Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Exceed 2017 review: family test

My ability to balance a household budget rates somewhere near my environmentalist credentials, as in both are poor to non-existent. Fortunately, then, my weekend with the Outlander PHEV gave me the chance to the tackle both in one SUV-shaped swoop.

I can't be alone there, surely. There must be plenty of households in which fuel prices are a continuing cost-of-living concern, right up there with electricity and groceries. But after this past weekend, I can see the day coming when this will no longer be a concern.

Enter the Outlander PHEV Exceed 2017, an SUV that claims to be the best-selling electric vehicle in Australia. Unfortunately for Mitsubishi, that title holds little weight in this country, with the overwhelming majority of Australian drivers tending to opt for petrol power over more earth-friendly electric cars.

In case you're interested, PHEV stands for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. It's a kind of blend between a hybrid and an all-electric vehicle, having a plug to connect to the electrical grid. Interestingly, the official classification system ensures Mitsubishi's PHEV is classified as an 'EV' rather than a 'hybrid', which is why it's at the top of the sales list for electric vehicles, despite having a conventional engine, too.

Despite the Outlander PHEV being noted as 'easily the most affordable SUV' in our top five most fuel-efficient SUVs, at $55,490 it's still not cheap. At $11,500 more than the petrol-powered Exceed, this PHEV had better deliver some serious fuel efficiency. And with an impressive claimed/combined figure of 1.7 litres per 100 kilometres. I have high expectations it will do exactly that. Time to put it to the test.

Can the Outlander PHEV deliver the electric dream and still be a practical SUV?

Friday Night - Short-Lived Electric Dreams

The general assumption with cars like the Outlander PHEV is that plug-in recharging will take place overnight at home - plugged into normal power, the battery will take 6.5 hours to charge. Not so for me. Living in a unit on the second story with only a 10-metre extension cord meant there was zero chance of running the Outlander on battery only.

The sunroof proved to be the kids' favourite feature. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

Now, having owned a Nissan Leaf I am more than familiar with the cold-sweat anxiety that comes with driving an electric car. The mental toll of wondering whether we'd make our destination far outweighed the righteous feel-good factor of not having to shell out for petrol. Not exactly care-free motoring.

Mercifully, there's no such thing as range anxiety in the PHEV, with its 2.0-litre petrol engine serving as a back up to recharge the car's bank of lithium batteries. So my thinking was to run the battery down on EV mode (driving range in full EV mode is just 54km) and then see what happens – something that I managed to achieve on the first trip home from work.

The electric and petrol power plants work in concert together. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

But thanks to some clever technology you can actually recharge the flat batteries while driving, unlocking moments of silent and serene electric motoring across my weekend.

Saturday - Hybrid Reality

At a glance, it's almost impossible to distinguish the PHEV from the petrol-powered version, with the blue badging on the outside of the car providing the only give away as to what lies underneath the now familiar SUV design. Officially, PHEV is pronounced P-H-E-V, however not being ones for protocol my kids and I named it 'The Fev'.

The Outlander also features regenerative braking that can be increased by the paddle shifters. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

My son's football team had a bye so the morning's schedule was reduced to netball only. It's worth noting the Exceed I'm driving for the weekend comes with full-leather seats (heated up front), an electric sunroof, powered boot and a 'EV remote' function that displays the car's electric vitals on your smartphone, all of which goes some way to justifying its price tag.

The three kids and I pile into the Outlander and they go through the routine of familiarising themselves with the cabin, which involves pushing every single button possible. And in this car there are quite a few. In the rear seats the routine involves pulling down the armrest before a drink bottle is plonked into one of the two the cup holders located within. Likewise we make use of the two cup holders upfront. Then, with laser-like focus, their attention was then directed to the big button on the ceiling operating the sunroof. Given it was a classic sunny Sydney Autumn day it would have been a crime not to make use of it.

Given the price, it's an odd decision to forgo satellite navigation. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

Having exhausted EV mode (electric only) the previous night I resigned myself to driving the remainder of the weekend in Series Hybrid mode – this is where the electric and petrol motors work in concert to direct power to all four wheels. The power is channelled through a single-speed automatic gearbox in both electric and petrol driving.

The front and rear electric motors take the lead as we are transported away in smooth and silent fashion. Power outputs for both the battery operated motors and petrol engine are moderate, and are largely a mute point given the Outlander PHEV never runs at max output (which would combine the petrol engine, front and rear motor outputs).

There's plenty of room for kids and adults in the back seat. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

After a crushing defeat at the netball we hightailed it to the shops to buy birthday presents for the two upcoming parties that afternoon. Driving to the local shops I note how effortlessly the Outlander slips between electric and petrol driving.

The PHEV Operating System is the brain of the car, constantly taking the measure of the driving conditions and using those inputs to operate the petrol engine separately, or in tandem with the front and rear electric motors, delivering optimal power for the least amount of energy consumption.

The acceleration, while reasonably responsive in electric mode, veers towards mildly sedate under petrol power. As a result, any ambitions I had of overtaking were saved for the downhill runs, with all hill climbs carried out in the left lane. Confidence in the car's ability to rescue me out of a tight spot should I need to accelerate with any urgency was minimal.

Who needs sat nav when you have three kids telling you where to go. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

Two birthday presents later and I was taxiing the fam to their respective parties for the afternoon. Bounding around the local suburb, the car barely breaks cover from electric mode as we cruised the streets, the top-40 hits blaring out of the six-speaker stereo more than compensating for the lack of engine noise.

Thanks to Mitsubishi making the odd decision (particularly given the price point) to forgo satellite navigation, I was left to rely on the kids for directions to our destinations. To be fair you, can opt to use your phone's map system (via CarPlay or Android Auto) that will display on the 7.0-inch screen. Or if you're like me, fill the car with kids happy to tell you where to go.

Lazy Sunday

With the four of us having spent much of the morning hammering Netflix, I was suddenly overcome by a searing guilt that we should be making more of the day. So I made a snap announcement that we were going to the beach for a walk. After being on the receiving end of thirty minutes of moaning and groaning I bundled their gear into the Outlander and we headed off.

The boot space at 463 litres (seats up) easily accommodated all the kids' stuff. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

The boot space - at 463 litres (seats up) - easily accommodated all the kids' stuff, and this extends to a generous 1,602 litres with the rear seats down (60/40 split). There's plenty of room for kids and adults in the back seat – I'm 180cm tall and sat behind my driving position with head and leg room to spare.

Taxiing three kids around on a regular basis means safety is high on my radar, and it's here the Exceed lives up to its name. Scoring a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, this car is rammed with safety tech including seven airbags (dual front, side and curtain, along with a driver's knee bag), adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning with AEB and lane departure warning, along with blind-spot monitoring.

This is joined by hill start assist, electronic brake-force distribution, ABS plus traction and stability control. It's worth noting the car's Lithium-ion batteries are located in the middle of the car under the floor, safely cocooned by the Outlander's Reinforced Impact Safety Evolution (RISE) body structure.

The boot space extends to a generous 1,602 litres with the rear seats down. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

Some PHEV owners might be willing to constantly 'manage' the car in order to squeeze every last kilometre out of it, I however, am not one of them. On any normal Saturday or Sunday drive most of my concentration is directed at dodging other weekend drivers and attempting to defuse the multitude of mindless arguments coming from the back seat.

But drivers eager to maximise the Outlander PHEV's frugal fuel consumption capabilities are presented with a myriad of options at their disposal. At the push of a button drivers, can activate EV mode, ECO mode, battery save mode or battery charge mode that uses the petrol engine to charge the batteries. The Outlander also features regenerative braking (which can be increased of decreased by the paddle shifters) which uses the brake force to generate and feed electricity back into batteries.

The rear arm rest has two cupholders. (Image credit: Dan Pugh)

Upon arriving at the beach, some further loving encouragement ("you've got exactly three seconds to get out")  was required to motivate them enough to leave the comfort of the leather seats. Not before playing with the sunroof button one last time, though.

After 433km of urban and city driving using a combination of electric and hybrid modes, fuel consumption came to 5.7 litres per 100km. Not quite the eco earth shattering 1.7 litres per 100km that Mitsubishi claims, but far better than you might expect from a car this size, and as much as two full litres per hundred kilometres lower than the claimed/combined figure from its purely petrol-powered competitors.