the Sorento is plusher and much more desirable – but it still boasts the brand’s famous seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty.
Power comes from a 2.2-litre diesel (unlike the Hyundai Santa Fe) or the choice of a pair of hybrids – self-charging or plug-in. The former combines a 1.6-litre petrol engine with an electric motor, while the latter adds a bigger battery to the same basic recipe for 35 miles of pure-electric range. We enjoyed the self-charging hybrid, which remains refined unless pushed hard and can return a claimed 42.2mpg – although we managed only 38.7mpg in our tests.
Perhaps most importantly, the Sorento has a large, spacious cabin with a flat floor. We tested it against a Nissan X-Trail, and found the Kia was much better at carrying seven people.
4. Volvo XC90
A stalwart of the seven-seat family SUV category since the long-serving original launched in 2002, the Volvo XC90 has managed to retain its appeal thanks to a considerable overhaul in 2015 and subsequent facelifts in 2019 and 2024.
We recently tested the XC90 against the much more up-to-date all-electric Kia EV9, and found that it was more than up to the task, proving itself as a great all-round family car despite its age, and majoring on practicality and comfort.
While mild hybrids are offered and make a lot of sense for most buyers, the T8 plug-in combines useful all-electric running with impressive performance, thanks to its 448bhp of combined power.
5. Peugeot 5008
The Peugeot 5008 recently benefited from a thorough reworking, with the French company adding more space and practicality to its largest SUV. There’s also now the option of a pure-electric version, along with self-charging and plug-in hybrids.
The latter is particularly useful thanks to its pure-electric range of up to 48 miles, but the non-plug-in is still good for up to 52.5mpg – a respectable figure for a big seven-seat SUV.
Elsewhere, Peugeot has enlarged the outer two seats on the middle bench to improve comfort, while legroom and headroom remain excellent. The rearmost seats are big enough for adults, but space for knees is a bit tighter.
6. Ford Tourneo Connect
The van-based Ford Tourneo Connect MPV has long been a solid choice for those carrying more than five people, and while the genre is less well represented in 2024, some have survived and added a hybrid powertrain for good measure.
Just as with the all-electric Ford Explorer, the Tourneo Connect is the product of the firm’s partnership with Volkswagen. Based heavily on that brand’s Caddy model, Ford’s offering takes all the best bits of its counterpart and increases the value proposition with more standard equipment. What’s more, the new plug-in hybrid variant offers a seriously impressive pure-electric range of 68 miles, while there’s even the choice of two body lengths and five- or seven-seat layouts.
7. Ford Tourneo Custom
The Ford Tourneo Custom is another ‘van with windows’ from the blue oval, this time based on the tried-and-tested Transit but so much more sophisticated than you might expect. Designed to take on the likes of the Mercedes V-Class and other executive people-movers, the Ford majors on space and comfort, while electric and plug-in hybrid versions have been added to the range for silent running around town with no local emissions.
Various configurations are available, with space for up to nine people; the seats sit on tracks in the floor that allow for easy adjustment and trade-off between luggage and passenger space. We’ve yet to get behind the wheel of the hybrid version, but if the standard diesel-powered iteration is anything to go by, the Tourneo Custom’s van connections really shouldn’t put you off heading for a test drive.
8. Mazda CX-80
Mazda’s CX-80 is the firm’s largest offering, and it also happens to be one of the best, with great space, efficient powertrains and a decent driving experience. Two engine options are offered: a 3.3-litre mild-hybrid diesel, and a plug-in hybrid with a 2.5-litre petrol and electric motor with a combined 323bhp and 500Nm of torque – which is pretty useful in a big car such as this.
While the plug-in’s pure-electric range of 37 miles lags behind that of some rivals, the system works well overall and is very efficient, with claimed combined economy of up to 176.5mpg.
Inside, the slickly designed cabin feels great and is very spacious, with seven seats as standard, or the option of six with a pair of captain’s chairs in the middle row. Crucially, even those in the rearmost row have plenty of space.
9. Lexus LM
Those familiar with car culture in Japan and other south-east asian countries will be familiar with cars such as the Lexus LM, but this luxurious cab-forward minivan is among the first of its kind to be officially imported to these shores. Based on the same architecture as the Toyota Alphard, the LM is a more luxurious proposition than its Japanese domestic market counterpart.
In its base spec the LM comes with seven seats, while an optional four-seater makes the most of that van-like shape to offer near private-jet levels of luxury – in fact, the car is already outselling the long-standing LS saloon, presumably for this reason. And despite appearances, it drives like a Lexus, too: smooth, effortless and quiet, with a great powertrain thanks to parent firm Toyota’s expertise in self-charging hybrid technology.
How to choose the best seven-seat hybrid car
It probably goes without saying that picking the right seven-seater should involve in-person visits to a dealership to try out cabin size, boot space and other essentials. If you plan to carry plenty of passengers regularly, it might even be a good idea to bring a gang of seat-testers with you to see how the car handles it.
Beyond practical considerations, it’s worth comparing self-charging and plug-in hybrids to see which best suits your budget or circumstances. The former offers fuss-free improvements in efficiency in running costs, but you won’t be able to use electric power alone for very long. Also, pure-hybrid power doesn’t drastically affect road tax and doesn’t bring the same savings to company car users as plug-in variants.
PHEVs make a lot of sense as company cars, but also can slot perfectly into many average-use cases. If you do most of your driving over short distances, but supplement this with a long motorway trip every so often, it should be possible to reduce your fuel bill by sticking to electric power only most of the time. You’ll have to factor in charging, of course, but this takes less time than for a pure-electric car in most cases.
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