Key Facts
Model tested: Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) GX4hs Auto
Pricing: £34,999, including Government's £5,000 grant
Hybrid system: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to twin electric motors with plug-in lithium-ion battery pack
Transmission: four-wheel drive, single-speed reduction gear
Body style: five-door, five-seat hybrid SUV
CO2 emissions: 44g/km
Combined economy: 148mpg
Top speed: 106mph
0-62mph: 11.0 seconds
Power: 204hp combined drivetrain (89kW engine plus 25kW each for axle electric motors)
Torque: 385Nm combined drivetrain; 137Nm and 195Nm (front and rear) available instantaneously
Our view:
There's a simple and glib review of this car, which is that a futuristic, brilliant drivetrain has become trapped in a car that feels badly dated. In fact, terrible admission to make but before the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (such a multisyllabic phrase that the company simply refers to this car as the PHEV in most literature) arrived for our week with it, we'd probably made our minds up that this was the line we were going to trot out.
But that's grossly unfair on the PHEV, which turns out to be an excellent car. The exterior and interior styling aren't even that bad and the quality of the cabin is certainly on a par with, say, the Honda CR-V's cockpit; actually, we prefer the Mitsubishi's cleaner dials and aversion to those big, oblong buttons that Japanese car makers are so fond of. True, the Outlander's passenger compartment is pretty plain compared to the offerings found in European rivals, but it's certainly not hideous inside. And the exterior isn't ugly either. OK, the triple-grille arrangement at the front is a touch clunky, the rear wheels look small despite being 18 inches in diameter and why Mitsubishi felt the PHEV version of the Outlander needed 'Lexus clear' rear light clusters is a mystery. However, the general Outlander shape is pleasant enough.
Getting things moving doesn't require a degree in quantum physics, as you simply slot the stubby gear lever into 'D' and whirr off in a soundless, clean manner. Well, you do if the battery has plenty of charge and it's not too cold; otherwise, below 10 degrees Centigrade and on lower battery settings, the 2.0-litre petrol engine fires up to assist the battery. On our first drive of this car, Paul expertly summed up all the different driving modes that the PHEV can offer, but in a nutshell you have to think of this car as an electric vehicle first and foremost - the only time the petrol engine ever drives the wheels is when you ask for full power from the Outlander's set-up, or you're travelling at speeds in excess of 75mph; even then, the electric motors on each axle are the primary form of propulsion with the combustion engine just a supplementary power source. The rest of the time, the 2.0-litre lump is reduced to the role of on-board generator for the batteries.
The net result of this is, with the car's computers switching you seamlessly between full EV (in which the Outlander PHEV has a very useful 31-mile range), series hybrid and parallel hybrid modes, you end up falling in love with the deceptive simplicity of the Mitsubishi. It really does drive as normally as you could hope for from a vehicle that is so advanced underneath, with the petrol engine eradicating any notion of range anxiety. If you're clever and use the 'CHARGE' or 'SAVE' function buttons just behind the gear lever as you're travelling along open, 60mph roads, then whenever you get to an urban area, you can slot the car into EV mode and move about silently. It's incredibly good, even more so when you consider its large SUV exterior. And everything else, such as the ride, handling and noise/comfort levels, is well sorted too.
So many things work brilliantly on the PHEV. As it is based on a physically big car, it doesn't have a boot that's tragically compromised by batteries, instead working as a genuine five-seat machine with enough load capacity to accommodate the sort of cargo of clutter five people can generate. The endless displays in the central dash screen, and the further supplementary info in the instrument cluster, are all clear and useful too. In its maximum regenerative braking mode (selectable through the steering column-mounted paddles; they don't control the gearbox at all), you can comfortably drive it using only one pedal, although be aware that - unlike other EVs with similarly powerful electric retardation - the PHEV won't illuminate its brake lights in such circumstances.
What are the flaws, then? Well, taking the Government's £5,000 grant out of the equation, Mitsubishi is asking forty grand for the PHEV, admittedly tested here in range-topping GX4hs trim. And £40k these days buys a very, very well specified German SUV. The looks and interior will put some people off. While it's not a CVT, the single-speed reduction gear transmission remains noisy during rapid acceleration. And as for the official 148mpg, we're not sure how on Earth you could get anywhere near such a return. We saw around the 50mpg mark, given we didn't charge the PHEV each night and instead used internal combustion to generate energy for the batteries, which is a figure that's still commendable for a petrol SUV, but one that also might disappoint if you were hoping for genuine, triple-digit economy numbers.
Still, all things considered, there's no doubt this is easily Mitsubishi's finest product on sale right now. As something you can live with on a daily basis, the Outlander PHEV makes perfect sense - even to people like us who live in the sticks. In fact, we saw three more PHEVs tooling around our rural neck of the woods, showing that this avant-garde SUV is certainly proving popular. Here's hoping the drivetrain makes it into a slightly more inspiring Mitsubishi body shell sometime in the very near future.
Alternatives:
Honda CR-V: another Japanese SUV, powered more conventionally by a couple of excellent diesel engines. Cabin is even more dated than the Outlander's, though.
BMW X3: £35k gets you in an xDrive20d M Sport; £40k into an xDrive30d SE. Either way, the BMW is a tempting proposition, if only for its vastly superior cabin.
Toyota Prius+: obviously not the same sort of car physically, but the drivetrain is similar. Slippery looks but otherwise very, very dull.
