Mitsubishi Outlander vs BMW X1

What's the difference?

The Outlander PHEV in GSR spec is a nifty daily driver, quietly appealing and more than capable of heading off-road as long as you drive it well within its AWD limits.

If you reside in the city or suburbs and your daily driving is not too punishing in terms of distance, then this PHEV makes a lot of sense. A hybrid vehicle is a happy-compromise move towards an EV future – and the Outlander PHEV is a big step in the right direction.

This new BMW X1 feels like it's been built by a team of parents because it’s one of the most practical and easy to use small SUVs my family and I have ever lived with and, trust me, they’ve seen a lot of test cars come through the Berry garage.

We loved the roomy interior with high ceilings, the clever storage everywhere from the giant door pockets to the floating centre armrest up front and big boot for our pram.

Entry and exit is easy through the tall and wide doors, something my back was thankful for every time I had to put our baby into her car seat.

Driving is easy, with great visibility and the engine that comes in the xDrive20i M Sport makes this X1 sporty and fun to pilot, too.  

The only drawback is the price, it's a bit expensive but at the same time you are getting a high-quality feeling SUV.

In terms of exterior dimensions, this PHEV is 4710mm long (with a 2706mm wheelbase), 1862mm wide and 1745mm high.

The Outlander is an inoffensive-looking AWD wagon with an appearance every bit in line with its GSR spec and price-tag without going over the top.

On the outside, this top-shelf GSR incorporates Mitsubishi’s 'Dynamic Shield' design facade, which was divisive in its early years but has since attracted its fair share of fans.

On the inside, this Outlander has black leather-appointed upholstery with silver stitching, the same treatment applied to the soft-touch armrests, centre console top, sections of the dash and elsewhere.

And the big 20-inch machined alloy wheels top off a classy yet relatively subdued overall look.

In the realm of medium-sized city-going SUVs with weekend road-trip inclinations – think Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Kia Sportage and the Outlander’s hybrid rivals like the Nissan X-Trail e-Power, Toyota RAV4, et al – this Mitsubishi AWD more than holds its own because in terms of design none of them are bound to set hearts a-flutter. But they’re all fine. 

This current generation of X1 arrived in late 2022 and finally looked more like part of the BMW SUV family with tall and boxy styling rather than the sleek, but raised hatchback it seemed to be before.

My test car had 'M Portimao Blue' metallic paint - a flattering hue that showed off the X1’s lines as you can see in the images.

I like the X1’s oversized grille which suits the angry looking front bumper that comes with the M Sport inclusions, but balanced by pretty headlights.

Inside, the X1 xDrive20i M Sport is modern and minimalist in design. I like the floating centre armrest in between the driver and front passenger and the way it creates a feeling of more space and adds more storage.

The double screens are nice, but we’re seeing this same design and tech now in budget cars such as the Chery Omoda 5 and Haval H6. BMW needs to be even slicker and more stylish if it wants to maintain its edge.  

If you like your SUVs sporty looking then check out the BMW X2, X4 and X6. These are coupe style SUVs (but with four doors).

This SUV has a family-friendly and functional interior with a premium feel, even if it does seem somewhat underdone for the price.

But it has all the right elements of a family tourer, in a cosy cabin in which it’s easy enough for driver and passengers to spend a chunk of time on lengthy road trips without complaint. I know, because we did.

The GSR has comfortable leather seats, a (mostly) user-friendly multimedia system, plenty of charge points (USB-A and USB-C up front and two USBs for second-row passengers), lots of soft-touch surfaces and a reasonable amount of storage space peppered throughout.

Nice touches, such as the heated steering wheel and heated front seats, which also have the massage function, top off what is an impressive interior.

There is wired charging for smartphones with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, as well as a wireless charging pad. There are also 240V/1500W power outlets.

The 9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen is too small for me (perhaps a case of Old Bloke Eyes?), but it’s better when engaged in Apple CarPlay mode. The 12.3-inch high-resolution digital driver display is simple enough to use, and the 10.8-inch head-up display is a handy feature.

The driver has an eight-way power adjustable seat, so they’re able to dial-in their favourite driving position.

As stated, this Outlander’s seats are comfortable with a reasonable amount of room for everyone, though the third row is a tight fit for anyone other than children.

The second row is a 40/20/40 split configuration, while the third row is 50/50.

In terms of packing space, there is 191 litres in the rear cargo area when all seats are being used, 461 litres when the third row is folded flat, and 1387 litres when the second and third rows are stowed away.

My family found the X1 xDrive20i to be one of the most practical small SUVs we’ve lived with thanks to its spacious interior, clever cabin storage and plenty of convenient features.

I need to point out the door pockets - they’re the biggest I’ve ever seen. They’re more door buckets than pockets and super helpful over the week not just for bottles but for everything else that I needed to dump out of my own pockets and into them.

The floating centre armrest up front looks like an ironing board and has a tonne of storage underneath.

The wireless charging is handy but the holster is a bit un-user friendly in terms of access, but it held the phone tight and stopped it becoming a projectile when driving, which is what you want.

There are power outlets galore, too, proximity unlocking, and a gesture tailgate.

Legroom in the back is excellent and there’s so much headroom throughout. 

The X1’s 540-litre boot capacity is excellent for the class and meant we could fit our baby’s big pram and the seven-year old’s scooter and still have room for the grocery shopping.

In the space of driving this SUV and writing this review the list price of the X1 xDrive20i M Sport has risen from $68,900 to $73,400. 

That price hike was part of an increase across the model range and all grades now cost more, even the entry-level sDrive18i which is now 13K less than the xDrive20i M Sport.

But you’re paying for the more powerful, athletic and only all-wheel drive one in the X1 range. 

You’re also getting loads of standard features in the xDrive20i M Sport. 

There’s the 10.25-inch instrument display with three different styles for your speedo and other gauges, while flowing into that is the 10.7-inch media screen with sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and digital radio. 

There are LED headlights, plus proximity unlocking, a head-up display, dual-zone climate control, a power tailgate, sports seats (the front ones are heated and power adjustable) and adaptive cruise control.

As the name suggests the xDrive20i M Sport is fitted with BMW M Sport goodies as standard. These include adaptive M Suspension, M leather steering wheel, M roof rails, M headliner and M interior trim. 

My test car also had $8900 worth of options fitted including the sunroof, Harman Kardon stereo, the ‘Vernasca Black’ leather seats and 20-inch M light alloy multi-spoke wheels.

Is it good value? Well, you do get a lot of nice things here but at a $13,000 premium over the entry grade, plus the $3500 price jump in the past few weeks, I’d say the value isn’t great.

If you’re trying to keep the cost down, the sDrive18i is the budget pick. 

The Outlander PHEV has a 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 98kW at 5000rpm and 195Nm at 4300rpm, an electric motor on the front and rear axles, and a lithium-ion battery pack with a total capacity of 20kWh.

Combined output (engine and electric motors) is 185kW and 450Nm and this PHEV’s electric-only driving range is listed as 84km on a full charge.

It has a single-speed transmission and drive modes include 'Eco', 'Normal', 'Power', 'Tarmac', 'Gravel', 'Snow' and 'Mud'.

It has three power-use settings: 'EV Mode' for low to medium speeds urban running, 'Series Hybrid Mode' which allows the petrol engine to step in for urgent acceleration or climbing hills and 'Parallel Hybrid Mode' for highway overtaking where the vehicle runs on engine power with electric assistance.

The X1 xDrive20i M Sport has a more powerful engine than the grades below it in the range - it’s a 2.0-litre, turbo-petrol, four-cylinder making 150kW and 300Nm.

A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission does the shifting for you.   

This is also the only all-wheel drive X1 currently in the range.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR has a listed fuel consumption of 1.5L/100km on a combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle but, as with all official fuel figures from any carmaker, you can take it with a hefty grain of salt.

That said, if your daily driving distances are within this PHEV’s electric driving range (84km, as listed) and you’re able to drive in EV mode most of the time, then at the very least you will have chopped your fuel bill.

On this test, dash-indicated fuel consumption was 5.8L/100km; actual fuel consumption, as measured from pump to pump, was 7.7L/100km.

The good news is the Outlander PHEV runs happily on the cheaper 91RON 'standard' fuel.

Our dash-indicated power usage was 20.8kWh/100km. This PHEV gobbled through most of its 20kWh battery capacity quite swiftly on the drive from the vehicle pick-up point in Sydney to our test start-point just over 100km away.

It recouped 10km electric driving range via regenerative braking on a series of long downhills when set to ‘Charge’ driving mode (with the combustion engine generating power to the battery), but I had to cycle through regen modes to optimise that power regain.

The dash-indicated combined driving range (battery and engine) was 748km on a full charge and a full 56-litre tank.

Mitsubishi states that if you’re charging off a standard household power point it will take “approximately” 9.5 hours to fully charge your Outlander – or 6.5 hours if you’re using a home or public charging device.

Things speed up considerably if you use a public rapid recharging station. In that case, Mitsubishi says your Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV will reach 80 percent battery capacity in 38 minutes.

BMW says that after a combination of open and urban roads the X1 xDrive20i M Sport will use 7.4L/100km.

In my own testing my driving was mainly city and suburban, which uses quite a lot of fuel. We did dashes to birthday parties, the grocery shopping, school drop offs and all of it in busy traffic.  

I recorded 8.9L/100km, but that’s not overly thirsty considering I was carrying two car seats with children, and all the gear that goes with them. 

A small 45 litre tank means the xDrive 20i M Sport has a range of about 608km, which is on the shorter side.

As mentioned earlier, hybrids are your best buy at this moment in time, if you want to help save the world from climate-change disaster, avoid range anxiety, and save some money on fuel bills – all without having to sacrifice safety, comfort or features.

And – bonus – the Outlander is quite nice to drive. Not to mention a pretty handy light-duty off-roader. But more about that later.

It has a kerb weight of 2145kg with light but sharp steering and a tight (11.2m) turning circle so it’s an easy vehicle to manoeuvre around busy city and suburban streets.

The teaming of a 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and two electric motors works seamlessly well. There's always plenty of power on tap and, no matter how energetic your driving becomes, this Outlander remains smooth and quiet.

Throttle response is sharp and there’s plenty of punch off the mark as well as zippiness around town when you need it.

The PHEV’s EV-only driving range is a listed 84km but our test vehicle chewed through most of its battery power on a 110km highway trip through hilly territory.

Regenerative braking regained very little of that used power and the Outlander switched to rely on petrol for the remaining 30km or so of that trip.

The driver is able to adjust the degree of regenerative braking via paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel: use the left to add more and the right to ease up.

The drive mode options tweak engine, electric motor, transmission and other factors to suit the selected set-up.

Other than that, ride is quite firm, handling is civilised and, overall, this Outlander is rather pleasant on sealed surfaces.

And, as I alluded to earlier, it’s surprisingly comfortable and capable off-road – as long as you stick within the parameters of the kind of 'off-road' terrain an AWD SUV is built to cope with: well-maintained gravel roads and dirt tracks with minor corrugations in dry conditions… or, at worst, rain-puddled blacktop.

The Outlander has satisfactory off-road measures for a city-focussed vehicle: of 18.3 degrees (approach angle), 22.2 degrees (departure), 18 degrees (ramp breakover) and 203mm of ground clearance (unladen). 

It feels nimble in the bush because steering is light and precise, visibility is good all-around, and the vehicle settles well on gravel and dirt tracks at speed, only ever skipping around a bit on rougher sections, due to its firm suspension and road tyres.

You can switch drives modes to either Gravel, Snow or Mud to best suit the terrain on which you’re driving but with the Outlander’s lack of ground clearance, road-biased tyres and 20-inch wheels, this SUV is hamstrung by its city-biased physicality.

But, this is still a handy dirt-road tourer, yielding comfortable and controlled ride and handling, only ever becoming rattled when the road or track surface becomes very chopped up and bumpy.

The Outlander’s 'Super-All Wheel Control' (S-AWC) system deserves a fair amount of credit. This traction control system manages torque application so it is instantaneous, and delivers drive with impressive levels of throttle control and an even-handed management of power.

Worth noting the Outlander did, of course, go through battery capacity at a faster pace off-road than it did when we were on sealed surfaces .

Off-roading, by its very nature, is more difficult and demands more of a vehicle than driving on smooth sealed surfaces does. And, for that reason – and the fact the Outlander is quite low – I’d avoid driving this SUV on terrain more challenging than well-maintained gravel roads and dirt tracks with minor corrugations in dry conditions.

I’ve driven an Outlander PHEV on sand before and it taxes the capacity even faster.

As mentioned earlier, this Outlander does not have a spare tyre. The absence of a spare – even a space-saver – is a disappointment, especially if you’re considering using your PHEV as a touring vehicle. A puncture repair kit is provided.

Payload is listed as 605kg, towing capacity is 750kg for an unbraked trailer and 1600kg braked. GVM is 2750kg and GCM is 4350kg.

Only a week before testing the X1 xDrive20i M Sport I’d been reviewing a BMW 330e and going from the 3 Series to the SUV was like changing my seating position from being in a bathtub to sitting on a bar stool. 

Actually, the X1’s seat is far more comfortable than a stool and the refined quality is what you’d expect from BMW.

But compared to the low slung 330e the visibility and the upright driving angle of the X1 is very different.

It’s something you want in an SUV that puts practicality before performance.

As much as I liked the sporty sedan, as a dad I preferred being able to see better when parking in the X1, and this made life a lot easier.

Easy is a good word to describe what the X1 xDrive20i M Sport is like to drive - from that visibility to the light steering, comfortable ride and that great engine with all-wheel drive.

That 2.0-litre four-cylinder has more than enough grunt to run up the steep hills in my neighbourhood without struggling, the transmission is smooth and the all-wheel drive system adds a bit more reassurance in the wet weather.

All of this makes for an easy, enjoyable drive. 

The X1xDrive20i M Sport like all X1s scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2022.

A score of 88 per cent was given to child protection and the ANCAP report found that a 10-year old and six-year old in the second row had adequate to good protection in a front offset collision and a side impact. 

For child seats there are two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor mounts across the second row.

As you would expect from a model that’s hasn’t even been around a year yet, the X1 xDrive20i M Sport has the very latest in advanced safety tech.

There’s AEB which is operational from 5.0km/h to 210km/h and also works at road junctions. There’s lane keeping assistance, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert. 

There are curtain airbags for front and rear passengers, a centre airbag for the driver and co-pilot along with frontal airbags plus side chest and side pelvis airbags.

The Outlander range is covered by a 10-year/200,000km warranty – as long as servicing is completed on time by an authorised Mitsubishi dealership (otherwise, five years/100,000km) – and 10 years capped price servicing and 12 months roadside assist.

Outlander service intervals are scheduled at 12 months or 15,000km. Service costs can officially range from $349 through to $799 for a 10-year average of $549 per workshop visit.

The battery set-up has an eight-year/160,000km warranty. 

The X1 xDrive20i M Sport is covered by BMW’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

A five-year/80,000km service plan through BMW will cost $2150. You’ll be looking to pay an average of $430 per service every 12 months.