Newbie questions before buying PHEV

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pikapikapika

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2020
Messages
5
Hello, we’re new to PHEVs but would like to buy a used 2104/2015 GX4h or GX4hs. I have looked through the forum and learned a lot, but still have a few questions – hoping someone could advise:

- With the ULEV regulations (and CC?) changing next year, do people expect the car to depreciate sharply after that? Would it be wise to wait with buying a used PHEV until then, or consider another car altogether? We’ll be using it for short trips around London but also plan to take it out to get out of London on weekends sometimes, and occasionally visit family up north and in the Netherlands, so we can’t switch to fully electric.
- Would it be better to go for an older car with less mileage than a newer one with lots of miles? I read somewhere on the forum than higher mileage may mean that the car was driven on motorways i.e. petrol a lot, sparing the battery…?
- Does the warranty get automatically transferred to the new owner? Would the warranty be invalidated without a full service history or if the services were done at non-Mitsubishi garages? Would a Mitsubishi approved dealer know whether it’s still under warranty?
- Would any of the three London based dealers provide a state of health report on the battery as a matter of procedure or do you need to ask for it?
- Why is a “reset” battery in a used car a no-no? How can you find out if it’s been reset? I also read on the forum that certain type of charging points are not good for the battery and you should avoid buying a car that’s been charged this way – how do you find out how it’s been charged in the past?
- We’ve not bought a used car of any type before, so wondering whether haggling is possible/acceptable at Mitsubishi dealerships or not worth even trying/frowned upon?

I hope it’s not too many questions to ask for a newbie here, any advice would be very welcome. We’re really tempted by the Outlander PHEV but feeling quite unsure as it’s all new territory. Thank you!
 
pikapikapika said:
- Would any of the three London based dealers provide a state of health report on the battery as a matter of procedure or do you need to ask for it?

You can try but I've not had any success with any of them over the last 6 years! :evil:
 
greendwarf said:
pikapikapika said:
- Would any of the three London based dealers provide a state of health report on the battery as a matter of procedure or do you need to ask for it?

You can try but I've not had any success with any of them over the last 6 years! :evil:

Wow - that's incredible! So dongle/watchdog ap thingie it is...
 
Tagging on to the OP... I am picking up a 2014 PHEV next week... I know I'm taking a bit of risk with battery degradation buying from a standard used dealership, but I don't really have the facility to get hold of USB dongles/download apps, or guaranteed access to the car etc, much before hand.

Is there a "quick and dirty" way to roughly estimate battery health? I.e. will the mile range on a full charge tell me anything useful, or will this purely be a function of how it was driven for the previous trips?

I've already told the guy if it's saying "7 mile range" on a full battery the deal's off, but I don't know if that's fair, or what a reasonable cut-off might be...
 
Just make a long test drive and ask them to charge the battery before you get there.
Drive like you normally would and you will see how far it goes on electricity.

There is no "limit" which defines a bad car from a good one.
 
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