2020 Mitsubishi Outlander vs Subaru Forester

What's the difference?

When you think about it, plug-in hybrids really are something of a best of both worlds proposition - an electric motor for your weekday commute, and a petrol engine for your weekend adventures. It also means you can almost always plug in at home, so there's no need to queue for a public charger or worry much about how long it takes to recharge. 

If you're looking for a plug-in hybrid with space for the family and more of an adventurous spirit than most, the Outlander PHEV is worthy of investigating.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel and meals provided.

The Subaru Forester Hybrid S is a great family car - even without the hybrid engine, you get a quality vehicle. If you’re looking for something that gives a nod to a hybrid but going electric still scares you, this could be right up your alley. Personally I would like to see more of the electric motor in use but at least Subaru's headed in the right direction. 

It has a good amount of interior space, boot space and the driving acumen we’ve come to expect from Subaru. It has great safety and the technology is good for 2020.

I gave it a family rating of 7.6 out of 10, taking points off because I think you can do more with a hybrid. My children gave it an 8.0. Show them a blue car and they love it. 

It’s business as usual for the Outlander PHEV, with the exterior design largely unchanged for this 2020 update.

Now whether that’s a bad thing obviously depends on whether you like the outgoing vehicle, but one thing is certain - this Outlander offers no Tesla Cybertruck style, erm, challenging design features. In fact, it looks an awful lot like a Mitsubishi SUV.

This is no rolling billboard advertising your eco credentials, then. And for a lot of people - myself included - that counts as a positive. 

The front-end view is easily the most powerful, with Mitsubishi’s shiny black-and-silver grille treatment looming large in any rear-view mirror it's spotted in, but we also like the swollen shoulder lines that run beneath the side windows, as well as the arch-filling alloys.

All up, they give the Outlander a vaguely premium look from the outside - a feeling only enhanced in the bright Red Diamond of our test car. On colours for a moment, there are only four available; the red, as well as Ruby Black, Titanium Grey and Starlight (white).

Inside, the new 8.0-inch screen takes pride of place in the dash, and the air-con controls have been given a more modern-feeling tickle, but elsewhere it’s largely more of the same for Mitsubishi’s electrified SUV.

And that means a simple and unfussy design theme front and back, interspersed with a combination of hard plastics and soft-touch materials. How much of each, though, depends on how much you spend.

It’s hard to tell the regular Forester S from the Hybrid S, save for a badge on the back suggesting it's a hybrid.

So, they look as a Forester does... solid. A station wagon with the height of an SUV.

Subaru is one of the only companies to champion this shape and it works well, carving a point of difference in the crowded mid-size SUV market. 

Inside is quite stylish. Being the top-of-the-range model there are leather seats that are also heated and power adjustable. There’s a leather steering wheel that feels lovely under the hands and a sunroof to let light through the car. 

The centre console looks good, but is a little fussy with an overzealous use of buttons and a split screen situation which is confusing at first, but it's  not a deal breaker.

The addition of metal inserts on the foot pedals really lift the whole design of the car. 

Mitsubishi makes a big deal out of the Outlander’s practicality perks, and with good reason; here’s an electrified vehicle that can carry five people, tow 1.5 tonnes, and even tackle some off-road stuff without breaking much of a sweat.

Let’s start with the key stuff. The Outlander PHEV measures in at 4695mm in length, 1800mm in width and 1710mm in height, which is about bang-on the conventional fuel-powered models. 

As a result, you can expect similar space inside the cabin, with enough room for up-front riders, and a spacious rear seat that provided enough head and legroom for my 175cm frame to ride in comfort. 

In the boot, you’ll find 463 litres of luggage room, with an extra 35 litres hidden in an under-floor cargo box. And unlike some hybrids, the Outlander PHEV won’t shy away from some light-duty towing either, with Mitsubishi claiming a 1500kg (braked) towing capacity. 

Finally, you can expect two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat in the back, as well as two new USB connections points, so there's device charging galore.

Those in the Forester's front seats have plenty of leg and headroom; enough for even the taller members of my family. There is no cramped feeling, with enough room between the front seats to rule out the rubbing of  shoulders. 

My two children, aged six and eight, were comfortable in the back seat. They had a good amount of space between them, and you will be able to fit a third child seat back there.

It’s tight but it does fit. I did it with two boosters and a baby capsule. We’d always suggest checking with your seats first as they are all different. 

At 509 litres the boot is a good size for a family of four and I was able to fit the bulky CarsGuide pram in with room around it for school bags or groceries. If you’re beyond pram stage, there's plenty of room for sporting equipment and other big kids stuff. 

The Subaru Forester Hybrid S comes in at $45,990 before on-road costs.

It's covered by Subaru's five year/unlimited km warranty. There is also an eight year/160,000 high voltage battery warranty.

Servicing is required every 12 months/15,000 km and there is a five year capped servicing program. 

It’s a slightly confusing experience, climbing behind the wheel of the Outlander PHEV. Not least of which because the thing that takes pride of place in this eco-friendly SUV’s centre console is a massive “Sport” button, conjuring images of slaying mountain passes, all while saving the planet.

The reality, though, is just a little different. Bigger engine or no, the Outlander is no backroad bandit.

In fact, I think it does its best work away from Sport mode, which can leave the accelerator a little too twitchy, and give you a sort of lurching effect should you so much as breath on the throttle, but then fail to backup that promise with meaningful, neck-snapping acceleration. The sprint to 100km/h, for example, will take 10.5sec, which is down from 11 seconds in the outgoing car, but still not overly quick.

Remember, this is a family friendly (and eco-friendly) SUV, and so you shouldn’t be surprised to learn it behaves at its finest when it is treated as such, accelerating smoothly, switching between electric and petrol modes without great fuss, and genuinely going about its business with a quiet confidence. 

Besides, like most electrified cars, slipping behind the wheel of the Outlander PHEV does strange and mysterious things to your driving style. Believe me, no matter how heavy your right foot is, you can’t help but want to drive the Outlander gently, trying to prolong its battery-only range and stop the petrol engine kicking in. It’s like the eco-friendly version of chasing lap times, and it is strangely addictive.

On the EV side, you can choose between Charge mode (which prioritises battery charge) or Save mode (which maintains the battery charge), and to help the battery stay charged, you can up the regenerative braking via the gearshift paddles, too. 

The truth is, though, that the Outlander drive experience really isn’t defined by its eco credentials, but by its sense of normality. It behaves in much the way you expect an Outlander to behave, with the fuel use (or lack of it) an added perk.

The steering is not overly engaging, but it’s light and easy, and the suspension focuses more on softness than sportiness. Is it as fun to drive or as engaging as some of its more modern rivals? Not really. But it's big, spacious, familiar and easy.

The Forester Hybrid S drives well and it takes out all those things you’ve heard about electric cars and may not be fond of.

For example, it coasts along without your foot having to be on the accelerator, and they’ve added in some noise so pedestrians can hear the car on approach rather than it creeping along silently at low speeds. 

It gets up hills quickly, there’s no issue with power as it has a 2.0-litre petrol engine along with the electric motor which gives instant acceleration, so it doesn't have a lag.

The steering is slightly stiff to turn but you get used to that the more you drive it and by the end of the week it felt normal to me. 

I think the electric motor added agility and made the Forester feel more nimble than usual, so if anything it’s a benefit because of that.

But how and when does the hybrid kick in? The electric motor can work on its own at speeds under 24km/h. It works together with the petrol engine at medium speeds, and then at higher speeds, the petrol engine takes over completely.

Subaru says the electric motor also takes over if you’re coasting along without the accelerator, for example downhill, and the petrol engine will kick in when you hit the accelerator. 

The system is designed to save fuel in urban, high traffic areas. But when you compare the claimed fuel consumption of a regular Subaru Forester (7.4L/100km) to this 'e-Boxer' Hybrid S (6.7L/100km), there isn’t that much difference.

And when you compare it to other hybrid cars like the Toyota RAV4, the fuel saving is minimal. This week, the average fuel consumption I got was 12.3L/100km, but I did do a lot of stop/start driving mainly in the city, so it’s not the best representation of what it can do. 

It’s a fairly standard car to park. Even though the Forester is long I was able to squeeze into a number of tight parking spaces on a few rainy school runs this week where the competition is fierce.

It has a clear reversing camera with a bonus 360-degree view, as well as a front side view on the top split screen. I did find this confusing but I’m sure if I drove the car for a bit longer I’d get used to it. 

The Forester scored a maximum five ANCAP stars when it was assessed in 2019., and safety is covered with rear cross traffic alert, blind spot monitoring , lane keep assist, and auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection.

There’s also what Subaru calls 'Eye Sight', which works by capturing 3D images via a pair of cameras at the top of the front windscreen.

If the system sees anything that might pose a danger, it warns you audibly, urging you to take action and brake. It may automatically apply the brakes if you don’t.

There are also airbags to cover the driver and front passenger and side curtain airbags that extend to the back row. You’ll also find two ISOFIX points and three top tether points across the back seat to fit kids car seats in safely.