The Agony Aunt Thread (AKA - Ask Maby)

[Ozukus]

As the Oracle of all knowledge on this forum and to add some humour I've decided to create a thread for Maby to answer innocuous :roll: questions related to their Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

By example!!

Dear Maby,

Having been disappointed with the colour choices for the Outlander PHEV I have decided to bling my vehicle. Should I use Cubic Zirconia or Schwarzkopf Crystals :idea:

 

[Sharky]

Dear Maby,

Now I have a 4x4 can you recommend any where in Derbyshire that sells a good tweed suit, gun boots, flat cap and pipe, to finish of the image of a farmer going about his business?

 

[RazMan]

Dear Aunt Maby,

I am quite spooked by my PHEV Satnav's voice and find the androgynous tone a little disturbing - for some reason I have an image of a 15 stone lesbian dressed in khaki camo trousers and a grubby T-shirt ........ who calls herself Rosalind - is this natural or should I seek therapy?

 

[maby]

Hmmm, not sure that is a role I deserve, or want! There are others here such as jaapv and gwatpe with at least as much knowledge of the car and more experience!

My concern is to try to counter unrealistic reviews and expectations of the car. I was an early adopter of the Prius and I saw the damage that these can do the reputation of a good car - I was a member of a comparable forum devoted to the Prius and there were people complaining and threatening action against Toyota because they could not achieve the 70-odd mpg that some reviews and publicity had led them to expect. The PHEV is a fine car even achieving the 50 to 60mpg that is a realistic figure in general use. Undoubtedly, it is possible to achieve far better fuel economy if you limit yourself to very specific patterns of usage and are prepared to drive wearing three overcoats, but we are not doing the car any favours by promoting unrealistic expectations and building up a background of dissatisfied owners. Sooner or later Jeremy Clarkson is going to pick up on it, do a hatchet job and hit sales badly.

 

[maby]

Dear Aunt Maby,

I am quite spooked by my PHEV Satnav's voice and find the androgynous tone a little disturbing - for some reason I have an image of a 15 stone lesbian dressed in khaki camo trousers and a grubby T-shirt ........ who calls herself Rosalind - is this natural or should I seek therapy?

Dear RazMan,

Have you considered learning a foreign language and changing the setting of the SatNav voice? You may well find that a husky French accent instructing you to "Prennez le deuxieme a la droit" is more soothing than being shouted at by a 15 stone lesbian. We English are very narrow minded when it comes to languages, perhaps you can improve your experience of the car by becoming a cunning linguist?

This could be the subject of a change request to Mitsubishi - match the language and accent of the SatNav to driving conditions. If you have been driving without a break for more than two hours, the car might conclude that your attention may be lapsing and switch to German, for example. Imagine Helga from 'Allo, 'Allo in jackboots screaming at you to "TAKE ZEE FIRST EXIT AT ZEE ROUNDABOUT!"

Of course, the Outlander is a perfect vehicle for Rosalind with its seats that fully recline to make a large double bed - easily able to accommodate both Rosalind and Helga - there is an image that will keep you awake through the third ad fourth hours of your journey.

 

[maddogsetc]

Imagine Helga from 'Allo, 'Allo in jackboots screaming at you to "TAKE ZEE FIRST EXIT AT ZEE ROUNDABOUT!"

Oi! Helga's my (satnav) woman: http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=489&p=3922&hilit=helga#p3922

 

[Swiftly]

Hmmm, not sure that is a role I deserve, or want! There are others here such as jaapv and gwatpe with at least as much knowledge of the car and more experience!

My concern is to try to counter unrealistic reviews and expectations of the car. I was an early adopter of the Prius and I saw the damage that these can do the reputation of a good car - I was a member of a comparable forum devoted to the Prius and there were people complaining and threatening action against Toyota because they could not achieve the 70-odd mpg that some reviews and publicity had led them to expect. The PHEV is a fine car even achieving the 50 to 60mpg that is a realistic figure in general use. Undoubtedly, it is possible to achieve far better fuel economy if you limit yourself to very specific patterns of usage and are prepared to drive wearing three overcoats, but we are not doing the car any favours by promoting unrealistic expectations and building up a background of dissatisfied owners. Sooner or later Jeremy Clarkson is going to pick up on it, do a hatchet job and hit sales badly.

Clarkson has done it already
http://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/the-clarkson-review-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-gx4hs/

 

[Regulo]

Dear Maby,

I'm thinking of extending the pure electric range of my PHEV by wiring 25 12volt batteries in series (to get 300Volts) in my trailer. Where shall I connect the Neg and Pos in the car?

Yours, Not-quite-the-Ticket

 

[maby]

Dear Maby,

I'm thinking of extending the pure electric range of my PHEV by wiring 25 12volt batteries in series (to get 300Volts) in my trailer. Where shall I connect the Neg and Pos in the car?

Yours, Not-quite-the-Ticket

Dear Regulo,

the answer is simple! Connect to the existing ChaDeMo socket under the charging flap of the car - that is a direct path to the battery.

There are a few things that you possibly should consider before attempting this. Since the car does not expect this modification, there will be no high voltage switching components and it expects the external rapid charger to include the 50A charge regulators. Hence when you make the initial connection, two unmatched battery packs based on fundamentally different chemistry will have to come to an amicable agreement as to who is boss. Of the two, lithium is the light, frisky and generally exciting party while lead is heavy, slow and boring. You must hope that lithium wins since, if it loses, it is likely to get bad tempered which could lead to fireworks (literally).

You should also take into account the fact that doubling your EV range using lead-acid batteries will add more than half a metric tonne to the total weight of the vehicle. You may want to jettison the battery pack once it has gone flat since dragging that extra weight seems likely to increase your petrol consumption to the point where you actually increase your running costs more than you save with the additional EV range.

If you don't use deep cycle traction batteries, the life expectancy of your pack may be less than a year. That quantity of deep cycle batteries is likely to cost more than £5000. That buys a large quantity of petrol.

Lead-acid batteries do not like fast charging. You will probably need to charge for more than 12 hours each night. Halfords does not stock 300V battery chargers, so you will need to get a custom built regulated 300v charger designed and built.

You may want to look at the price lists for Range Rovers - one will probably work out cheaper to own and run over a 10 year period!

 

[jaapv]

You need 100 square meters of solar panels to charge you PHEV. So you only need a trailer 50 meters long and two meters wide to be completely self-sufficient. As long as the sun shines

 

[Regulo]

Dear Aunt Maby,

Thank you for your most interesting and informative reply. I'll ditch that idea then. Anyone want to buy 25 batteries and 20 metres of 100mm sq cable?

(I love this forum!!!!) :lol:

 

[tjacobsen]

Dear Aunt Maby,

Thank you for your most interesting and informative reply. I'll ditch that idea then. Anyone want to buy 25 batteries and 20 metres of 100mm sq cable?

(I love this forum!!!!) :lol:

I think you have a buyer! I face a different problem but I think you have the solution for it.
today it started snowing and my Polar White PHEV is slowly disappearing in the car-park at work. Reading our aunties answer to your dilemma I saw that the mismatch between led and lithium batteries may cause fireworks, this will make it much easier for me to find the car in the snow!
so can you please ship the batteries and the caravan (I'll have that too if you don't mind) to Norway as soon as possible, airfreight would be best as it's snowing quite heavily and I will need to find the car later today when I go home

 

[Regulo]

.

I've got a better idea. We'll get Santa to deliver! I'm sure he could fit you in. :lol: