ELECTRICAL CONNECTION

The Toyota Camry, the Honda Accord, and the Hyundai Sonata all take different approaches to hybridization, but which one does it best?

- Rich Ceppos

Here's one trend the automotive prognosticators didn't see coming: the humble hybrid's comeback.

In 2024, sales of conventional hybrids-the ones you don't plug in-shot up nearly 37 percent from 2023, according to the automotive analysis firm Wards Intelligence, while sales of electric vehicles rose just 7 percent. Proof that hybrids have become so well understood, so well accepted, and so commonplace is that all 2025 Toyota Camrys are hybrids, and the top four of the Honda Accord's six trims went hybrid-only in 2023. When popular mainstream family cars like these the Camry was the eighth-bestselling vehicle in the U.S. in 2024-have gas-electric propulsion as standard, you know hybrids have become the new normal.

To see what upsides-and downsides-exist in the realm of hybrid-only sedans, we paired an all-wheel-drive Camry XLE and an Accord Touring for a comparison deep dive. We also invited the recently refreshed Hyundai Sonata Limited Hybrid, a natural competitor of the Camry and the Accord. Curiously, each of these family sedans employs a different type of hybrid system. Which car provides the best performance, the highest efficiency, and the most fun from behind the wheel?