Mitsubishi Outlander 2014 Review

This is now month four with the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV plug in electric hybrid vehicle in our garage.

It’s still being reversed in to make the electrical connection to our 15 amp plug but we want "free motoring" so that means we need the plug as close to the power outlet as possible and the house wasn’t designed to suit back in the day.

BENEFITS

The benefits are big. Plug her in and the PHEV will pretty much do the daily running around for a few cents. It takes about five hours to recharge and if you do that at between 10.00pm and 5.00am, you pay only 11 cents a kilowatt hour – at least where we live. So, that means about 55 cents to drive around the next day for 50km – a smidge over 1 cent per kilometre. 

That would make it as cheap as a push bike if you factor in the cost of food to fuel you on a “pushy”. Unreal isn’t it.

Heaps of people want to know about the PHEV. Our tester has PHEV number plates so there’s nowhere to hide.

DESIGN

It looks good benefitting from a recent upgraded with larger wheels and more external bright work.

The satnav system still has us stumped and the Bluetooth connection on an Android smartphone is only passable. 

VALUE

The $52,490 cost for the Aspire test car is a stopper. You can get a lower spec model for $47,490 – still a fair whack and a lot more than the entry price for a Outlander at about 20 grand less. That buys a lot of petrol or diesel.

They all generate a fair few emissions though and we don’t want that.

SAFETY

Safety is of a high order with the PHEV scoring a five star crash rating as well as featuring a reasonable amount of driver assistance kit like forward collision mitigation, adaptive cruise and reversing camera.

DRIVING

The PHEV is almost guilt-free if you have a solar array on your house roof. No emissions to speak of – unless you go over that 50km range on electricity. We found the range to be an issue because it is used up too quickly – 50km just isn’t enough.

After that, you’re on the 2.0-litre petrol four cylinder engine that struggles to move the 1.8 tonne PHEV with consequent effects on fuel consumption.

The vehicle itself is a good size, has plenty of kit and looks good. Cruising on the highway is smooth and quiet with plenty of get-go when both the petrol engine and electric drive work in concert. It has no gearbox as such but you wouldn’t know.

OFF ROAD

There’s a four wheel drive mode too which allows you to venture a small way into the bush on dirt roads with some potholes and bumps.