The only thing I can say about my Outlander so far is that it is the best car I have ever owned. And that also includes various new Mercedes, various GM, Stellantis, VW.
It is MJ 2017, 85.000 kilometers. The only defects it had in all these years is one of the ultrasonic sensors occasionally failing and the hitch control box failed due to moisture. I don't account that to Mitsubishi however because the hitch was fitted by a garage and they did not follow the installation instructions with the control box.
However, when I bought the car I already calculated in that I might have to replace the drive pack once - which is why I gave the car extra rust proofing to still have a good chassis if I install a new traction pack after 10 years.
The only other car which I would also label 'best car' is the BMW 530 Diesel Station Wagon my company owns.
This reminds me of an old saying(?) about sales of the cars. Many long time ago from the book.
"The best sales man of your car is in your next door who owns the same car."
This sentence dissolves quite a few realistic and mental basics. The neighbor who owns a car knows much about his/her car in realistic point of view. And as they use the car, they are accustomed to think it positively, even though they found some inconvenience or out of tech or out of fashion. Also the neighbor expresses the pride of self decision to own the car. And try to explain why his/her decision is valuable, which is mental part of our brain.
For my opinion that the ultrasonic failure, it will be an important issue if he knows before he buy the car. Front ultrasonic sensor is a major component to control the car driving. It will drop the car value seriously. But you are accustomed to stay as it is. Control box shouldn't be affected by the moisture. I have similar issue with power lift gate. I do not know the reason yet. Maybe same to you.
Even though I own the 2022 outlander PHEV, I would not recommend this car for new buyer. Mitsubishi has high rate of sensor failure than other cars. Make the matter worse, repair should be done at Mitsubishi Service Center, who is robing out money. But most of the Outlander owners are getting accustomed to ignore minor failure if the car is running on the street without big issues. I mean really big issues, with positive mentality only because he is currently owned it.
In addition to the reliability of the car, it is too heavy car compare to its capacity(means less fuel efficiency in its category). Other heavy cars have their own character but it is not luxury as Lexus, not reliable as Toyota and Honda, not advances technology and modern style as Kia and Hyundai, not easy to repair like American car, have to wait for parts for 6 months, not cheap repair cost since it is not repairable at neighbor garage, and not having a price competitiveness.
Underneath rust is easy to be seen on American Cars. But it has gone for long time ago. In recent days cars does not need any additional chemicals for rest preventing. Some Japanese Cars have serious rust issue about 20 years ago and last for a decade because they use Japan Steel compony products and it has serious defect of composing failure in steel making. The Cars used this company product showed serious rust but underbody spray is shading business in these days. It is only commercial. If Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has rust issue, they might use Japan steel Co. product. It might be the demerit of resale value. Spraying cost must be paid by manufacturer. The painting technology has been improved seriously.
The best BMW car is M340i. The resale value is going up when I resell it. I do not know Diesel but I paid for used M340i about US$21k but after 2 years of use, I sold it US$26k. If the resale value is low, it means "Not to buy". I bought Lexus SC430 for US$8k and sold it US$8.5k after 2 years. I paid Lexus CT200h for 8500 and trade in as 8500. No price change even though it is old car. No rust, no value drop, no sensor failure, no rattling, no noise, no problem and every garage can repair if there is some failure with cheap Prius parts within a few hours.
This is personal disappointment after I bought Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. I believe there are many people who loves and satisfied with the quality of this car. I also try to find good reason to own this car but I need some time to be null to minor disappointments. Apology to everybody for being negative.