Outlander for 40m commute?

handofdog

Hi all

I'm currently looking into EV/PhEV options.

Currently have a 40 mile commute (20 mile each way) on rural roads - very little stop start.

My preference would be to go for an all electric option. However, the wife drives a duster and loves the higher driving position.

The Outlander PhEV might be an option with some 2014/15 models going for c €20k.

Do any Outlander PhEV owners with similar driving patterns have any feedback on their car?

What about servicing? Would the fact that the petrol engine is only doing 15 odd mile a day be bad for the engine?

Any ideas on the annual running cost for my scenario?

If anyone else has any other concerns/advice to chip in then please do.

Thanks in advance.

ELM327

You will get it a lot cheaper than €20k for a 2014/2015 model in the UK.
The low miles would have no impact on the engine. The outlander can be used on EV only for extended periods - only using the petrol engine for long trips.

Could you get charging at the two ends of your trip? As the outlander could do 20 miles on EV only.

_ned_

Yes as elm327 says, 20 miles/32km is your electric limit. If you could charge at work (even with a granny:4 hrs, with a type2: 3hrs), you could drive electric all the way there and back, especially if the terrain is fairly flat.

A charge (8-10 kWh) will cost about 60-80 cent on night-rate, €1.60 day-rate ballpark depending on your supplier. Tax is €170, so if you can drive electric, charge at work, and charge at home night-rate, should cost you €4 a week for the daily commute, ~€180 a year. So €350 a year for tax/elec. The Sunday drives will cost a lot more if you use petrol. Expect ~38 mpg or 7.43L/100km, about 11 cent/km cost on petrol. Maybe higher if you're flooring it on the motorway. It is a two-ton tessie after all, with the sleek aerodynamics of an elephant.

A full BEV would give you better economy. Even a gen 1 leaf would do this commute no problem at very low purchase and running cost. The outlander wins if it is your only car and you don't want to plan a military charging campaign every time you head off on a journey.

My wife loves the driving position. Can't get the car off her. Wish I'd bought a leaf - she wouldn't be seen dead in a leaf. Choose carefully!

_ned_

As regards servicing, I'm told it's about €180 for the annual service from Mitsubishi. Will know in a year's time. Even though the car is 1800 kg, the stress on the engine is very low because the electric motors do all the heavy lifting to get the car moving. Even when your battery runs out, there's still about 30% left which is used to drive the wheels and gets constantly recharged from the generator. Prius drivers tell me they tend to have very low maintenance costs for this reason: very low engine stress due to assistance from the motor.

handofdog

Many thanks elm327 and _ned_.

elm327: I can't believe how much can be saved via the UK route (even including VRT)! I had previously looked into Leafs and there were savings to be maded but nothing compared to the apparent savings on the Outlander Phev. I certainly need to investigate this further.

_ned_: Are my wife and yours related . Seriously, that's great info. Much appreciated. Unfortunately, charging at work is not an option.

Thanks guys

_ned_

handofdog: All women are related!
Pity about the workplace charging. That would save a lot, even if they made you pay for it. A sneaky granny out the toilet window? 32km of petrol will cost about €3.50 for the return trip. Adding almost €800 to annual running costs. The PHEV really shows the differential between electric and ICE driving. Might be worth taking the boss for a drive, while you extol the moral virtues of emission-free driving.
We bought ours from ElectricAutos.ie. We did the sums and found there was very little premium on their price relative to the cost of importing it ourselves. They sourced it, drove it home, paid VRT, got license plates on it, serviced it, valeted it and warrantied it for 6 months. Supplied us with all cables. I'd highly recommend them to anyone who doesn't want to go to the hassle of bringing one in themselves.

Orebro

Been reading on the Outlander PHEV UK Facebook page about the tyres on these - it seems Mitsubishi insist that you have to have the same tyres with the same wear (on each axle or all around is not specified, opinion divided on this), making a puncture where the tyre is irreperable very expensive as you need to purchase at least another tyre for the other side. It's explicit in the manual so not sure how you stand warranty wise if this isn't followed.

Edit: snippet from Facebook page attached

pwurple

Fnar fnar aren’t those dopey womenfolk a hoot. Random casual misogynistic society in here is it?

I have both an outlander phev and a leaf. Usually drive the leaf, because I earn money so don’t enjoy chucking it down the toilet on fossil fuel unnecessarily.

It does 45-50km on a full charge for me. You can probably convert that to Cave Man terms yourself.

Shefwedfan

Worth having a chat with electric autos as they bring in a lot of these cars....I would love one, nearly had the wife convinced after a part went in Galaxy, she rang the garage we bought and we took out a 3 years service warranty on it so that is out window :-)

Be careful as a lot of dealers are buying in over 62500 miles on it, the warranty is gone on them and they are sold for very very cheap in UK. You really need to be looking for lower mileage version. The warranty transfers.

Also need to keep an eye on spec, I would go for G4HS spec myself but some people might prefer lower.

No idea on the tyre issue, sounds odd to me.

THe Outlander battery range is circa 30km, but then all PHEV are around that apart from some BMW which are lower.

Something to think about, I have eGolf, love it but really we miss the higher seating position. My wife loves it and I find it easier on back for kids.

Hyundai are bringing out Kona and Kia bringing out Niro full electric 400km+ SUV in next 12 months(threads on here)

I sat into the Kona and I did like it but.....it might be just that too small.....

I was knocking around today and went into a Kia, they had the hybrid version. Really really impressed with it's interior. Also the misses loved it and she is very very picky. I personally wouldn't buy the hybrid but the guy in garage is going to send on more details on the full BEV.

She did sit into the Stonic(which is same as Kona) and said straight away it was too small so I think that is out

If you could hold out for a while it might be worth it.

liamog

I keep reading this thread as a 40 meter commute.

I laugh because my neighbour has a Honda Jazz that she drives 200m (meters) to work

goz83

liamog wrote: »

I keep reading this thread as a 40 meter commute.

I laugh because my neighbour has a Honda Jazz that she drives 200m (meters) to work

You must be kidding!! :eek:

Shefwedfan

goz83 wrote: »

You must be kidding!! :eek:

I have a mate who swaps his car on average every 9 months.....

His commute is based on google maps 550m

He can't even go the full distance as he doesn't have parking so parks around the cornor:p:p:p

He has swapped to hybrid last few years to increase his MPG:D

handofdog

Thanks for the extra info guys.

pwurple - would you know if the charger grant extends to caves?

_ned_ & shefwedfan - it was actually electricautos.ie that drew my attention to the outlander as they have some lovely models in stock. UK prices do seem cheaper but I could very well be comparing apples to oranges (or pebbles to rocks!).

A bit more research needed ...

Shefwedfan

handofdog wrote: »

Thanks for the extra info guys.

pwurple - would you know if the charger grant extends to caves?

_ned_ & shefwedfan - it was actually electricautos.ie that drew my attention to the outlander as they have some lovely models in stock. UK prices do seem cheaper but I could very well be comparing apples to oranges (or pebbles to rocks!).

A bit more research needed ...

Mileage has massive affect on price, of course you can take advantage of that and buy one out of warranty and just get full check done, it’s not like the battery will die....

Otherwise limit mileage to low and the compare....

_ned_

@pwurple: You saying women are dopey? My wife created the most awesome spreadsheet calculating total cost of ownership for a range of diesel, petrol and electric cars, covering cost, fuel, depreciation, tax, maintenance. She put far more effort and research into finding our car than I did. I just watched endless episodes of Fully Charged. She could tell you to the penny what a car was going to cost over years of ownership. One big difference I noticed between us is that she wanted a car that looked good. Leaf and I3 (sorry Mad_Lad) didn't make the cut as far as she was concerned while I would have been happy with either one. She loves the car we finally agreed on, and so do I. Cavemen don't drive EVs!