Buying a 2014 Outlander PHEV in 2023?

[procro]

Hello everyone,
I stumbled across this forum in my research about the car, I found it very helpful.

So the story is, a good friend of mine bought a Tesla and is selling his 2014 Outlander PHEV (2.0L), max spec.

-I mostly do just 20-30km a day, and the ocassional 300km trip & can charge at home
-It has really good service history (always at certified Mitsubishi dealer)
-98% charged at home socket
-220 000 km (136 000 miles) - 120 000km of that is highway driving across Europe using the ICE engine
-Battery health is good, still does around 40km in full EV mode
-No rust or corrosion
-Also, installed a new gasket around the battery and new ground wires

Does is make sense to buy this car in 2023? What can I expect in maintenance expenses 2-3 years down the line?
Should the high mileage scare me in any way?
Is the battery degradation down the line (2-3 years) a problem?

I appreaciate your thoughts, thank you. :ugeek:

 

[nrayanov]

Did you see those 40 kms? I would be very skeptical about the car being able to do so after so many years and so much driving. 30 kms would be more realistic in my mind.

Now, whether it makes sense is about what do you want to do with it, can you charge it at home, and how much are you going to drive between charging.

If your daily commute can be done all electric and you do trips longer than say 30 kms rarely it would make a lot of sense.

 

[procro]

Did you see those 40 kms? I would be very skeptical about the car being able to do so after so many years and so much driving. 30 kms would be more realistic in my mind.

Now, whether it makes sense is about what do you want to do with it, can you charge it at home, and how much are you going to drive between charging.

If your daily commute can be done all electric and you do trips longer than say 30 kms rarely it would make a lot of sense.

I did, I drove it. But that was early 2020.
My daily driving is around 25km, I think the range would fit me well.

Just how reliable is the battery with this age +2-3 years from now? My main concern..

 

[mellobob]

Depends on the price Don't worry about using some gasoline ... if you don't the car's computer will force you to do so in any event.

 

[procro]

Depends on the price Don't worry about using some gasoline ... if you don't the car's computer will force you to do so in any event.

The price is 9000 EUR (9500 USD), I think I'm getting a good deal? :shock:

 

[kpetrov]

No way!
Battery range on 220k vehicle to be 40km is highly doubtful or BMU reset has been done which will further degrade the battery.

Otherwise, very reliable vehicle and even the battery range is lower it's still a good buy depending on the price of course.

 

[nrayanov]

Depends on the price Don't worry about using some gasoline ... if you don't the car's computer will force you to do so in any event.

The price is 9000 EUR (9500 USD), I think I'm getting a good deal? :shock:

9000 EUR is a fair price for a 10 year-old-car. It's not a very good deal, but it ain't a bad deal.

 

[Jimtoo]

Check the electric heater works! Note: 3H doesn’t have this feature. If your unsure look under the drivers side, there should be 2 pipes beside the exhaust pipe.

 

[AndyK]

No way!
Battery range on 220k vehicle to be 40km is highly doubtful or BMU reset has been done which will further degrade the battery.

Otherwise, very reliable vehicle and even the battery range is lower it's still a good buy depending on the price of course.

Can I clarify that the thinking is it is better to allow the range to reduce naturally with time rather than using up the battery buffer to boost range at the expense of accelerated ageing ( and faster range reduction in future ).?

 

[greendwarf]

Did you see those 40 kms? I would be very skeptical about the car being able to do so after so many years and so much driving. 30 kms would be more realistic in my mind.

Now, whether it makes sense is about what do you want to do with it, can you charge it at home, and how much are you going to drive between charging.

If your daily commute can be done all electric and you do trips longer than say 30 kms rarely it would make a lot of sense.

But he said only 16k was EV - so possible.

 

[YYZ2018GT]

Did he get a new battery recently. It is a bit risky to own a PHEV that is 10 yrs old. It is a very solid car if well maintained.

40km EV range sounds very skeptical unless the battery was swapped recently. If it was, I would seriously consider buying the car.

But the risk is when the drive battery is done its life, you are looking at battery swap. It ain't anywhere near pretty to look at the cost. It's a Mitsu proprietary battery and Mitsu will charge arm and a leg (pending you can find a dealer who can even do the battery swap ).

 

[littlescrote]

120 000km of that is highway driving across Europe using the ICE engine

Don't be fooled into believing that it is done entirely by the ICE driving the wheels and not via the generator-battery-motors.

 

[littlescrote]

Did he get a new battery recently. It is a bit risky to own a PHEV that is 10 yrs old. It is a very solid car if well maintained.

40km EV range sounds very skeptical unless the battery was swapped recently. If it was, I would seriously consider buying the car.

But the risk is when the drive battery is done its life, you are looking at battery swap. It ain't anywhere near pretty to look at the cost. It's a Mitsu proprietary battery and Mitsu will charge arm and a leg (pending you can find a dealer who can even do the battery swap ).

Why do people like you always say it will need a battery swap at great cost? Why don't you think that you'd just do a weakest cells swap at much lower cost?

 

[YYZ2018GT]

Why do people like you always say it will need a battery swap at great cost? Why don't you think that you'd just do a weakest cells swap at much lower cost?

Do you know any shop who would do cell swap? And where to get the individual cells? My mechanic won't touch the EV battery. Dealer mechanics won't do. Cell replacement that I know of. They were trained to do While Battery swap. I do not think anyone wants to open up the battery case fear of the High Voltage.

I know I would have no issue opening it up. But I lack the facility to do so.

So if you think you can do. Will swap and get just the cells, by all means... But for most people, it'd be rather cost prohibitive at this point.

 

[michael8554]

My 2014 32K miles still shows about 28miles on the guessometer if I leave it charging for long enough.

 

[Woon Chung]

Buying this car is a kind of challenging. Every car is not exact same as everybody's own car. In US, 2014 220k miles car has no value in the market. Nobody buy this high miles battery car, while 100k miles car is about $10k to 15k in the used car market. the reason is that nobody guarantee the battery life-span. It may run 50k more but who knows it may be failed in tomorrow. Or, it may have hidden story of repairing, which has possibility of verity of related failure. I also wonder why it has new gasket around battery. Does it mean new battery installed?

It is not possible that there is a business in replacing individual cell in the market near me.

Outlander is quite a bit big car even though it's category is Midsize SUV. So, it looks great for a buyer to buy at steal price. But not so reliable car when it gets old. You have to check this forum what kind of failure this car has. And how they solve there problems. If you are not in tech level like an Australian You Tube guy, most of the failure should be done by Mitsubishi Dealer and they are not so cooperative. Parts are rare too because they have to get parts from Japan. You will find an answer.

 

[Phev2016]

Suggest you get Phev Watchdog app on an android device, then find battery SOH. Probably 60-70% which is fine but could be higher if you're lucky. Also find out why the battery has a new gasket - unusual. Otherwise, this sounds like a good car. Good luck.

 

[Woon Chung]

During the time, I searched some website and facebook forum and You Tube regarding the people saying about their EV cars and PHEV cars Hybrid cars. Most of them are very positive about the battery life of their cars. Also maintenance cost was not high except tire replacement. Pure EV cars battery has longer life than PHEV and Hybrid. Lots of EV car owner experienced over 400k miles without serious lost of Battery health. PHEV and Hybrid owner speech is hard to find their experience on battery SOH, only the reviewers say battery life is safe to 200k miles for Hybrid, PHEV. Invest to buy the tools to check the Battery SOH. It will say everything about Battery. Health of each cells, history of charging, etc.

Aside by the battery health, I still think the convenience of Service is also very important, especially when new tech applied used cars. I am a new owner of Outlander PHEV and experienced already difficulty of Service Center. Not easy to find near me. It is far away and they have no part to replace even though mine is 2022.

I have different experiences about car owning. So, my opinion will be out of your consideration. Almost of my car during my 50 years of ownership are used cars. So, I am superior to negotiate the used car price, I believe. My car was in the 22k in the market. For your reference, I bought 2022 SEL model 45k miles, no accident with great exterior and interior, with $15900(Lojack installed). I negotiated it. Don't believe market price. If I were you, it will be happy to pay 4k for the car and feel happy if I have to spend money for repair the car later on. So used car price is wholly depending on you. If you are not extremely happy with the price, it is the pain in the ass whenever you spend the money for repairing. I once owned Accord. I paid $8k for this car and trade-in $8.5k after 2 years of use. I owned 1999 Boxster paying $8k and when I sold it as is $5.8k with transaxle broken after 6 years of use. I once bought Toyota Matrix for my son for his collage with $8.5k and sold it after 4 year as $5.5k. The price says everything for used cars. I had BMW340i, which is the for BMW mania. I bought it with $21k and sold it after some modification with $24k after 2 years of use. When I buy expensive car like BMW, Benz, Lexus, ETC, I spend $100 for professional in local area for inspection, after getting an approval from the seller.