The 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander’s big battery makes it a BEV alternative
Charge it every night and you may only ever run the engine on road trips.
@arstechnica the gas will go bad and you need to change the oil. It is such a complex setup.
Yeah, remember to cycle that gas in the tank at least a couple times a year. (Maybe only keep it half or quarter full, depending on usage?)
@johnlogic @gringlegrif I have a PHEV with 50+ miles of electric range and this works out pretty well for me. Most days I don't burn any gas, but once every week or two I'll exceed the electric range and use a little gas. I've taken to just filling up a quarter tank (unless I expect to be doing a lot of distance driving soon). This works out well, in that I generally have to re-fill every month or two.
So I get to have the convenience of gas refills when needed but have reduced my gas consumption to ~5% of what it was previously. The one downside, of course, being more components to break (although I have not had issues yet).
The software on mine also tracks the time since last fill, so it will make you burn the gas if you go too long. I like to be a little more conservative, but the point is that this problem is addressed. I would assume the same is true for the vehicle in the article. @arstechnica
@internic I've been casually window shopping for an AWD/4WD PHEV SUV to replace my old gas burner as it is wearing out.
That's gas age monitoring and purging mechanism is a nice touch. May I ask which vehicle?
@johnlogic My vehicle is a Chevy Volt, which is a PHEV with similar range but otherwise not similar to the Outlander, so unfortunately not what you're looking for.
I did consider something more like what you're looking for one point, but I was disappointed that at the time most AWD/4WD PHEVs had very short electric range, poor gas mileage, had very low ground clearance (which may be fine if your concern is winter conditions on mostly-cleared roads , but not good for other use cases), or else were hideously expensive luxury brands.
I think some of that has changed now, but what's right for you probably depends on price range and exact use case. It sounds like the Outlander electric range got a longer, which is nice, though the gas mileage is still unimpressive and the fact that it has a CHaDeMo charging port is not ideal. In the compact SUV space, the specs of the RAV4 Prime sounded more interesting to me (similar electric range but better gas mileage), and I even saw a Youtube reviews of the performance in light off-road use that were encouraging.
@johnlogic Yeah, I bought mine used a couple years ago, and I'm quite happy with it overall (a few minor complaints). But unfortunately, given its shallow approach angle, low ground clearance, and the somewhat flimsy material covering the underside of the engine compartment (for aerodynamics), it's the polar opposite of an off-road vehicle.
I'm still tempted by the Rav4 Prime. I'd prefer to get a pure BEV for my next car, but the problem is that some of the adventures for which I'd want AWD/4WD would be the exact edge cases where BEV range becomes an issue (for basically all my other use cases any normal BEV would be fine).
@internic one of my best friends loves his Chevy Volt. It's a shame that GM stopped making them. I guess they figured it just wasn't profitable enough. (So now all the profit can go to companies that are willing to make vehicles that people want to buy, like Mitsubishi.)