I love my Outlander

[SolarBoy]

I know I gripe a lot about the stuff on the Outlander and have 'difficulties' with a lot of the 'gubbins'.

I need to say, I love my Outlander.

Took my family (1 wife, 3 boys) on a day out that would require a 170 mile round trip, mostly fast motorways.

I am still not used to the width of the vehicle, and driving past Southampton docks on the motorway full or rather large weaving HGV's being blown out of their lanes was a baptism of fire.

The SatNav did it's thing and the only reason we got lost and went through Bournemouth was because I thought I knew better. It recovered from my mistake without complaining and got us to our destination. Most of the journey there was using the adaptive cruise control. Got around 45mpg.

Parked up, had our day out, wasn't the opportunity to recharge, returned home.

For those in the UK, you'll know that late Tuesday afternoon the sun disappeared and the heavens opened. Visibility was minimal, we spent around 90 minutes either stopped or trickling forward due to a couple of bad smashes that occurred ahead of us and roadworks. The use of Charge Mode allowed a few miles of to be done on EV (and we experienced the fabled 'burning rubber smell') and use of the regeneration paddles either on D0 or D5 as required. I have never ever driven in weather so awful, and I've driven in Canada November. Averaged around 35mpg. Again lots of use of the adaptive cruise control, I knew that it'd keep me a safe distance from the vehicle in front and it would slow us down even if the car ahead didn't show it's brake lights.

So in total around 4.5 hours spent in the car and plenty of use of the adaptive cruise control, got home, stepped out of the car felt fresh as a daisy. It practically drove itself.

I know most you lot probably do this mileage on a regular basis, but we felt safe, in control, and weren't worried about our personal safety.

 

[user 816]

Cool!

I love mine too! warm weather is doing wonders for my MPG, aircon is obviously a lot less power demanding than heating.

Today did a 240 mile round trip with a rapid charge on the return leg, finished on 44mpg, can't complain, two previous days to that did well over 100 mile trips and managed low 50's mpg both days.

Don't have adaptive cruise (would be nice) but couldn't justify the price as I don't want anything else they package with it (why can't they do some single options?)

But as you say its a very relaxing car, with 120 albums on tap on my SD card, a big bag of Bonbons and great visibility all round I am happy! its almost as easy as travelling by train.

 

[user 1927]

Having had my PHEV exactly 7 days, I had to make the 534 odd mile round trip journey from home on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales to Great Bookham in Surrey. There are no opportunities to charge between home and Oswestry services, but then stopping at every opportunity (Shropshire Bayston Hill, Telford services, M6 Toll services, Warwick services and Beaconsfield services) I used less than half a tank of fuel on the whole journey (the guestometer said 67mpg, with almost 70% EV). That's fantastic in my book. Never had any hassle charging, and found myself fielding various questions from the vaguely curious along the way.

Coming back was not much worse, seeing as I had the air con on full blast to avoid melting in the North Wales Tropics

One happy PHEV owner.

 

[user 816]

Having had my PHEV exactly 7 days, I had to make the 650 odd mile journey from home on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales to Great Bookham in Surrey. There are no opportunities to charge between home and Oswestry services, but then stopping at every opportunity (Shropshire Bayston Hill, Telford services, M6 Toll services, Warwick services and Beaconsfield services) I used less than half a tank of fuel on the whole journey (the guestometer said 67mpg, with almost 70% EV). That's fantastic in my book. Never had any hassle charging, and found myself fielding various questions from the vaguely curious along the way.

Coming back was not much worse, seeing as I had the air con on full blast to avoid melting in the North Wales Tropics

One happy PHEV owner.

Well done, although that's quite a few 20 minutes stops!

A discussion I often have with people who seem surprised at the PHEV's s short battery range is that the car is not necessarily about galactically large mpg's but also about achieving a good average for its type, even a part of a journey in EV mode can help you reach this.

As your journey shows it can make an unlikely vehicle, a petrol 2 ton 4wd SUV and entirely viable proposition.

 

[ChrisMiller]

The mpg reading on the 'guessometer' is (I find) pretty accurate, it's the range that's 'guesswork'! A neighbour has a Leaf, which he uses very effectively for his 30 mile commute to Heathrow (its nominal range is 90 miles, so a 60 mile return is well within its capabilities). For a laugh (as he put it) he used it for a 150 mile each way cross country trip (he has another car, of course, as is almost essential if you drive a pure electric). He had to recharge twice on each leg, but said he arrived much fresher than if he'd done his usual non-stop trip.

[PS Google says it's 266 miles on your route, have you accidentally included your mileage from 'zero' or did you make an extra detour?]

 

[user 1927]

The mpg reading on the 'guessometer' is (I find) pretty accurate, it's the range that's 'guesswork'! A neighbour has a Leaf, which he uses very effectively for his 30 mile commute to Heathrow (its nominal range is 90 miles, so a 60 mile return is well within its capabilities). For a laugh (as he put it) he used it for a 150 mile each way cross country trip (he has another car, of course, as is almost essential if you drive a pure electric). He had to recharge twice on each leg, but said he arrived much fresher than if he'd done his usual non-stop trip.

[PS Google says it's 266 miles on your route, have you accidentally included your mileage from 'zero' or did you make an extra detour?]

Oops, corrected that