Green is good

YES, IT’S POSSIBLE. THESE FOUR CARS PROVE ‘HYBRID FUN’ IS NOT AN OXYMORON.

- CHRISTIAN SEABAUGH

I blame the Prius. I know—the word “hybrid” is enough to make your eyes glaze over. You’re probably even second-guessing your decision to read this article. You’re thinking these will be compromise cars, like getting tofu sausage and a kale shake with your pancakes.

But hybrids don’t have to suck. When engineers flip the switch from green to mean, from fuel economy to performance, pairing an electric motor—or three—with a gas engine is a recipe for more power, more torque, and more efficiency. What’s not to love? Hybrid race cars have even won the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As the industry makes the inevitable transition to electric cars, hybrids—especially performance hybrids—are the automotive equivalent of breakfast for dinner. They may be more complicated and heavier than gas-only sports cars, but they’re also charming in their own right.

So we gathered up the four-sport hybrids with the most performance potential to see which is best. Each, as you’ll soon see, has a unique approach to the electrification equation.

The 2020 Acura NSX, 2019 BMW i8 Coupe, 2020 Lexus LC 500h, and 2020 Polestar 1 currently represent the pinnacle of performance hybrids and automotive complexity. Are they pricey? Absolutely. But so is any high-end sports car or grand tourer.

Together these four cars share four turbochargers, a supercharger, 19 cylinders, eight transmissions, and nine electric motors. They average 479 horsepower, 496 lb-ft of torque, a 4.0-second 0–60 run, and a combined fuel economy of 46 mpg.

Although I appreciate numbers, they tell just half of the story. Only driving these cars back to back can tell us which one offers the best experience and whether any can hold a candle to the longstanding truth of displacement-based horsepower machines.