22 hybrids with at least two scored model years, each measured against its own class — and the answer to whether the hybrid beats the gas version of the same car.
October 2026 · 2022–2025 model years · 4 min read
Hybrids are where reliability and new technology stop pulling in opposite directions. Of 22 hybrids with two or more scored model years since 2022, 11 average as clean as a typical vehicle in their class, or cleaner. For electric vehicles it is 2 of 38.
Every hybrid below is scored against its own class and model year, so the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid competes with every mid-size SUV, gas or otherwise — not just with other hybrids.
Mean combined index — one number accounting for both how often a vehicle needs fixing and how costly those fixes are, measured against the class average for each model year. 1.00× is typical; lower is better. The matrix further down plots the two separately.
Mid-Size SUV · mean 0.54× · 4 scored years · latest #5 of 66 · open in the lookup →
Top ten in its class in every scored year — 2022 #9 of 59, 2023 #9 of 67, 2024 #4 of 72, 2025 #5 of 66. And it does it on 684,884 sold — by far the highest volume here, and volume works against a score.
Compact SUV · mean 0.57× · 3 scored years · latest #9 of 42 · open in the lookup →
#1 of 42 in 2023, its best year, and #9 of 42 in 2025. A compact hybrid SUV that has led its class rather than just survived in it.
Mid-Size SUV · mean 0.58× · 2 scored years · latest #10 of 72 · open in the lookup →
Two scored years: 2022 #7 of 59, 2024 #10 of 72. The luxury pick here — though Lexus is Toyota, which is the point of the next section.
Compact Car · mean 0.61× · 3 scored years · latest #3 of 18 · open in the lookup →
#1 of 29 in 2022, and it has drifted since — 0.43× → 0.61× → 0.79× — without ever leaving the top three of its class.
Mid-Size SUV · mean 0.61× · 3 scored years · latest #15 of 72 · open in the lookup →
2022 at 0.69×, 2023 at 0.53×, 2024 at 0.62×. Its best year, 2023, ranked #6 of 67 mid-size SUVs.
The top seven are all Toyota or Lexus. That is not a quirk of the method — it is the finding. The first other badge is the Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid at 8th; the one worth watching is the Honda CR-V Hybrid at 9th, which went 1.01× → 0.75× → 0.78× → 0.72× from 2022 to 2025.
Every combined score above folds two measures into one. This chart pulls them back apart — fix frequency across the bottom, fix severity up the side, bubble size for units sold, good corner bottom-left.
The two halves of the combined score, plotted separately: left is less often, down is less costly. Each hybrid is scored against its own class, not against other hybrids.
Look up any hybrid →The same chart exists for every class and model year back to 2004, with the vehicle you are researching highlighted in it. Open the lookup →
The answer depends almost entirely on who built the car. Here are the 19 models sold both ways, each hybrid against its own gas twin:
Toyota and Lexus hybrids beat their gas twins 7 times out of 7. Everyone else manages it 2 out of 12. The widest gap runs the other way: the Ford Maverick hybrid averages 3.09× against 1.17× for the gas version of the same truck.
So the practical rule is short. From Toyota or Lexus, the hybrid is the more reliable choice. From anyone else, check the gas version too — it is usually the safer buy.
The median 2025 hybrid sits in the 54th percentile of its class — against the 58th for gasoline and the 24th for electric. Its issue reports run at 0.93× the class average: a little above gasoline's 0.74×, nowhere near electric's 2.89×. The 2025 EV shortlist charts all four powertrains.
What counts as a hybrid here. Full hybrids only — plug-in and mild hybrids are scored as separate powertrains. And "better than its class" means better than the gas, hybrid and electric cars you would actually cross-shop.
The Lexus ES Hybrid posted 0.53× in 2022 and the Toyota Venza Hybrid posted 0.54× in 2022 — scores that would sit at the top of this list, but each has only one rankable model year in the window, and one year is not a track record. Watch the Subaru Forester Hybrid: its first scored year, 2025, ranks #4 of 42 in its class.
Across 2022–2025, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, with a mean combined index of 0.54× from 4 scored model years — inside the top ten of its class every year. The top seven hybrids are all Toyota or Lexus.
It depends on the maker. Of the 19 models sold both ways, Toyota and Lexus hybrids beat their own gas versions 7 of 7 times; every other brand managed 2 of 12.
Yes — it is the most reliable hybrid in the window at 0.54×, and it beats the gas RAV4 over the same years (0.54× against 0.69×). The 2025 ranks #5 of 66 mid-size SUVs.
Clearly. 11 of 22 hybrids average as clean as their class or cleaner, against 2 of 38 electric vehicles. The median 2025 hybrid sits in the 54th percentile of its class; the median EV sits in the 24th.
The bottom of the 2025 hybrid field is the Kia Sorento Hybrid (#62 of 66), the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid (#39 of 42) and the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid (#58 of 66). More broadly: outside Toyota and Lexus, the gas version of the same model is usually the more reliable buy.
Failure reports filed with NHTSA, weighted against US sales volumes and benchmarked within segment and model year. Full methodology.
All 12 systems scored, the whole class plotted, gas and hybrid side by side for any model year — 6,000+ vehicles in the dashboard.
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