Mitsubishi i-MiEV 2013

Name: Mitsubishi i-MiEV 2013
Item: Mitsubishi Outlander MiEV (not Outlander)
Rating: 5
Author: Owner Review: Community Contributor

Owner Review: Community Contributor

01 Jun 2023

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Kilometres travelled

More than 100,000 km

Did you buy this car new or used?

New

If used, what year did you buy it used?

2014

How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs)

32000

What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs?

Wanted an emissions free Green car. Went to take it for a test drive but when the sales chap indicated that they were dropping the price from $60,000 to $32,000 we jumped at the chance.. The car was one of just 20 NZ new i-MiEVs ... the second to last. Wanted it off the shop floor because the Outlander was coming in also at $60,000.

What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you.

My wife thought it to be as "ugly as sin". The sales chap suggested we keep that in mind when negotiating the price. We got another $500 off the price as a result.

What have you discovered since owning the car?

Bought the car for environmental reasons but discovered the financial benefits very quickly... costs ~1c/km for electricity and 1.6c/km for tires... We have now done 126,000km. With the total cost of ownership ~35,000 this makes it the cheapest car we have ever owned both on total cost per annum (~3,500p.a) and total cost per km (currently ~25c/km) ... and the longer we keep it the cheaper it costs.

What do you like/dislike about the car?

We have grown to be very fond of the car, in spite of its looks. It is in fact a very practical small car. I have seen a photo with 2 44 gallon drums loaded into the back... not many cars make it so easy to transport items... it is deceptively spacious for its size.

Any other comments on the car?

We had a failure in the electrical system around 100,000km. Turned out to be a BMS chip costing ~$6.50.. Mitsubishi would only consider replacing the whole battery pack at $25,000 ! ... yet the car was very specific in its reporting of the error? Why Mitsubishi NZ can't follow the cars instruction beats me. Instead I found others on the internet who had experienced identical faults. I found a replacement board from Holland at 70 Euros including shipping .. Dropped the battery pack and replaced the board myself... Really impressed at the physical condition of the pack after 8 years ownership and loved the simplicity of the exercise ... the car is great to work on.

Reliability

Features/technology

Performance/economy

Value for money

Overall rating

Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again?

Yes

Why would/wouldn't you buy it again?

Its such a great little round town car... Though perhaps our next car will be the VW id.2... has a more suitable range. The $100 petrol voucher from BP would be of absolutely no use to us... $100 in electricity is enough to almost cover a years travel (~10,000km) ... Why would one ever drive and ICE vehicle again?

Owner Reviews

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 2014

Kilometres travelled More than 100,000 km Did you buy this car new or used? Used If used, what year did you buy it used? 2021 How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs) 27000 What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs? Wanted an EV but also an SUV, in one vehicle, with 4WD, and within a budget. While some vehicles fit the bill (Tesla Model X etc), none are big enough for a growing family. The Outlander PHEV is in a class of its own in this regard because there are literally no other SUV-sized EVs on the NZ market that are suitable for our needs. We are happy for our EV trips to be short-range only and use it for this daily. Longer trips are covered by using ICE engine, but those are rarer, and as such are not a major cost associated with the car. We have taken the car on several long-range family road trips and it performs this role too, and the cost of this is no higher than the cost of doing the same with a fully-ICE car. The vehicle covers our main costs associated with travel, which is daily, short-range trips. In this way yes it does fulfill our needs. What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you. We needed a car for short range trips to reduce costs of fuel, while not being so worried about the cost of longer-range ones as those are not as common for us. Initial thought was it's a good size, comfortable, has enough power and space and performance and is relatively modern having previously driven a 20-year-old vehicle. It is the right vehicle for our use case. What have you discovered since owning the car? Battery range drops in winter, but still makes the short-range trips we require. Found how to maximise fuel efficiency on a long-range trip. It's the only PHEV on the market that supports fast charging. Ride and handling is not great on this 1st-gen model. It doesn't bother us too much but we live rurally so the effect is probably amplified on bumpier surfaces. If you live in town it's probably not a big deal. Standard head unit bluetooth connection is a bit temperamental. This is a known problem. What do you like/dislike about the car? Like: It saves us an enormous amount on fuel for our daily runs. It's has good space and power for our needs Lots of safety features - Adaptive cruise control, forward collision mitigation, airbags all around, rear seat centre three-point belt instead of the usual lap belt. Twin-motor 4WD with 4WD lock mode (distributes torque equally front/rear) and Mitsubishi S-AWC system. You can bomb it off-road! But I wouldn't go too deep. It's a soft-roader not an off-roader. 400mm wading depth is quite high. I have not been that deep but I have driven in some flooded roads (with trepidation!) and it handled it fine. Dislike: Suspension is "bumpy" and it doesn't handle on-road bumps well - this may be set up for Japan as it's an imported vehicle, should be better with NZ tyres and better shocks. I actually prefer the feel off-road. Boot space compromised by the rear motor taking up space, but there is quite a lot of free space below it inside the rear bumper, not sure why Mitsubishi didn't utilise this space more effectively. EV range is getting down now, we get a maximum of 33kms out of ours - originally rated at 52kms. We are charging twice a day. This is a factor of an older vehicle. However it still handles our daily trips on EV even in winter. Cannot use pure EV mode in this model - later models have an "EV mode" button which prevents the ICE from starting unless the batter gets low. This model uses the ICE any time "on demand" i.e. if you accelerate too hard or use the heating in winter etc. However you can keep it in EV just by driving conservatively and keeping the heating and aircon turned off. The Mitsubishi MMCS head unit completely fails to live up to requirements, and the advice on forums is to replace it with a third-party Android unit. We specifically bought a car with the original unit, and have been disappointed by it. Being an earlier model there is no Apple Carplay or Android Auto (we were aware of this, and don't require them), but standard bluetooth connection is poorly implemented. You would think by 2014, head units that support bluetooth connections were common and worked well, but not in this case. Phone profile (monoaural) only works out of speakers on left side of the car, and drops calls received back to the phone instead of the car after a few seconds - but works fine on calls being made. This goes for VoIP calls as well (Teams/Skype etc). Audio profile (stereo) is difficult to connect properly, with multiple issues, constantly connecting/disconnecting and failing to display track information or controls on the screen, etc. The original unit has some features specific to the PHEV system which most users can live without, so it may be better to change it. You can get better PHEV information (battery charge mode and level, history etc) using an Android head unit with a specific app that is recommended for this model (requires a bluetooth OBDII adapter as well). This may be a better option but is an extra cost, so we have chosen to live with the issues. Any other comments on the car? It does what it says on the tin. It's not a great drivers' car, nor a great car to drive. It's a bit wallowy and the weight of the EV systems makes a difference to the handling and performance. But it is comfortable and convenient, saves an enormous fuel cost if your use case is mainly short trips, yet can also handle the long ones at no more cost than would be associated with a normal car (and a lot less if you learn how to drive it). It's not stunningly efficient when using fuel, but you often don't use any on short trips. It has plenty of space for family needs while taking us on some of the rougher roads that we use in our outdoors lifestyle. The twin-motor 4WD system is a boon, being able to handle rough roads and even some mud (Skippers Road in spring is the most I have driven it away from the main drag). It's reliable and has enough modernity to look decent on the road. It doesn't stand out in any way, but in some ways that is the idea - it looks and acts "fairly normal" for a family-size SUV, yet comes with all the benefits of an EV too. As stated earlier, there are no similar vehicles in the NZ market with 4WD, family-size SUV and electric drive system. It fills a gap, at least until the likes of the Rivian R1S and similar vehicles come along. But those will be at vastly greater cost. Reliability 5 Features/technology 4 Performance/economy 4 Value for money 5 Overall rating 4 Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again? Yes Why would/wouldn't you buy it again? I would buy a later model with greater range if I could afford one. The ability to charge once a day instead of twice would be useful. Later models are far more luxurious and drive much better, with better reviews etc. But cost and wait times are rather high for purchasing brand new and often you don't need to pay that much to get similar benefits. Otherwise, yes I would buy again.
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV VRX 2022

Kilometres travelled 25,000 - 50,000 km Did you buy this car new or used? New How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs) 70000 What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs? Plug in and 7 seats, and it has fulfilled those needs. Good range on EV and public charging also. Very nice digital dash, wireless apple CarPlay which is what we were looking for. What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you. Modern looks, sharp handling and steering, great range for EV only, public charging was easy and simple to setup. Interior is nice, comfy to drive in. What have you discovered since owning the car? Mostly dislikes have been discovered, which will be stated below. But we have noticed the EV range is reducing very slowly over time. The heat pump is very power hungry when in EV only mode too. What do you like/dislike about the car? The reversing switch a trailer on has to have the driver aids turned off otherwise it thinks you’re backing into something and brakes, every 5 metres. Sometimes the engine kicks in for no reason, using petrol when not required. Likes are it is nice to drive, super quiet, really quick in sport mode and easy to overtake others. ACC is useful but turned off when it comes to a stop so that’s a pain. Auto hold is good, works well. Nice looking vehicle. Any other comments on the car? Infotainment system died about 1 month into ownership, as it was such a new model at the time, no spare parts were available so had to wait a month to get it fixed. Very quiet trips for a while. But Mitsubishi got it sorted when they could get the part from japan. Reliability 5 Features/technology 4 Performance/economy 5 Value for money 5 Overall rating 5 Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again? No Why would/wouldn't you buy it again? We want to go full EV - while this car is suitable we decided that EV is more useful than the large size of the Outlander. The lack of “pro-pilot” type systems is a major let down.
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 2022

Kilometres travelled 0-10,000 km Did you buy this car new or used? New How much did you pay? (including all on-road costs) 75000 What were your needs when you bought this car? Has it fulfilled those needs? Very disappointed with Mitsubishi. According to the brochure it should have had foot activated tail gate opening and wireless phone charging but on picking up the car it had neither. I complained and was told that Mitsubishi had changed the specs and I could take it ir leave it but if I left it the current wait times were over 6 months. I won’t buy another Mitsubishi. What were your initial thoughts about the car? Tell us why it appealed to you. The car is okay, there are a couple of minor niggles with undocking the charger, turning it on and off. What have you discovered since owning the car? The range is about 63kms not the claimed 84. What do you like/dislike about the car? You have to lock and unlock the car to take the charger out. Sometimes when I switch it on and it comes on it won’t go until I hit the start button a second time. There are 0 cubby holes in the back The 3rd row of seats fold down together not individually. It seems flaky at finding my phone for Apple Car Play. The ride height at the rear with the factory tow bar is very very low for a supposed SUV. It can crash down just leaving my garage. Any other comments on the car? It is OK Reliability 5 Features/technology 2 Performance/economy 4 Value for money 4 Overall rating 4 Lastly, would you buy this vehicle again? No Why would/wouldn't you buy it again? I was lied to by Mitsubishi and no compensation was offered. The lack of storage space in the back is silly for an SUV.