Long Distance Driving

[ansellrk]

Evening all,

I'm after some advice to help me make a decision...I know most people on here are probably bias towards the Outlander PEV but I'd appreciate honesty please.

My dilemma is choosing my new company car. My choices are as follows...

Audi A6 Avant Quattro (BIK 24%)
Audi Q5 (BIK 27%)
Mitsubishi Outlander Phev (BIK 5%)

Now obviously for my pocket the PHEV wins outright and it's the one I am intending to go with but before I do I want to know what is the car like for long distance drives? I have a Mercedes Benz AMG C220 estate at the moment which is a joy to drive and I'm covering 2500-3000 miles a month. Will I still enjoy driving the Phev? I'm not overly bothered by MPG or flooring it but does the Phev have enough gumption when you need it and how is it for long drives (330 miles)

Thank you for any advice/comments.

Rob

 

[maby]

Well, you already know that you will not be getting anything like the advertised 150 mpg, so the question is whether or not it stacks up as a petrol car?

If you stick to UK speed limits, you should be getting somewhere between 35 and 40mpg - not bad for a petrol car of that size. You would get a bit better out of a diesel of a similar size, but you will get hit by the BIK and you could find yourself facing other penalties in the future like higher London Congestion Charges. The car is no slowcoach - actually with the electric transmission it can make sports car drivers do a double take as you accelerate off the lights.

With your pattern of driving, the thing that is most likely to annoy you is the small fuel tank. In order to make space for the batteries, they shrunk it to 10 gallons - your range between refills is likely to be less than 400 miles. Personally, that doesn't worry me, but it has caused serious annoyance to some high mileage drivers here!

Build quality is probably not up to the same standard as the Merc - but does that matter if it is a lease car that you are going t hand back in a few years?

 

[ansellrk]

A small tank doesn't bother me at all. I stop every 250 miles for a break anyway so I can fill up then. I'm not bothered really about MPG either... it's more the comfort, the ride, etc.

Thanks for the acceleration information though that's good to know... I'm not a speed freak but sometimes you need a bit of poke to get around other people.

 

[ansellrk]

...and then we get to the other important question... which colour!?

I've seen the Amethyst Black, Frost White & Orient Red .... and the Red looks amazing. My current car is black and I have to wash it all the time, is this the same with the Black Phev?

 

[maby]

A small tank doesn't bother me at all. I stop every 250 miles for a break anyway so I can fill up then. I'm not bothered really about MPG either... it's more the comfort, the ride, etc.

Thanks for the acceleration information though that's good to know... I'm not a speed freak but sometimes you need a bit of poke to get around other people.

In terms of comfort and ride, I find it perfectly acceptable - but you have to remember that I come from a long history of driving off-roaders - Landrovers and Landcruisers - both quite high, rather wallowing vehicles. Someone coming from a relatively high end saloon may have a different opinion of it. View the Outlander as a "Soft Roader" - it's not going to last long if you treat it like a Defender or Landcruiser, but it will get you through mud and snow that would probably leave your Merc stranded, but still cruise up the motorway at 70 in reasonable comfort and turn in fuel consumption figures closer to those of the Merc than my old Defender.

 

[greendwarf]

Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to travel much outside London in a year's ownership but did a return trip to the French Alps in February with 3 passengers & luggage with just one stop-over on the way.

As well as the brilliant performance of the combined 4WD & winter tyres in a blizzard hit motorway on the return the rest of the journey the car gave me all the performance & handling I required both on motorway, city streets & mountain roads. I was surprised at how comfortable and non-tiring the driving position was and there were no complaints from the passengers (inc. two 15 year old girls) despite the extended periods stuck in the car - apart from "jammed" for several hours on above motorway (behind unprepared French drivers ) with no loo :lol:

My previous car was a top of the range 2 litre Avensis Estate so comparison is with that. I'd say the PHEV matches or exceeds the performance of the Avensis when asked. although I have found I've adopted a more "gentle" approach most of the time with the new car :mrgreen: .

 

[Tipper]

I moved from a BMW 3 series (07 reg) and find the ride and, rather surprisingly, handling better! It is much more sure-footed and corners better. Trim, etc is similar and space far better for a car with the same external dimensions. It is considerably higher of course but this is better for my aging back!

Tax doesn't bother me as I'm retired. We have done many long journeys in it and it's pretty comfortable but it took us a little while to get used to the motion of the car as it seemed to rock side to side, probably just our senses getting used to it as we don't notice it now after a few weeks.

My one disappointment is mpg and range. I knew it wasn't going to give 148mpg...but less than 40 on a run and barely 300 mile range is disappointing. The fuel gauge seems to plummet out of sequence with the indicated range. A bigger petrol tank would have eased the blow having come from a 50mpg diesel BMW.

But we love the electric drive and if you give it loads of welly it really can go! Around 200bhp with all drives pushing together iirc.

 

[gobiman]

I bought mine for London and have an old X5 I've kept for long distance stuff -place in Scotland and the Alps.
However, inevitably, I have used it for heading out to Europe and was pleasantly surprised.
Cruises comfortably at 80-85 mph on the autobahn giving me around 32 mpg. It was very comfortable and I liked it.
When needed you can boot it albeit the engine does howl which you just learn to ignore.
As commented range is limited but I keep a small fuel can in the boot just to allow me a little flexibility.
However if you don't mind/like stopping every couple of hours you'll be fine.
I charge up at home and destination but don't bother on motorway/autobahn.

 

[ansellrk]

Thank you to everyone who has contributed. I've had a test drive in the Phev and really enjoyed it, but obviously that was only an hour so difficult to compare with sitting in it for several hours.

Very happy with the responses and it has only confirmed what I already really knew... the Mitsubishi Outlander Phev is the car for me!!

So... colour... any thoughts on that?

 

[Chappers11]

Hi

I am also pondering a move from diesel to phev and drive a similar profile to the original poster but also want to know what range to expect from a full tank and full charge for a smoothing running motorway drive at or slightly above the speed limit

I have heard 300-450 miles, what do you get?

Thanks

 

[Grigou]

With a full battery at the beginning : 600 to 650 km at various speeds, 120 kph max on motorways.

370 to 400 miles, 75 mph max.