Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle review: is this the best of both worlds?

Nervous about going all-electric? Maybe this hybrid SUV from Mitsubishi is the answer. Or maybe it isn’t...

Mitsubishi Outlander Exceed Tourer

Is “engineered obsolescence” just an impressive sounding term for “rip off”? I mean, we all accept that a carton of milk has engineered obsolescence; you know it won’t last forever. But when expensive gadgets suddenly stop working and you discover that the company that built them planned for them to have short shelf lives so you’d be compelled to buy new ones, it feels more than a touch underhanded.

I recently had an Apple Watch begin to fritz out after a few software updates and then, finally, cease to work at all (the only thing it would show was the Apple logo, which felt like techno taunting). Despite the fact that the software Apple had put into my watch seemed to have caused it to die, the company would only offer to “fix” it if I paid them hundreds of dollars. This from a company that in 2020 paid $113 million in the US to settle an investigation into its practice of deliberately slowing down customers’ old iPhones. Suspicious? Me? I now tell the time by calculating how many hours it’s been since I woke up and started cursing Apple, based on how sore my throat is getting.

What worries me, and other discerning adults, is whether vehicle technologies might follow the same rude route. While several car companies are announcing they’re about to stop selling vehicles with internal combustion engines, is now the best time to buy the last, best examples we’ll ever see, or would that just be a case of investing in redundant tech – a laser disc player on wheels? Modern electric vehicles now get over-the-air updates, like smart watches, so does that mean they’ll also slow down as they get older?

The combined power outputs are a whopping 205Nm more than a non-hybrid Outlander.

And what about the in-between technologies, like the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle now living in my driveway? Theoretically, this quite large (some wives would say “too large”) SUV offers the best of both worlds. I can charge up its battery using my solar panels and get a (claimed) 84km of pure EV driving range. I can select full EV mode and whisk around quietly – using the two electric motors, one on each axle – and if that range runs out, or I suddenly feel the crazed need for more power (defined in this case as exceeding 70km/h), the Outlander’s 2.4-litre engine will kick in and I can have good old petrol propulsion, and a total potential range of “850km-plus”.

The combined power outputs are 185kW and 450Nm – which is 50kW and a whopping 205Nm more than a non-hybrid Outlander. The Mitsubishi never feels short of grunt, and accelerates smoothly thanks to its single-gear transmission (the engine also cleverly helps to recharge the battery as you drive).

I’m going to keep this Outlander for a few months to answer some questions I have about PHEVs, the first one being whether they’re a bit like a puppy for Christmas. Sure, I’ll play with its cables and tickle its batteries and select EV mode and be fastidious about doing the right thing at first. But when you know, in the back of your mind, that if the battery runs out it doesn’t really matter, will the average owner stick with it? And if they don’t, what kind of fuel economy will they actually get from a PHEV in the real world?

Mitsubishi claims a very impressive 1.5 litres per 100km, but that’s obviously going to vary wildly depending on how you use it. What has frustrated me so far is that, because its battery can only take an input of 3.7kW, even my snazzy 7kW wallbox charger still takes 6.5 hours to fully fill it, which is a lot of sunshine. Leaving it on a normal plug overnight would be an option for most people, and that takes 9.5 hours.

In theory, it’s just a matter of making a habit of plugging in, but this ignores just how powerfully lazy I am (it also means reversing into my driveway, which I find an imposition on my precious time), and I’ve also found it frustrating that after all those hours I’m still only getting an indicated 70 to 75km of electric range.

On the very large plus side, however, I’ve driven it 400km so far and the petrol tank is still completely full, which means I’m eating far fewer overpriced servo Chokitos, which is probably good for my marriage. (The fact that the Outlander is so large that my wife looks like a canary attempting to ride a camel while driving it might be less so.)

Another plus is that the quilted and plush cabin of my top-spec, $68,490 Exceed Tourer version of the Outlander is far more premium than any Mitsubishi I’ve piloted and it will be an excellent companion for the camping holiday I’m being forced to take against my will over summer, while giving me no range anxiety whatsoever. It’s also possible the styling will grow on me, although at present I think it looks like it has two extra eyes where its cheeks should be and a slightly malevolent look in general.

The big question I’m hoping to answer by living with the Outlander, of course, is whether PHEV technology is the bridge many Australians need to get over the shift to a fully EV world, or whether it’s the Nokia you had between your first brick phone and your sexy, self-sabotaging smartphone. I’ll let you know.