Time To Say Goodbye After 9Yrs In This Club

[JHRC]

Collect my new car today, unfortunately it is not a Toyota, as Toyota seems to have abandon the PHEV cars.

I have gone for the next best option with all the toys that I would have liked to have on the Prius plug-in.

The Mitsubishi Outlander 2016 model has been updated for the previous model, with mitusbishi listening to all the complaint from the older model owners, that does not happen very often.

My wife drove it from the garage, she just loves, its very quiet even with the engine running and even with the temp at 8 degree today it started on Battery and stayed on Battery until it was discharged.

On that it is time to say goodbye.

Jim

[Sagitar]

Collect my new car today, unfortunately it is not a Toyota, as Toyota seems to have abandon the PHEV cars.

I have gone for the next best option with all the toys that I would have liked to have on the Prius plug-in.

The Mitsubishi Outlander 2016 model has been updated for the previous model, with mitusbishi listening to all the complaint from the older model owners, that does not happen very often.

My wife drove it from the garage, she just loves, its very quiet even with the engine running and even with the temp at 8 degree today it started on battery and stayed on battery until it was discharged.

On that it is time to say goodbye.

Jim

Please don't go just yet Jim. We would love to hear how you get on with the Outlander. It's on my list of cars to consider for the next buy and I'm sure that others must be interested. To have some comments from someone who actually knows the Prius would be very helpful.

Best wishes and good luck with the new vehicle.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Best wishes

[cootuk]

The Outlander Phev seems to wipe the floor with the competition. Good choice.

On the other hand, longterm Prius members seem to be leaving which could be a sign that the Prius, excellent as it was before, is falling short now given cars have moved on in terms of fuel efficiency

[PeteB]

I'd echo the plea to keep in touch and give feedback.

I'd be interested in how successful the variable regen braking using the flappy paddles is - I certainly like the sound of that.

I'm still happy with my Prius for now, but I'd love either a workable EV or a PHEV (but ONLY if it can have a spare wheel without losing most of the boot space). I also want plenty of luxury and 4wd. Sadly, I suspect this will be my last Toyota.

I probably won't make any decision until the Tesla Model 3 is available - the clincher for that will be range and number of supercharging stations available when it is launched.

I have to be able to do over 500 miles in a day (not very often) without spending a ridiculous amount of time charging. My prius can to the journey on a single tank.

I would have loved a Plug-in Prius even with it's limited range, because most days of most months I could do nearly all my driving on Battery - it's the shorter journeys that kill mpg. I could just live with losing the under boot floor storage, but not having no spare wheel (putting one in the boot's not an option, as I would sometimes fill that).

I'm not at all hopeful the next Prius plugin will be available with 4wd AND have a spare wheel when it is eventually launched.

The Lexus NX Hybrid was tempting, but at £43k it didn't quick tick enough boxes - it certainly had lots of luxury kit, including ventilated seats (also heated, but I hate heated seats, never turn mine on), and nice to have a choice of leather colour that isn't black or grey. The all around 360 degree manoeuvring cameras also look brilliant. But the ride quality and overly firm seats put me off for one thing - if I'm going to spend that sort of money it has to feel luxurious as well as look it. And it still was 'only' a Hybrid, not plugin.

[cuius]

"...it's the shorter journeys that kill mpg..." - define "short". Find just the opposite, it's the long motorway journeys, within speed limits, that kill mpg

[MEP's Yaris GS]

"...it's the shorter journeys that kill mpg..." - define "short". Find just the opposite, it's the long motorway journeys, within speed limits, that kill mpg

Anything that doesn't allow the ICE to get up to full temp IMO.

OP what are the Outlander 2016 revisions out of interest? Does it have a cabin heater which works off of the Battery?

[PeteB]

"...it's the shorter journeys that kill mpg..." - define "short". Find just the opposite, it's the long motorway journeys, within speed limits, that kill mpg

Anything that doesn't allow the ICE to get up to full temp IMO.

Quite right. I'm talking ½-2½ mile trips, where each trip allows the engine to cool somewhat.

Especially frosty days - for example on Monday I ran the engine while scraping the windows, drove 2½ miles, IIRC about 12 mpg on the computer. Returned home half an hour later, engine still went through a (slightly shorter) warm up process, just over 20 mpg showing once back home. (In a plugin I'd have used none, and plugged in again when I got home). After several more short journeys from nearly cold, I finished the day with the computer showing 45.5, my worst daily figure for a long time.

I get some of my best mpg on longer motorway or similar roads - if I drive at 70 indicated on a fair day I get 65+, sticking to 60 on the clock sees at least mid 70s.

I've seen quite a few tankful calculated mpg values of 64+ when a number of long journeys were included, and a best tankful of 67.18mpg

[JHRC]

Hi PeteB

I would have loved the Tesla myself but well out of my price range and as for charging stations they seem to be increasing all the time plus you can use the ecotricity charger as well.

The Outlander does not have much storage space under the boot floor, but it does have quite a large boot area at least a foot longer that my rav4 had, so it could be possible keep a spare in the car, 18" wheels.

In January the GX5 model is being released and you will be able to choose the colour of your leather seats. My wife love the feel of the seats and are so comfortable and soft, like sitting in your sofa.

The car does have a electric heater which work from the drive Battery and heats the car very quickly but will drain the Battery so less miles, it can also be operated by an app on your phone to heat the car on the cold mornings while the charge cable is still connected, which stop the ICE from starting. I've still to set this up, hopefully today sometime.

The Prius gave good mileage averaging about the 100mpg a month and I could get 13 mile on Battery during the warm weather and a regular journey of 75 miles gave me between 78 and 80 MPG, which I does not expect to get from the outlander with it weight of almost 2 tons.

I also read that the OLEV grant could change in February, Frostyballs may be able to confirm this.

[PeteB]

Thanks Jim

Have you tried the variable regen yet?

Did you mean 100 miles/month?

I did meet one PiP owner who said his range dropped to 8½ miles in the coldest days of winter - the one I had for a day one November did 9½.

The wheels on the Outlander are quite wide, and I wouldn't get my bike and luggage in the boot with it there as well.

I did look seriously at the Tesla model S - a full size 19" wheel would have gone on the front boot leaving the generous rear boot fully available. But with the longer range Battery, 4wd, air suspension and tech pack it came to about £75k - now I'm retired I could consider a spend like that just once, so it's got to be completely right. I daresay after 8-10 years it will be worth very little (my old Gen 1 Prius at 9½ years old with over 163k on the clock sold for just £500).

The Model 3 is due around 2017, but they've been 1-2 years late with model launches so I'm not holding my breath. What really scuppered the Model S was the range - just over 300 evaporated to 220 odd if you didn't stay below 55 mph and leave the heat and A/C off - neither of which I'm prepared to do.

Once or twice a year I do a return trip to Hull from the Suffolk/Norfolk coast, usually clocking up 400+ miles in the day, sometimes more if I detour to pick someone up on the way - there isn't a single Supercharger on the East coast (yet), and I couldn't find any acceptably fast chargers - the massive Battery on the S can take a long time to charge on all but the fastest chargers if you empty it.

It does have some awesome toys though! - it you raise the air suspension for a severe hump or something then lower it, it uses GPS to remember the location and does it for you in future!

And the auto pilot! Some of the YouTube clips of this are amazing - especially bearing in mind this is embryonic, as software updates via WiFi periodically update the car's abilities while you sleep!

[FROSTYBALLS]

The Autumn Statement due today should detail what is happening to the OLEV grants post February 2016.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

I'm down to 10.1 on my PiP in the last week or so Pete, but this is estimated, and although I tend to mix mine between ICE and EV so can never tell exactly what I get, when ever I have run to empty on EV before letting the ICE kick in, I've always managed about 1.7-2.5 miles on top of what the estimated range has indicated to start off.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Jim, do keep popping in. I'm very interested to see what you're MPG averages just in hybrid mode when on long journeys without any Battery charging. I've heard its as low as about 30-32MPG, which is why the outlander PHEV was never a contender for me, where I can get 70MPG doing the same in my PiP (as well as running costs of things like the tyres etc). Although I can appreciate that they do work very well for those regularly doing <30mile journeys day in and day out.

[PeteB]

I think it depends on how it's used - I suspect this chap used both heated seats on full for one thing (I never turn mine on, although when I see my ex this time of year hers stays on the whole time she's in the car!)

When I borrowed one from Dingles it said 9.5 and did exactly that - going down the slope to Pound Lane the displayed range increased by .1 or .2.

[JHRC]

I haven't used the paddle yet and will let you know how they perform once I get used to the car, I have read that B4-B5 are quite severe that my model the brake lights operate on the lifting of the accelerator and you could stop the car without using the foot brake.

I checked the boot again and the diameter of the wheel 28" which would take up alot of space, although you could stand it on it edge and secure it side on.

The seat heater I rarely use and if I did switch it on, it would be low and on for about 2mins then of again. My wife is different as she would have it on high and on all the time, on Sunday she came back from collecting her mother and complained that the steering wheel was cold and her hand were frozen, she wouldn't complain now as the outlander has a heated steering wheel.

The 100 MPG average is per month.

[PeteB]

AH, now I get it - thought you weren't doing 1,200 miles a year!

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Shortly my daily commute to work will be dropping from 50 mile around trip to 28, I'm looking forward to seeing what positive effect this has on my PiP's MPG - still hammering on about getting the EV point installed at work (company has agreed but waiting on the property land owner to give permission :(), once thats done I'll be laughing as in the summer will be EV both to and from work :)