MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Thinking of finally ditching my beige people carrier and quite drawn to a Mitsubishi Outlander or a Nissan X-Trail.
My mate has an x-trail and has given me the lowdown on what it's like to own but I don't know anyone who's had an Outlander.
I can get a free charging point installed at home through work and quite fancied the PHEV version.
Any recommendations or horror stories would be appreciated?
Dunno, but I have a friend who has one. He seems to love it. But he also thinks that canal towpaths require a 160mm travel full suspension mountain bike because his CX bike isn't up to it.
Mate had one I couldn’t wait to get rid of it described as useless and uneconomical.
My old boy has one, gets himto the golf club and back on a charge. Getting to our house (40 miles away) gets around 42mpg, not sure how much on the way back with zero charge. If you’re doing anything other than short journeys you might as well just get a diesel one
I’ve had one a couple of times as a hire car. Driving from Norfolk to Oxford and back, it averaged 29.7mpg according to the computer.
Make of that what you will.
Rachel
Mitsubishi Outlandish MPG claims
Thats what they ought to put in the advert.. in fact they were pulled up on it and now don't claim their original "it'll do 158mpg" anymore because it doesn't.
What it does do is run on battery under 56mph for 30 miles then will give you 28-32mpg running on petrol.
It's a big car, nice enough and plenty of space, quiet and comfortable and decent enough and IMO look like an SUV ought to look. If you can accept you'll not get anywhere near the outlandish MPG claims it's actually a nice vehicle to spend some time in.. Buy S/H as most are now coming on the market as ex-Company Car's where the bloke that ticked the box thought they were going to save £bn's in fuel bills... oh how wrong they were.
Also, being just under the new congestion charging limits in London they may even be booted out of the "free" zones and be subject to the charges (graduated, but still a cost)
In my quest to buy an SUV last year I did look at one, had it on test for a weekend and honestly, its really quite nice.
My 18 mile commute from home, where I can get a free charging point to work where there are a bank of underused charging points is what's making it seem like an attractive option.
I could do the majority of my drivng miles on Electricity, half of which is paid for by my employer.
Have you considered other Hybreds car style ones or is it the SUV ones you like?
I had one for a while. I generally liked it and driving on 'leccy is nice, quite, smooth and reasonably poky. That element would be the same for all hybrids. When you really floor it or the computers determine you need it in relation to the battery state the engine chimes in and that is quite noisy as the revs are high and you get a slurring into the single gear.
Fit and finish wise it's nowhere near my previous car (BMW 5). Some plastics are hard and sharp. Paint is pretty thin also. On the plus side I enjoyed having the high postiion and 4x4 capability but rarely needed it and have now gone back to an estate car.
OP you really need to consider your journey profile as it is ultra sensitive to that. If you mainly do 15 - 50 miles and have charging at both ends at top end, you will get great consumption. If your average journey is >70 then as others have said you're now driving a v heavy (4x4 and batteries) with a 2l petrol engine thrashing away..............
I think the point is there are much better PHEVs available. I was vaguely tempted by the commercial version (4Work) but it although it looked cool seemed incredibly impractical compared to an actual van. The fact that they don't make it anymore was quite telling as well!My 18 mile commute from home, where I can get a free charging point to work where there are a bank of underused charging points is what’s making it seem like an attractive option.
Needs to be big enough for three teenage kids and dog plus enough space for holiday luggage.
People carrier or SUV seem like the only viable options. Having had previously a Galaxy, a Pathfinder and an S-Max i'd struggle to size down much beyond the Outlander / X-trail or a large estate TBH
Don't want a van.
Yeah my Golf GTE boot is a little smaller than the GTD it replaced, it means no dinghy on this year’s holiday unless I use a roof box but still should get everything in for a week’s holiday.
Go test one, you've got an idea of what you want out of an SUV and the only real way of assessment is test it.
The dealership I went to practically threw one at me for the whole weekend, I was standing at the other end of the forecourt at the time and was quite scared.
Three teenagers would fit in one thats for sure, whilst the vehicle is long it's actually thin but enough to get three people in the back.. they might kill each other but i expect you are used to that.
What about a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid?
There is a new model out soon and Toyota have deals on this and they're a damn fine vehicle.
The outlander PHEV was very cleverly designed to fit into a company car tax loophole.
It ticked all the boxes for zero tax, and was the only SUV that would.
So they sold loads of them.
However in real world driving they aren't very efficient compared to conventional cars.
They make very little sense as a used buy unless you can charge for free at work and do less than 30 miles in a day below 56mph.
You need a Geoff...
Mate had one, hated it. Slow, no fun to drive, boot not big enough. Economical when running on leccy though
changed it for a diesel touareg
What about a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid?
a friend of the aforementioned Old Boy is getting around 27mpg in one of them iirc
Buy a Tesla and sell your kids, problem solved 😀
Ive spoken to a couple of people who have the mitsubishi, and the first thing they say is ‘it only does 29mpg’!
they seemed to like them ok though.
my mate had one for a weekend, he r3ckoned it was gutless, uneconomical, with poor handling, and not as easy to get a bike in as his regular car, a subaru outback.
he reckons the outback is superior in every way, unless you want a PHEV.
i’d avoid.
Sat in one now. If you're sold on an SUV and free electric at work within its range I'd be tempted.
Only way I can get a largish 4WD from the company now. Tough, well screwed together, quick enough (electric linear power delivery off the line is quite fun). Not too wide which I like (but people sat in the middle in the rear prob don't). Dog/bike happy in the back. Mitsubishi's S-AWC been impressive through the winter. Later ones have tweaked suspension and a bit more grunt I think.
I was given one as a company car. It's horrid. The interior is made from the naffest of plastics. The seats are covered with what looks like a leather donkey jacket. The drivers seat does not adjust as upright as I like it so it feels like i need a pillow to drive. You have to service it every 8,000 miles and at best you will get 270 miles from a full tank. I've had to fill it up 4 times in one day.
None of the gizmos fitted work properly. The bluetooth is hopeless. The boot takes 15minutes to open and it is hideously small as the battery lurks under there. My kids has dismantled the interior by just being in there. I have a carrier bag of random trim bits that have fallen off. The noise it makes going up a hill is embarassing. The battery range is woeful
The company car tax on it has just gone up by 60%
And it goes 'bong'
All
The
Time
It was OK in the snow. I can't wait to be rid
Owned one for three years.
Plus points:
Probably the largest and most practical PHEV available at the time, seats five easily, comfortable ride, good view and takes a towbar (many phevs will not), if your journeys are under 26-28 miles you can do the whole thing on electric so its very economical. Never had an issue with Bluetooth connectivity.
Minus points.
Fuel economic is horrific on long runs, I've seen an average of 23mpg and 'reduced propulsion warning' when doing long motorway journeys fully loaded.
paint is thin, the whole car feels a bit 'tinny' and insubstantial.
build quality is a bit suss, seat 'leather' wears through, bits fall off etc.
tyre wear is high, especially with the official toyo tyres.
on the subject of tyres, performance in snow was abysmal, worse than a two wheel car with snow tyres. the toyo's have zero off road performance and are actually dangerous IMO. its made worse by the 'clever' electronics that shit themselves when you are sliding backwards down a snowy road!
battery performance has degraded over the years, and it is woeful in winter - 15-18miles. unless you have the higher spec versions you also need to run the engine in winter to keep warm.
engine is underpowered for vehicle size when battery depletes.
it bings and bongs at literally everything, its the most paranoid car I have every owned.
Shame to see all the negative comments, as I thinking about replacing my X-trail with one next year. I need four wheel drive so there isn't much to choose from, about from another diesel. The road fund fee will save a bit, even if the fuel costs are about the same (but petrol vs diesel may help there as well).
Having had previously a Galaxy
Not much comes close for the size of family_panther....
I am liking the fact I have stepped down a size, and as the kids do so much of their own thing now, it is not a big issue. That and we can take two cars on the one holiday we are needing cars for this year...
Has a launch date for the xtrail hybrid been announced for the UK?
Friends in Japan have one and rate it highly especially as it has a lot bigger electric range than the outlander
My kids has dismantled the interior by just being in there. I have a carrier bag of random trim bits that have fallen off.
This is made me laugh out loud 👍
I’ve got an RX300h, if you want an owners view I’m more than happy to give my opinion.. but you’ll have to ask 👍
We have them at work work, while they drive okay the build quality is utter shite and fuel economy sucks. Apparently best way to drive them is in eco mode with cruise control on so when it automatically brakes its putting power back into the battery or drive it in B2 mode with eco mode on.