High mileage car & other questions

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TigerTim

New member
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
3
Hi All,

Greetings from Ireland. My first posting here. I'm no longer doing enough mileage to suit running my Citroen C-Crosser 2.2 diesel. I need to buy something with towing capacity for our few caravan trips during the summer so the Outlander Phev appeals to me. My mileage to work is now only 3 miles each way so running on battery only really appeals to me. My budget will just about stretch to a 2014 GX4H. I've been trawling this forum & have got a lot of useful info. I have a few questions that someone may be able to help with.

1. Does high mileage matter. There are a few dealers over here specializing on PHEV's & electric cars. Most are UK imports & many have in the region of 70,000 to 100,000 miles. I've never had any issues buying suitable petrol or diesel cars with high mileage but not sure about battery life. Anyone know if this mileage is too high. With that type of mileage in 3 to 4 years I'm guessing that most of the mileage would have been done on the ICE. I'm now only doing about 8000 miles so a higher mileage car wouldn't normally bother me except for my query on the batteries.

2. Does the ICE have a timing chain or belt?. I think it has a chain but not certain.

3.I think I read somewhere if the battery for starting the ICE goes flat (leaving the lights on) that you can't jump start it but have to plug in the charge cable. True?. Not much use if you're stuck miles from nearest charger.

I'm sure I'll have more questions. Going to get to test drive one next weekend so will see how that goes.

Thanks,

Tim
 
Welcome. I can't help with the high mileage related questions but I will say with the pre-2017 cars it can be frustratingly hard to drive entirely on battery for short trips in cold weather - even in a car with electric heating. The car will often start the engine to warm up the cabin quickly. You have to turn the heating off (or right down) to prevent it. Then as the electric heater gets into its stride you can gradually nudge the temperature up without provoking an ICE start.

The engine has a timing chain. I haven't read of any widespread engine problems. In fact reading a busy EV forum I would say the Outlander has about the fewest reliability complaints of any EV or PHEV, even those from so-called premium German brands, and it outsells most of them, so it seems very dependable.

Towing, read up the various threads about it. If you are towing a heavy load in hilly terrain you need to manage the battery carefully. I only tow a little cargo trailer so can't advise for caravanning.

The ICE is started from the traction battery. The 12V battery is only there to bootstrap the computers and run the low voltage electronics when the car is turned off (alarm etc). The car keeps the 12V battery topped up from the traction battery automatically. There is a terminal to jump the 12V battery, but that won't help you with starting the engine. If you have a flat traction battery then yes you have to charge the car to use it even as an ICE. I wouldn't worry about leaving the lights on, it's the beepiest car in the world and won't let you do that easily!

Steve
 
Normally the drive battery cannot get as flat as to prevent jump-starting (booting up) the car from the 12V battery. The car shuts down at approx. 20%, but can go a bit deeper to start the engine and generator. A small 12V spare battery, like the ones used for home alarms, suffices.
 
Wouldn't worry too much about a ICE starting in cold weather comment from Daff. I drive without the heater in winter for a similar distance commute here in London with external temp much like Ireland - no more uncomfortable than waiting for any ICE car to heat up, which in 3 miles, is most of the journey. I only fire up the heater if I'm giving "softies" a lift. :lol:
 
Fine if it works for you. I thought it important to warn him, as this feature is not obvious to all purchasers. You sometimes need to run the heater to prevent misting up, even if you are personally happy to be cold it would be foolish in the extreme to drive with limited visibility. Preheating helps somewhat. I would not under any circumstances buy the base model without an electric heater.

Steve
 
Daff said:
Fine if it works for you. I thought it important to warn him, as this feature is not obvious to all purchasers. You sometimes need to run the heater to prevent misting up, even if you are personally happy to be cold it would be foolish in the extreme to drive with limited visibility. Preheating helps somewhat. I would not under any circumstances buy the base model without an electric heater.

Steve

Agreed, but then he should also read the counter argument, especially with his short daily journey. Personally I find running the aircon without heat deals with any misting as it acts as a de-humidifier. The difference in price between the Gx3h and Gx4h was significant in 2014.
 
If you're only facing a 3-mile commute, in cold weather start the heating (electric only) about 20 minutes before you set off. The car will be nice and toasty (and all windows clear) and you'll still have plenty of juice to handle the journey on battery only.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Fantastic. Hoping to get to drive an Outlander this Friday & will report back. 83,000 miles on it so not sure if I'll be interested but worth driving it anyway & see if the hybrid is as good in real life as it is on paper (& also see if he'll give me much for my C-Crosser !!).

Thanks,

Tim
 
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