Auto Express Long Term review

[rgilyead]

Auto Express long-term PHEV test is here - http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mitsub...ng-term-test-review-mitsubishi-outlander-phev

 

[I8Binners]

Did he not bother to charge it for the last 2000 odd miles? The MPG takes a hammering!

 

[maby]

Did he not bother to charge it for the last 2000 odd miles? The MPG takes a hammering!

He is getting the sort of mpg that am average user should expect. This forum tends to be populated by enthusiasts who will do everything they can to maximise EV range or see how close they can get to 1000 miles on the first tank of fuel! The average user (and that's who Mitsubishi have to satisfy if this will get beyond its current niche) will just drive it like a relatively large estate car and may plug it in overnight - if it's convenient. I'm quite a relaxed driver and get decent fuel economy out of anything I drive - I'm hoping for about 55 mpge out of our Outlander and will be overjoyed if I hit 60 mpge.

 

[englishman]

Like a lot of reviewers he is being slightly misleading . Quote The Outlander is powered by a combination of a 2.0-litre engine and two electric motors. Fully charged, it’ll go for 32 miles on battery power alone. Once these run out, the petrol engine is used as a generator to continue powering the motors, rather than the wheels.

Like me when i first read this review I was confused you would assume that the engine never drives the front wheels directly.
This is not correct the engine does drive the front wheels directly in parallel hybrid mode.
Like most reviews some are good some are bad but the majority of the bad reviews are just very badly researched.
Read this link and you will get the point of bad reviewers ...

http://www.driving.co.uk/news/plug-in-baby-not-after-trying-the-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-says-eleanor-mills/

 

[Ozukus]

Read this link and you will get the point of bad reviewers ...

http://www.driving.co.uk/news/plug-in-baby-not-after-trying-the-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-says-eleanor-mills/

I think this person is trying to complain about practically anything to do with the car to cover up the fact that she was driving a PLUG IN Hybrid Electric Vehicle without having a practical overnight charging solution :?: Bit like buying a manual car when you have an automatic licence, looks great on the drive.

 

[englishman]

Ozukus ...well said.

If you know the area that She lives in the only way to charge the vehicle would be to run a temp extension cable out of the window across the pavement and plug the car in that way , and more then likely find the lead charging cable vandalised or stolen in the morning .. She should have declined to test this vehicle as She was not a suitable user.

 

[maby]

Ozukus ...well said.

If you know the area that She lives in the only way to charge the vehicle would be to run a temp extension cable out of the window across the pavement and plug the car in that way , and more then likely find the lead charging cable vandalised or stolen in the morning .. She should have declined to test this vehicle as She was not a suitable user.

I'm not sure that is fair - she is representative of a very large number of potential purchasers and her comments are valid. 40mpg is a perfectly reasonable figure for a reasonably large 4WD estate and the Outlander PHEV can be a valid option for users who will rarely charge it just as an electric transmission automatic vehicle. I hate clutches and gearboxes and the electric transmission was a major consideration in our choice of the PHEV. While not quite extreme as the case of the reviewer, a lot of our usage will be without the opportunity to charge the batteries, but I still believe that the vehicle justifies its existence. I know that there have been a few teething problems that have been reported here, but those seem to be mostly software related and once they have been overcome, we should be able to hope for a high degree of reliability with so many of the traditional mechanical components nowhere to be seen.

 

[englishman]

Maby,

Fair comment but the major selling factor of this car is the ability to be able to plug the car into the mains supply, not my opinion but Mitsubishi . And the fact that other car makers see the potential bears this out Volvo BMW etc .

I don't object to someone's opinion regarding a car but when someone takes on the responsibility of reviewing a product, they should at least make the review fair unbiased honest and more importantly as technically accurate as possible.
People read these reviews in their thousands and then decide or not to spend the best part of 30k plus.

I spent the best part of two months reading reviews good bad and indifferent, and the best reviews were written by reviewers who had a technical background IE vehicle engineer fleet car buyers etc.
The worst reviews one could pick holes in the review for major technical flaws they had omitted or just plain misunderstanding of the product.. And some have blatantly copied and pasted image text from previous reviews.
Do I get annoyed when a reviewer gets His or Her facts wrong ? I do when I will be spending 34k plus.
Would I have purchased this car if one I had no viable means of plugging it in ? NO. but that's just my opinion.

 

[I8Binners]

Did he not bother to charge it for the last 2000 odd miles? The MPG takes a hammering!

He is getting the sort of mpg that am average user should expect. This forum tends to be populated by enthusiasts who will do everything they can to maximise EV range or see how close they can get to 1000 miles on the first tank of fuel! The average user (and that's who Mitsubishi have to satisfy if this will get beyond its current niche) will just drive it like a relatively large estate car and may plug it in overnight - if it's convenient. I'm quite a relaxed driver and get decent fuel economy out of anything I drive - I'm hoping for about 55 mpge out of our Outlander and will be overjoyed if I hit 60 mpge.

Overall maybe but his MPG for the last 2300 miles averaged under 30mpg which can't be accurate and why it dragged the MPG down from over 50 to just over 40

 

[jaapv]

Oh - it can be accurate - I am able to drive the car to get 25 mpg even - at the extra cost of a set of tyres and a mail box full of speeding tickets. Or perhaps a driving licence...

 

[maby]

Did he not bother to charge it for the last 2000 odd miles? The MPG takes a hammering!

He is getting the sort of mpg that am average user should expect. This forum tends to be populated by enthusiasts who will do everything they can to maximise EV range or see how close they can get to 1000 miles on the first tank of fuel! The average user (and that's who Mitsubishi have to satisfy if this will get beyond its current niche) will just drive it like a relatively large estate car and may plug it in overnight - if it's convenient. I'm quite a relaxed driver and get decent fuel economy out of anything I drive - I'm hoping for about 55 mpge out of our Outlander and will be overjoyed if I hit 60 mpge.

Overall maybe but his MPG for the last 2300 miles averaged under 30mpg which can't be accurate and why it dragged the MPG down from over 50 to just over 40

Fuel economy out of any hybrid is very dependent on driving style - I usually get over 50mpg out of our Prius - my wife seldom gets better than 40mpg out of the same car. I have a very relaxed driving style - I don't accelerate hard, I brake early, never break speed limits and drive on cruise control almost all the time. My wife is a far more jumpy driver - accelerates hard off the lights, brakes late and doesn't understand cruise control. The best figure you'll see claimed for a PHEV running in petrol mode is around 45mpg and most people seem to agree that this is difficult to achieve. I don't think it would be at all difficult to get it below 30mpg with modern driving styles.

 

[I8Binners]

I meant if he was using the car properly it can't be correct, he would have had some charging within those 2000 miles....be interesting to hear from the guy

 

[maby]

I meant if he was using the car properly it can't be correct, he would have had some charging within those 2000 miles....be interesting to hear from the guy

Where did this 2000 miles without recharging come from? I've just reread the review and cannot see any mention of it.

 

[I8Binners]

I meant if he was using the car properly it can't be correct, he would have had some charging within those 2000 miles....be interesting to hear from the guy

Where did this 2000 miles without recharging come from? I've just reread the review and cannot see any mention of it.

I'm presuming, if you go down the article his last post before this last one had miles of just under 6k and an alright MPG, then in 2300 miles he either changes his driving style or doesn't bother charging as it drops right down meaning that to get to the overall MPG of 40 odd his last 2000 miles would need to be average under 30mpg.

 

[I8Binners]

Latest post

Mileage: 8,266 miles
Real-world fuel economy: 43.1mpg

Previous Posting

Mileage: 5,926 miles
Real-world economy: 52.4mpg

To get that big a drop in a comparatively short distance compared to the previous readings seems strange to me.

 

[maby]

...
I'm presuming, if you go down the article his last post before this last one had miles of just under 6k and an alright MPG, then in 2300 miles he either changes his driving style or doesn't bother charging as it drops right down meaning that to get to the overall MPG of 40 odd his last 2000 miles would need to be average under 30mpg.

OK - got that now and your numbers are correct. The trouble is that he really does not tell us enough about how he used the car. The original review does state that he has no ability to charge at home and is intending to charge at the office. He would only had had to go on holiday somewhere in Europe to run up a couple of thousand miles without charging, you know. A car the size and characteristics of the Outlander will need to be used in that sort of mode several times per year to justify its existence - you don't need a large 4WD if all you are going to do with it is a 25 mile round trip to the office every day.

 

[I8Binners]

...
I'm presuming, if you go down the article his last post before this last one had miles of just under 6k and an alright MPG, then in 2300 miles he either changes his driving style or doesn't bother charging as it drops right down meaning that to get to the overall MPG of 40 odd his last 2000 miles would need to be average under 30mpg.

OK - got that now and your numbers are correct. The trouble is that he really does not tell us enough about how he used the car. The original review does state that he has no ability to charge at home and is intending to charge at the office. He would only had had to go on holiday somewhere in Europe to run up a couple of thousand miles without charging, you know. A car the size and characteristics of the Outlander will need to be used in that sort of mode several times per year to justify its existence - you don't need a large 4WD if all you are going to do with it is a 25 mile round trip to the office every day.

We do need to know more about the 2000 odd miles and charging and fuel etc otherwise its unfair out the Outlander if he's reviewing it as a hybrid but not actually bothering to use one part of it.

 

[maby]

...
We do need to know more about the 2000 odd miles and charging and fuel etc otherwise its unfair out the Outlander if he's reviewing it as a hybrid but not actually bothering to use one part of it.

I really don't think it is unfair - it's realistic.

Look, most years we go on holiday for three weeks to a chalet on the SW French coast - near Bordeux. It's something like 700 miles each way plus a few hundred more for trips while we're there. That will be something like 2000 miles with no charging at all and if I've paid £30k for a large 4WD estate, I don't expect to have to hire a car for the trip or use the old wreck we have as a second car. And we will be pretty representative of the purchasing public - people driving to the ski slopes, the Med, Portugal... Add a few shorter weekend breaks in this country and a Christmas booze cruise and quite a chunk of your total annual mileage could end up being done without charging - so I don't think the review is particularly unfair.

 

[I8Binners]

...
We do need to know more about the 2000 odd miles and charging and fuel etc otherwise its unfair out the Outlander if he's reviewing it as a hybrid but not actually bothering to use one part of it.

I really don't think it is unfair - it's realistic.

Look, most years we go on holiday for three weeks to a chalet on the SW French coast - near Bordeux. It's something like 700 miles each way plus a few hundred more for trips while we're there. That will be something like 2000 miles with no charging at all and if I've paid £30k for a large 4WD estate, I don't expect to have to hire a car for the trip or use the old wreck we have as a second car. And we will be pretty representative of the purchasing public - people driving to the ski slopes, the Med, Portugal... Add a few shorter weekend breaks in this country and a Christmas booze cruise and quite a chunk of your total annual mileage could end up being done without charging - so I don't think the review is particularly unfair.

Not sure you are representative of the average user Not sure many of us holiday 3 times a year lol!

I would say I was nearer average. Half my work is 42 miles each way and I do probably 2-3 times a month journeys of around 150 miles each way. I would want to be high 50's MPG minimum, if not nearer 70mpg overall.

Plus, when I did 400 miles last tuesday I averaged 37mpg overall.

 

[maby]

...Not sure you are representative of the average user Not sure many of us holiday 3 times a year lol!

I would say I was nearer average. Half my work is 42 miles each way and I do probably 2-3 times a month journeys of around 150 miles each way. I would want to be high 50's MPG minimum, if not nearer 70mpg overall.

Plus, when I did 400 miles last tuesday I averaged 37mpg overall.

I really don't think we are that unusual - I'm only talking about one long distance summer holiday and a few long weekends in this country - it's easy for it to add up to several thousand miles without the ability to charge - so it is quite valid to review the car in that pattern of usage.

I do agree that there is more to the question of the review in question - even without charging, he must be a bit of a boy-racer to get the consumption below 30mpg - but there are a lot of boy-racers around, so it is still a valid test.

The Prius came in for a lot of criticism after it was launched. The reviews spoke of 60 or 70 mpg but many owners were only seeing 40 mpg. The truth is that 60+ mpg is almost impossible in normal use and it is perfectly possible to get it down to 35mpg if you drive it with a heavy right foot. You do the vehicle no favours by building up a body of dissatisfied owners who feel cheated - we have a small community of geeks here who actually enjoy trying to push the miles per tank above 2000, but most of the world will just see it as a large estate car that helps them dodge taxes - there need to be reviews that will tell them what performance they can realistically expect.