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My PHEV experience was very similar to that. I got a 330e with work which was initially motivated by the cheap tax, but for the 3 days a week commuting down the M4 and north circular I found it had enough juice to run electric on the urban bits and then run on engine on the motorway. Work had chargers so I could fill the battery up in a day and get the same home. Lifetime mpg was about 65mpg from what I remember, including a few long distance drives.
When the lease on that one finished I went full EV but for me the PHEV was definitely more efficient than the diesel it replaced, with the added bonus of not chucking out particulates in urban areas.
ASTTer
@Carabo
FWIW. Another Real world case.
We traded our Cactus (ICE) for a Passat GTE (PHEV) a year ago. The Cactus was efficient for an ICE car, low weight and a highly tuned engine but was smallish and the ICE turned out to be fragile (it was guzzling oil).
We have a driveway and solar panels so went looking for PHEV's. An EV would have been nice, but we do not have the funds, do not want to get a loan out and like to have a fuss free long range car with an eye on family visits and holidays.
Anyway, bottom line, we are getting better mpg on the GTE than the Cactus even when we do not charge at all. But we do charge, every day, which brings the average mpg down to about 80 mpg. Work runs are within its EV range and otherwise it's mostly taken out on short runs for which we can't use bicycles (due to weather or the need to haul stuff) .
As an intermediate step the PHEV does a great job in reducing our emmissions at a sustainable price point. Plenty of PHEV's in our neighbourhood getting charged daily by the way.
I can definitely see us getting an EV from the current generation (y/enyaq/id4/ioniq5) as a next car, but the prices need to come down on the second hand market first.