Buying a hybrid can significantly boost fuel efficiency and your monthly fuel bills. And these days, there are plenty of new hybrid cars, SUVs and even trucks to choose from. But what if you can’t afford to buy a new car? Consider buying a used one. A lightly used hybrid can save you thousands of dollars compared to an equivalent new one and be a trustworthy vehicle for many years to come.
The car experts at Edmunds have identified five top picks for used car, truck and SUV hybrids based on Edmunds’ testing, fuel economy and overall value. The prices listed are what you can typically expect to pay at a nationwide no-haggle dealership such as CarMax or Carvana.
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This photo provided by Edmunds shows a 2021 F-150. Equipped with the hybrid engine, the F-150 gets up to an EPA-estimated 25 mpg combined. (Courtesy of Edmunds via AP)
This photo provided by Toyota shows a 2022 RAV4 Hybrid. The EPA estimates it gets up to 40 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. via AP)
This photo provided by Kia shows a 2022 Niro. The EPA estimates it gets up to 50 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of Kia America via AP)
This photo provided by Honda shows a 2022 Accord Hybrid. The EPA estimates it gets up to 47 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. via AP)
This photo provided by Toyota shows a 2021 Prius. The EPA estimates it gets up to 56 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. via AP)
The Prius is the hybrid that started it all, and it remains a benchmark of fuel economy and versatility. A 2021 Prius, for example, can get up to an EPA-estimated 56 mpg in combined city/highway driving depending on the trim level. Its handy liftback design makes for easy loading and unloading of cargo too. An all-wheel-drive version of the Prius is also available. The Prius’ main downside is its slow acceleration.
Look for: Our pick is either the LE or XLE trim because they offer the best mix of efficiency and convenience. Shoppers can also consider the Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid with up to 25 miles of electric range. The Prime isn’t as widely available but typically doesn’t cost much more.
2021-2022 Prius pricing: approximately $23,000 to $29,000
The Honda Accord boasts a roomy interior, a big trunk and an enjoyable-to-drive nature. All of those qualities are also present for the Accord Hybrid. A 2022 Accord Hybrid, for example, gets up to an EPA-estimated 47 mpg combined, which is excellent for a midsize sedan. Nearly every aspect of the Accord Hybrid reflects an impressive level of refinement, and it’s entirely possible to forget you’re even driving a hybrid.
Look for: Shop for an Accord EX-L trim. It gets 47 mpg and has some desirable features not offered on the base model, such as heated seats, leather and a premium audio system. The fully loaded Touring trim is nice but it has 19-inch wheels that drop the car’s mpg combined rating to 43 mpg combined.
2021-2022 Accord Hybrid pricing: approximately $25,000 to $30,000
Consider the Kia Niro if you want a thrifty crossover SUV alternative to the Prius. A base 2022 Niro gets comparable fuel economy, up to 50 mpg combined, but costs thousands less. It’s also a pretty practical runabout. The Niro’s passenger and cargo space are roomy considering the vehicle’s small overall size. Downsides to the Niro are few but include slow acceleration and the lack of available all-wheel drive.
Look for: Try to get a Niro EX Premium trim. This is the most expensive Niro but it comes with a surprising amount of features, including a premium audio system, ventilated front seats and synthetic leather upholstery. A plug-in hybrid version of the Niro is also available.
2021-2022 Niro pricing: approximately $20,000 to $26,000
The Toyota RAV4 is a great choice for a small SUV. Guess what? The RAV4 Hybrid is even better. It has the same space and comfort of a regular RAV4 but with standard all-wheel drive and an EPA-estimated 40 mpg combined for either a 2021 or 2022 model. It’s also quicker to 60 mph than its gas-only counterpart. That’s what you can call a win-win.
Look for: The XLE Premium is the sweet spot in the RAV4 Hybrid lineup for value. It’s a midlevel trim but comes with some appealing standard features such as a sunroof and a power liftgate.
2021-2022 RAV4 Hybrid pricing: approximately $30,000 to $38,000
Pickups and hybrids aren’t typical allies, but Ford is leading the way with its F-150 fitted with an optional hybrid powertrain. Called PowerBoost, it has a turbocharged V6 plus hybrid components to produce a robust 430 horsepower. It also gets up to an EPA-estimated 25 mpg combined. When new, the PowerBoost was a fairly expensive upgrade, but it’s much less of a hit to get it on a used F-150.
Look for: The PowerBoost is an optional powertrain, not a trim level. As such, you’ll need to do some searching in used inventory to find one. The good news is that nearly every F-150 trim level has the hybrid available.
2021-2022 F-150 equipped with PowerBoost: approximately $38,000 to $51,000
Buying a lightly used hybrid is a smart choice for savvy consumers. It helps you avoid the full hit of a hybrid’s cost while still getting you a vehicle that’s likely under warranty.
This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds.
Dan Frio is a contributor at Edmunds.
This photo provided by Edmunds shows a 2021 F-150. Equipped with the hybrid engine, the F-150 gets up to an EPA-estimated 25 mpg combined. (Courtesy of Edmunds via AP)
This photo provided by Toyota shows a 2022 RAV4 Hybrid. The EPA estimates it gets up to 40 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. via AP)
This photo provided by Kia shows a 2022 Niro. The EPA estimates it gets up to 50 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of Kia America via AP)
This photo provided by Honda shows a 2022 Accord Hybrid. The EPA estimates it gets up to 47 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. via AP)
This photo provided by Toyota shows a 2021 Prius. The EPA estimates it gets up to 56 mpg in combined city/highway driving. (Courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.
West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.
The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.
Decisions are expected by early summer.
President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.
Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.
“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”
She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.
Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.
She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.
Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.
“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.
Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.
The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.
About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.
"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”
But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.
“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”
Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”
“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.
One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.
Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”
The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.
The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.
The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.
The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.
If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.
“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)
