A what hybrid car thread... Mitsubishi PHEV ?

[gmaz]

My brother in law has asked me for advice on what car to buy. They live in SW London and he likes SUVs but the car is also used by his wife to commute 10 miles round trip a day to/from work. He has "downsized" from an X5 to an A6 (both 3L diesels) but I think something like a Mitsubishi PHEV would be ideal for their driving profile. 10 x 5 miles a week in a large Audi diesel in London traffic won't do it any good at all.

Is the Outlander (>2016 facelift) any good, and is there anything else to look at for £20K-£30K

[johnnyreggae]

If its just 10x5 why not go full electric with a Zoe or Leaf ?

[gmaz]

johnnyreggae said:

If its just 10x5 why not go full electric with a Zoe or Leaf ?

Because the bro-in-law wants a bigger SUV type. He drives a van for work so its a 1 car family.

[jjwilde]

Yes the outlander is the obvious choice, it's a nice car and has decent EV range for the size of it.

[johnnyreggae]

But you asked about a car for her to do 10x5 ! What else does he say she needs the car to do ?

[RobDickinson]

Outlander is good, not quite bmw or audi interior though

[gmaz]

johnnyreggae said:

But you asked about a car for her to do 10x5 ! What else does he say she needs the car to do ?

They do camping, caravanning, light outdoors stuff, so needs the "U" part of "SUV".

[colin79666]

Bit smaller but also consider the Lexus NX, not a plug in but still gets decent MPG in the urban environment.

[johnnyreggae]

Similar idea is the Toyota C-HR which is probably the Prius drivetrain in an SUV

[sjg]

I test drove one - totally sold on the PHEV drivetrain but it convinced me I didn't want a flat-seated rolly-polly SUV. Got a Golf GTE instead, and a roofbox for longer trips with the family.

PHEV is ideal for that sort of usage though, and the Outlander will tow 1500kg if they need to. No competition at that money - need to spend £50k+ for anyone else's full-size plug-in SUV (Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, LR all do them now). Kia Niro worth a look if they can live with a smaller one.

[RobDickinson]

The niro is only 2wd tho

[bimsb6]

colin79666 said:

Bit smaller but also consider the Lexus NX, not a plug in but still gets decent MPG in the urban environment.

Nowhere near the mpg of the outlander , we only get 35 mpg from our nx300h

[bonus99]

I had the original PHEV for 3 years and did 37k without a single issue. Its a good car and the facelift model goes a bit further in cabin quality and looks than the one i had.
I drove to work and back through countryside and town (25 miles) and did it all on the electric.

My only complaint is that when you put your foot down hard, the engine kicks in and I would prefer to have it just max out on the electric, that said, there may have been a way to do it but I didn't RTFM...

Good luck!

Bruce

[RobDickinson]

There wasn't but the new one has ev only mode afik.

This month currently running at 0.7L/100km

[Russ T Bolt]

The 2019MY update to the Outlander will have a bigger battery, bigger engine and various other drivetrain improvements according to latest reports.

Depends if they can wait a few months.

[AstonZagato]

RobDickinson said:

There wasn't but the new one has ev only mode afik.

This month currently running at 0.7L/100km

We've got a 2017 that has an EV only mode.

Interestingly, it does seem to measure the age of the petrol in the tank. Ours gets used for short journeys only on electric. It stopped doing it and a warning light came on. It turns out the petrol was too old and the car was forcing us to use it up.