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And may contribute to the early battery failure that seems to be a risk with the PHEV - it's a small battery pack in a car that was designed to run as a hybrid, not a pure EV.

Hmmm, sorry, don't like it... But, then again, I have always believed that the original Range Rover was the best car design of all time! These flashy things that are designed to look like space-ships age very rapidly!

I would assume that the replacement is a pretty standard mechanical job with no need to disrupt the hybrid drive systems, so the risk of "spoiling the ship" should be minimal assuming that the car is out of warranty. I guess there is some small risk of "spoiling the mechanic" - but that would be...

I think it is more than I would consider a "second order effect" - fuel economy in most cars will peak somewhere around 60mph with a significant drop off on either side. The PHEV has the ability to improve fuel efficiency while in series (serial?) mode by adjusting the engine speed and routing...

Hmmm, nerve wracking! I seem to recall one similar incident reported here several years ago, but no subsequent diagnosis. It is certainly not a common problem - hopefully the dealership will fix it and you will then have the reliability that most of us have enjoyed!

Well, there certainly are circumstances where series/serial mode is the correct choice, but that was not the case for the examples I was referring to - high speed, flat road, lightly loaded. I now think that it is more a case of charge level than temperature - I was driving yesterday afternoon...

Something I've noticed a few times in the last week - driving on the same stretch of relatively flat road at 60mph or more, my car is remaining in serial mode when I would expect it to be in parallel. It seems to get stuck there. In all cases, I've started the journey in temperatures around zero...

It is certainly true that there are quite a few high mileage PHEVs around that have been purchased as company cars and rarely charged - mine is one of them. I think that the jury is out on the effect that this pattern of usage can have on battery condition. I suspect that there are two...

It is very much a question of driving style and pattern of usage. My guessometer rarely shows more than 20 miles even in warm weather and in the cold it can easily get down to 15 miles. Achieved distances are little, if any, better. This is not down to battery age or condition - mine has been...

I think that the issue on this side of the world was that Mitsubishi were very pleased to follow the government testing line regarding EV range and some of their early advertising gave an unrealistic expectation. Having been a Prius owner, I did understand the likely discrepancy between the...

Well, the range display is widely known as the "guessometer" for a good reason! Use it to select your lottery numbers, not to predict how far you can go! :-)

Whatever range you were achieving in the summer, don't be surprised if it is reduced by 30% (or more) in the winter. This is due to a combination of reduced battery performance, increased rolling resistance from cold tyres and increased viscosity of cold air. When our PHEV was new, I reckoned on...

Definitely sticky Save - that is just about the only button I ever press.....

The point used to be tax reduction, but I don't think that applies now, does it? I do like the electric (effectively) automatic transmission. If the government carries through its plan to ban conventional petrol engined cars, the Toyota/Lexus model may become the only way to purchase a genuinely...

You will find multiple threads here on the subject dating back almost to the start of the forum. There seems to be no evidence that the car benefits noticeably from anything more expensive than standard unleaded.

I think you will find it difficult to get anyone other than Mitsubishi to carry out that kind of job. My experience is that most of the independant garages are unwilling to touch anything under the bonnet. In your case, it is a repair that would probably require some specialized equipment but in...

Exactly - B5 simply converts the car to "dodgem mode" - press the pedal to go and release it to stop.

There is probably some truth in that, but I think that the wide beam of the HID lights is also not particularly friendly to oncoming drivers. With conventional lights that dip to the left (at least round here), the impact of camber and undulations of the road surface is a lot less. My dipped...

I would not disagree that the proportion of the time running with the petrol engine off is an interesting figure, but I do think that describing it as "The EV ratio" is misleading. As has been demonstrated very strongly on this forum, a high proportion of PHEV owners seek to minimise petrol...

I think it is less a question of the brightness and more a question of the width of the beam. The wide beam dipped HID lights are relatively uncommon here and most dipped beams are angled to the left - drivers in oncoming vehicles seeing a beam pattern which spans the road simply assume that it...