Cars are like hair: you have a good haircut, people comment on it; you have a perfect haircut and no one notices, because they assume your hair has always been like that. So it is with the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, a vehicle that’s very quiet, has nothing about its cabin but the most ergonomic comfort, and whose main selling point is the economy and innovation of its fuel system. It is (with a few caveats related to motorway driving, and whether it needs to be quite so big) the car of the future. It makes so much obvious sense that people don’t question it and, as a result, no one credits it with anything, except a capacious boot. “What I like best,” my mother said when she saw it, “is that it’s so much cleaner than your usual car.”
The plug-in hybrid element is way more complicated in the explanation than in the driving. You use the battery until the charge is exhausted (Mitsubishi say 32 miles max, but starting from three-quarters full, the gauge promises about 18 miles; though gauges, like doctors, often give the worst-case scenario), then the petrol engine kicks in. An innovative part is the regenerative braking, whereby the battery is powered by the excess generation of petrol power when going downhill, say. You don’t have to worry about that too much, but you do get some input into how regenerative it is, via paddles on the side of the steering; this is a car that pretends you’re the brains while making the decisions for you.
On battery mode, it suffers a bit on performance. Complaints were raised when I couldn’t overtake an Ocado van, but their hybrid model is pretty modern as well. In petrol-only motorway driving, performance is great but efficiency isn’t, which makes its boast a bit more modest. City driving is what I’d buy it for, which raises this conundrum: for what earthly purpose would anyone need this elevated carriage, this wide and stately aspect, to tootle about between postcodes? To impress strangers; to breed dogs; that’s it.
The interior I’d file under “practical-plush”. It’s not leather, there’s no walnut, but the people in the back feel chauffeured, not squashed, and those in the front feel as if they own the road. There is a lot of noise, though, which some might find a bit melodramatic: the reverse parking camera, for example, bleeps wildly. The first time it happened, I leapt out, thinking I must have crashed into something, since there is no excuse for a noise that loud unless a creature has been killed. I was miles clear of anything.
Similarly, the brake noise (“BRAKE, BRAKE”, the beep implores, accompanied by a verbal warning) goes off every time any other vehicle is near you, which, in a city, is always. Otherwise, it shows off only in its size; everything else, it plays pretty cool. Endearing, because it has quite a lot to show off about.
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 2.0 hybrid GX4hs automatic (petrol): in numbers
Price From £28,249 (as tested £34,999); inc government plug-in car grant
Top speed 106mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 11 seconds
Combined fuel consumption (min charge) 49mpg
CO2 emissions 44g/km
Eco rating (in EV mode) 10/10
Cool factor 7/10
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