Pre-purchase questions

[rjs104]

Hi Everyone,

...and thanks for a great forum - really good to have a resource like this - and it can only get better as more people become owners and contributors.

I'm considering purchasing an Outlander PHEV here in the UK. Like another poster I read here, I'm a long term Land Rover Discovery driver - and I love it as a car. It does everything I need and a lot more.

But it does cost a lot to run....

My work involves shortish commutes through London and its environs, with the occasional call to haul flight cases of kit.

A big attraction of the Disco is the fact that you can load it up with tons of stuff and it drives pretty much the same.

I'm curious how the PHEV performs in this respect - has anyone experience of loading it up and how it drives subsequently?

Separately to this, I've understand how driving above about 70mph uses the petrol engine to supplement power to the front drive train and to charge the batteries. I also read that it is possible to drain the battery down to "emergency levels" during this.

So, if one were to cruise up the motorway at 80mph (glossing over the legal implications for a moment!) - what are the consequences? Do you find that after a little while there isn't enough power remaining in the batteries to sustain 80mph.

Or does the petrol engine provide enough oomph to keep things going at that speed?

Many thanks - I'm sure there will be other questions. I'm off for a test drive on Monday - and bizarrely excited about the prospect

Cheers,

Richard.

 

[jaapv]

Yup - you can load it up and haul 1500Kgs at the same time -and still it will be using then EV mostly - it has 203 maxHp and over 300 Nm of torque.

 

[rjs104]

Thanks for your response.

I appreciate that it can tow/be loaded up - but what does it drive like under those circumstances. Does it become sluggish?

(obviously some sluggishness is to be expected - but it's trying to get a gauge on how much..)

Cheers,

Richard.

 

[maddogsetc]

I'm considering purchasing an Outlander PHEV here in the UK. Like another poster I read here, I'm a long term Land Rover Discovery driver - and I love it as a car. It does everything I need and a lot more

Hi Richard, that was me

Can't help with your question yet I'm afraid as I've still got a week to go before I get my hands on it.

Bit off-topic (smilie needed here!) but would be interested in hearing your reasoning for considering the change? For me, whilst I love my Disco to bits, as my kids have got a bit older I'm doing fewer trips with hordes of them, carrying less stuff etc. and have been thinking about downsizing slightly for a while and at the same time the cost of running the beast has become more and more of an issue in my mind, not to mention the relentless climb in LR pricing, when time comes to think about a replacement.

Depending on which Disco you're driving (mine's a D3) I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the drive of the PHEV. Sure, it's slow off the mark but I'm used to that and at least you don't get the interminable turbo lag. And the ride quality is not that far off either, or at least that's how I found it in my limited test drive. The biggest difference for me is undoubtedly in the quality of the interior, it's nowhere near as nice as any of the LR products of course. But I can live with that for the sake of 5% BIK, zero road tax and (hopefully) a minimum 50% saving on fuel costs.

 

[jaapv]

As much or less than any other SUV. At below-50 Mph speeds certainly less sluggish.

 

[rjs104]

Thanks again for the responses - all good stuff!

Jaapv - that sounds promising then. Good news. You don't miss not having a low range box when off roading I presume (enough torque in the electric motor's I'm assuming?)

Maddogs - Keep me posted. I'd be very interested to hear your experiences when you get your hands on one. What was the lead time when ordering in the UK?

I too drive a D3 - the reasoning is much the same as you. It's reached the age where things need replacing before (probably) giving another 100,000 miles of good service. But these replacements cost a lot...

Possible option is to trade in for a newer model - but as you say, the purchase costs seem to have climbed significantly (I guess LR's have become very desirable vehicles...)

The attraction of buying a PHEV as a company car with the financial "perks" is strong.

There are a few things I'm expecting to miss off my HSE LR3 (most probably petty):
- Separate rear A/C
- Central fridge cool box
- Auto-dimming rear view mirror (can't believe this is still a manual one in the Mits as I understand it)
- Electric Handbrake (again, can't believe this on a car of this technology level)
- Adaptive headlights (though these wide beam HID (?) lights might be great?

I also hope the Mit's software is OK - I find the sat nag in the LR a bit rubbish, so hopefully the Mit is an improvement in that area.

I find the remote control software a bit clunky (just playing with it in "guest" mode). I'm not sure why one needs to specify "cool" or "heat" - surely in this modern world one would just set a desired target temperature that suits the user, and the car works out if it needs to heat or cool to get to that temperature?!?

Anyway, keep me posted!

Cheers,

Richard.

 

[jaapv]

Up a steep (15%) incline and 30 Cm of snow the Outlander didn’t need snow chains, my mate’s Discovery did. Because of the low-down torque of the electric motors.… They will deploy full torque as soon as the wheels start turning.
On the Dutch Forum somebody used the Outlander to move a 4000 Kg crane without trouble and no clutch to burn out…

You don’t need an electric handbrake, the car has an automatic 2 second hill-holding facility.
Oh - and some find the SatNav rubbish - I don’t; it is better than my Jaguar had, at any rate.

 

[Tabvla]

.
Did I miss the answer to a really important question that Richard asked...?

.... I've understand how driving above about 70mph uses the petrol engine to supplement power to the front drive train and to charge the batteries. I also read that it is possible to drain the battery down to "emergency levels" during this. So, if one were to cruise up the motorway at 80mph (glossing over the legal implications for a moment!) - what are the consequences? Do you find that after a little while there isn't enough power remaining in the batteries to sustain 80mph. Or does the petrol engine provide enough oomph to keep things going at that speed? ....

Or to put it another way - is it possible to run the Li-ion down to the critical emergency level or will the ICE/Generator always produce enough Watts to constantly replenish the Li-ion.

As a practical example - most of the routes à péage in France have an upper limit of 130kph (81mph). If you push your luck a little and cruise at say 135kph (84mph) will the PHEV eventually run out of electrical power? And if it does is it then possible to continue on ICE alone? In terms of pure physics, on a good road, a 1998cc DOHC fuel-injected petrol ICE should easily be able to cruise a payload of say 2000kg (PHEV weight + driver + passenger + luggage).

T.

 

[maddogsetc]

What was the lead time when ordering in the UK?

Ordered mine on 23rd May, pick it up on 16th June. But dealer tells me he's now taking orders for September delivery. He's only a small dealership but he's sold 15 PHEV's already :shock: Can't believe his luck.

Gonna miss most of the same things as you (and I had no idea it's a manual mirror - how archaic is that :roll: ) plus the armrests, which I found odd at first but now sorely miss whenever I drive anything else!

Oh, the other thing that is very different is the whole dealership experience. It's a while since I've bought anything from somewhere other than a big shiny steel & glass showroom with lots of desks and salesmen. Mitsubishi dealership is like stepping back in time 20 years, there's only one salesman and he's the owner :!:

 

[Hypermiler]

Hi Richard
My dealership said there are no more blue ones till November - the colour choice is pretty limited, in fact that is the only non black,silver, grey! They don't make them to order - they ship a load over from japan and sell what they've got on the ship so the first wave of us Brits are getting them from the boat which docked this week which is why we are getting a bit giddy! Not sure if any from our ship remain available...

Yes there are some gizmos missing but I am jumping ahead by at least a decade tech-wise and have never had sat nav so will be a massive learning curve for me. Drive seemed great to me and looking forward to not making special trips to fill up as no garages on my regular routes.

Cheers
H

 

[rjs104]

Blimey - I hope I hate it when I go for the test drive - don't think I have the patience to wait until the end of the year if I decide it's the right thing to buy now!!

Richard.

 

[Hypermiler]

You need to check dates of next ships and what's left (before giving them any idea what spec and colour you are thinking about or there's sure to be just one of those on the next boat!). Wouldn't necessarily be the end of the year...

Let us know how you get on.
Cheers

 

[maddogsetc]

What colour did you go for Hypermiler?

 

[jaapv]

.
Did I miss the answer to a really important question that Richard asked...?

.... I've understand how driving above about 70mph uses the petrol engine to supplement power to the front drive train and to charge the batteries. I also read that it is possible to drain the battery down to "emergency levels" during this. So, if one were to cruise up the motorway at 80mph (glossing over the legal implications for a moment!) - what are the consequences? Do you find that after a little while there isn't enough power remaining in the batteries to sustain 80mph. Or does the petrol engine provide enough oomph to keep things going at that speed? ....

Or to put it another way - is it possible to run the Li-ion down to the critical emergency level or will the ICE/Generator always produce enough Watts to constantly replenish the Li-ion.

As a practical example - most of the routes à péage in France have an upper limit of 130kph (81mph). If you push your luck a little and cruise at say 135kph (84mph) will the PHEV eventually run out of electrical power? And if it does is it then possible to continue on ICE alone? In terms of pure physics, on a good road, a 1998cc DOHC fuel-injected petrol ICE should easily be able to cruise a payload of say 2000kg (PHEV weight + driver + passenger + luggage).

T.

No, it won’t run out of electricity in anything approaching normal driving. -and quite a bit beyond that too.

 

[Hypermiler]

Blue! But it was only the other day he told me they'd run out of them...

Was torn re colour as wanted something more visible then silver/grey, cooler than black and was worried re tar spots on the white and living in a heavily farmed area it wouldn't have stayed white for long! When looking for the car at the supermarket, my kids know my car is always the dirty one! Might have to make more of an effort with the new car. Not bothering with the paint protection so thinking of doing a DIY job with some decent wax or something.

Apparently the blue is exclusive to the phev so if you see a blue one you can give them a wave - then again I hardly ever see outlanders, so going forward they'll probably all be phevs whatever the colour!
Cheers
H

 

[maddogsetc]

Blue! But it was only the other day he told me they'd run out of them...

The blue does look great on the website and I would have been really tempted had there been some available on the upcoming boats, but I really wanted to see it in the flesh. I'd actually ordered black but only because I thought white would be too high maintenance. Slept on it and called the dealer next morning to say "how easy is it to change colour?"

 

[jaapv]

There are some complaints about the black paint not holding up well in the carwash. A Waxoil treatment is highly recommended. Works wonders against tar spots too. The white ones I see mostly look clean

 

[maddogsetc]

Thanks jaapv, feel justified now!

 

[maddogsetc]

Many thanks - I'm sure there will be other questions. I'm off for a test drive on Monday - and bizarrely excited about the prospect

Well Richard, what did you think of it?

 

[rjs104]

As you said, it's a different experience to buying a car in one of the big boys show rooms. So much so that my dealer didn't turn up until 15 minutes after the appointment!

But this was actually great as it meant I could crawl all over the showroom model without someone looking over my shoulder. Once we got into the test drive proper, the dealer was great and in the end I spent 2 hours there and they were very happy for me to take the car for as long a drive as necessary.

I was impressed with the car. Initially it feels very odd pulling off with that immediately available torque and near-silent motion. It's surprising how quickly you get used to it all - and it feels like you've driven it forever.

I'm just trying to work out if it will suit my needs as I have to lug flight cases of kit around, and the rear door opening is smaller than that on the Disco. In fact I'm just off to have another look at it now with the wife and a tape measure to see how well things might fit...

Which finance deal did you plumb for Maddogs?

More later...

Richard.