Gx3h owners.

[chindley]

Hi All, my first post here, to be followed by many more.

I am about to sign on the dotted line for a new gx3h lease but wanted to get a bit more info from owners about some issues.
Firstly, I commute to work about 10 miles so would use electric only for 5 days a week. In winter how does the electric only mode heat the car as there is no electric heater like in the Gx4h?

Secondly has anyone got a picture of the centre console of the Gx3h as online I can only find the gx4h satnav version, what is in place of the screen on the gx3h?

lastly (for now) I travel to North Wales in the summer to our caravan about 120 miles broken down to 35 Miles motorway(70MPH) 55 miles dual carriageway
(60MPH) (#hatetheA55)
30 miles country roads.(30mph) How would I travel this i.e would it be hybrid all the way? or Electric then recharge 80% then electric again. What would the average cost be to do this trip please.

Hope that's not to confusing and cant wait to join the smug people using no fuel to get to work.
Thanks in advance

 

[jkh112]

I have ordered a gx3h. Centre console PIC is in the downloadable phev brochure, but look online for pics of the normal outlander in gx2 or 3 trim as the radio etc is the same.
In winter the only heating is from the engine, but my understanding is that the electric heaters are not that good and that when it is really cold the engine is started frequently to keep it warm on all trim levels.

 

[jaapv]

In winter with electric heating the engine will switch on for the first few kms to boost up the heating,then the electric heating takes over completely for temperatures down to at least minus 15. After that the ICE will occasionally provide a boost.
If you preheat the car from the mains the ICE will only run for a few hundrred meters.
The electric heating is the most comfortable and economical.

 

[jkh112]

I think that the electric heater and the electric seats are really the only items not fitted to the GX3h which I will miss. When I ordered the car I decided the additional lease cost was not worth it, but I may change my mind when Winter arrives.

 

[chindley]

Cheers, I have ordered the Gx3h today for 1st Sept on lease 3+47 £278 per month inc Vat, not a bad deal especially as I will be saving about £170 per month in fuel, bring on the traffic Jams!!! :lol:

 

[jkh112]

Congratulations. My GX3h is due to be delivered next week so I can give a bit more info on it after that as most people on here seem to have the GX4h (or equivalent).

 

[todgefast]

Hi jkh112, would be very interested to hear about your GX3h as I am thinking about going for this spec too.

 

[jkh112]

Had it delivered on Wednesday so have had it 2 days now.
I am really pleased with it. Not much different to the GX4h which I took for a test drive, especially as I have leather seats. The only 2 differences I have noticed is a cd stereo in place of the satnav and the lack of a sunroof.
I am pleased with the extra headroom in the rear released by not having a sunroof.
The stereo blends in with the dash very well as it has the same white on black display as the heater display.
The power mode display can still be called up in between the power meter (rev counter!) and the speedo.
The exterior seems identical to the GX4h apart from black trim under the windows instead of chrome.
Let me know if there is anything specific you would like to know.

 

[chindley]

Thanks for that. Think the only thing I will miss from my Captiva is the reversing camera, so may look for an after market one of them. Certainly wont miss the SATNAV as it was rubbish compared to TOMTOM on the iphone. What sort of driving distance do you do, mines mainly under 20 miles return between work so should be ok for elec for 95% of my driving but we do go up to North Wales about 8 times in Summer, so would be interested in what sort of MPG I would expect on a 120 mile run. Would I use elec until it runs out then charge from ICE or save elec till I get to the hills of NorthWales. broken down it is 36 miles motorway 60 miles dual carriageway 28 miles B roads. I can take Warrington town centre at the start of the journey which is 30 miles B road instead of 36 motorway. Hope that's clear. Ive ordered it in White for 1st Sept. Have you had the free elec charge point fitted. I ordered it through parkatmyhouse.com on Tuesday and they wanted to come and fit it yesterday :shock:

 

[jaapv]

Switch to Save on the Motorway and to Charge in the hills. If there are long climbs ahead it is useful to keep a reasonably charged battery. On long Motorway trips, depending on your load and speed/driving style, you can expect something like 30-32 MpG (UK). (9L/100Km)

 

[user 258]

Hi

As mentioned use save mode on the motorways. Use battery mode on the b roads. Using the engine at speeds below about 42mph is the last efficient mode (series hybrid mode). I'm currently getting into the habit on longer journeys of manually selecting charge mode when more part is required (climbing hills or accelerating upto speed) and then choosing EV mode when little power is required such as maintaining speed down slight inclines at speed. Basically when the power needle is at or preferably below the c in eco on the power meter.

The principle I'm working on is that engines are inefficient at small power loadings so turning them off and using EV is the best choice while if the engine is on it may as well work a little harder and recharge the battery AS LONG AS THE RECHARGED BATTERY ENABLES THE ENGINE TO SWITCH OFF LATER during urban driving. Is be interested in your views about this.

Kind regards
Mark

 

[Fergee]

Hi Mark,

I'm not sure what the blurb says but I would imagine that putting the car on charge would only be efficient if you had a considerable amount of town driving coming up on your journey and the battery was flat. My reasoning behind this is if you were to charge the battery and load the engine further you would be consuming quite a bit more fuel, and your reasoning that it operates better at higher loads does not hold true other wise your car would be more efficient at 70mph than it is at 56mph. I would therefore only imagine that using the extra fuel to charge whilst running on the ICE would only be wise when offsetting with low speed town driving further on in your journey.....Even then it might not be wise due to the inefficiencies of energy transformation.

I intend to plan my journeys and go into save mode to account for town driving when i can, and at the minute can't see any need to be using charge. I think it is more of a gimmick so you can make sure all urban miles are "green" and emission free, marketing more than efficiency.

 

[pjvik]

The system in the car is very good at switching modes as needed.
To get as low use of petrol as possible it is best to let the car system changes modes as needed.
You will discover that it will engage the petrol engine as little as possible, when there have been stored some energy int o the battery the car will use this if you reach a flat road.

The only reason to use the buttons is when you are going into a town, closed parking house, closed ferry or similar. If you need to stop (red light or similar) and wait the system will stop the petrol engine when it not needed. If you have the mode Charge the petrol engine will run during the stop.

Please try out the car before you start overriding the system.

 

[davewigan]

Park at my house.... Would that be the same as Britishgas are offering

I've ordered through British has and got an email saying they are extremely busy will call into weeks and mentioned potential funding ending...

Don't want to miss out.

 

[davewigan]

Switch to Save on the Motorway and to Charge in the hills. If there are long climbs ahead it is useful to keep a reasonably charged battery. On long Motorway trips, depending on your load and speed/driving style, you can expect something like 30-32 MpG (UK). (9L/100Km)

Would have hoped for more than 30 - 32 on motorway.


Especailly based on this post.... 782km no electricity charge at all and more when going.....


Hi everybody,
just to give you a inside view: the drive was performed from 4 pm until 5 am the next day.
I only stopped for photo shots and dinner. DRL were on, headlights were on from 8:30 pm to the end of the drive. Major cities crossed were Basle, Colmar, Metz, Liege, Eindhoven and Amsterdam. Payload was ca. 120 kgs. CHARGE option was used to primarily cover distances in cities electrically. Cruising speeds were ca. 55 mph/88 km/h. The tank wasn't emptied completely. I went to a gas station as soon as 'my math told me' (I work with the two low fuel warning levels of the vehicle and calculate the remaining safe distance).
The PHEV tank holds slightly more than 45 litres. On the return way I covered 782 kms but without electric charge. Remember: Range values solely based on NEDC values are always rather hard to achieve but if you drive accordingly (which means if you try to drive in a similar manner as the vehicles has been certified) you'll get there...

 

[user 258]

Hi Mark,
My reasoning behind this is if you were to charge the battery and load the engine further you would be consuming quite a bit more fuel, and your reasoning that it operates better at higher loads does not hold true other wise your car would be more efficient at 70mph than it is at 56mph.

Hi,

The arguement about 56mph being more efficient than 70mph is due to wind resistance not the efficiency of the engine.

Combustion engines are not efficient across the entire rev range. The Prius wouldn't tick over at less than 1300rpm (usually) as it wasn't efficient. The PHEV won't tick over at less than 1000rpm. At any rpm you have friction to overcome. If the engine HAS to run anyway, since you are on an extended journey, then when it is running it may as well work a little harder but only if it can then be switched off completely when very little power is required.

Your other arguments are valid and I already apply them. Using charge mode should only be done in order to put sufficient charge into the battery to then run on bettery typically at speeds below 45mph when serial hybrid mode is used.

Of course, you should try and ensure you have almost no bettery charge left at the end of each journey.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[user 258]

The system in the car is very good at switching modes as needed.
To get as low use of petrol as possible it is best to let the car system changes modes as needed.

Hi,

I think you have made this point before. My counter point is that the car does NOT know the type of driving or the distance of the journey you will be making so is simply unable to decide when is the most efficient time to run the engine, recharge the battery, or run in EV mode.

For people that just want to get in and drive then the car will do its best once the battery is depleted. For those that do care there is quite some improving to be done over the onboard computer.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[chindley]

Thanks guys some informative advice. 30mpg is not good but I have noticed that Asda in Bangor have an elec point so may include that as a stop off to fill up belly and fill up battery.
Davewigan are you from Wigan or is that your name ? I'm in Lowton not fat from Wigan, anyway yes it is the same unit as British Gas I applied to BG last Friday and got the same message 2 weeks very busy so I applied to charge at my house and they called me straight back but BG called me today so it was exactly a week. Let me know how you get on.

 

[davewigan]

Thanks guys some informative advice. 30mpg is not good but I have noticed that Asda in Bangor have an elec point so may include that as a stop off to fill up belly and fill up battery.
Davewigan are you from Wigan or is that your name ? I'm in Lowton not fat from Wigan, anyway yes it is the same unit as British Gas I applied to BG last Friday and got the same message 2 weeks very busy so I applied to charge at my house and they called me straight back but BG called me today so it was exactly a week. Let me know how you get on.

Yes live in Wigan in highfield....

Be good to hear your real world experiance for the longer drives.

I have the Ocational 120 round trip to Bradford and the odd 320 to Milton Keynes. (work pay the milage so not an issue really)

I'm sure ive seen quoted that 108 miles is the point where the diesel model becomes more efficient....

Did BG give an idea of install date or have you just cancelled

 

[user 258]

Hi

I've found that about 40mpg is realistic on the motorway at 65-70mph driving with a light foot. So a 60 mile journey would be roughly 30 miles battery and 30 miles engine so would get roughly 80mpg over the full journey. This would drop somewhat with the A/C on as the battery range drops from about 30 to about 24 miles.

Very rough numbers of course as everyone drives differently but should give you some sort of realistic expectation.

Kind regards
Mark