Ev miles and buying a second hand 2018 question

[Shadowelite]

In talks with a dealer to buy a used 2018 model one with 2.4L engine
Its done a lot of miles tho 40k but been told they are motorway miles
For around 2.5k more i can get one with half the milage
Im i better off spending the extra 2.5k?
Its had 3 services at mitsubishi and they will service it when they sell it
This is the service record

15/02/2019 13,586
02/07/2019 26,346
15/11/2019 39,021

Also the ev range is showing 21 miles on full charge
I questioned it and asked for a battery health report and they told me that they will get a report for me and that the ev range will change depending on my driving style
Is this true? Will i ever be able to get the 28 miles ever again?
Do they need to reset it or will it change based on my driving style?
Thanks alex

 

[jaapv]

Sounds like a good dealer.
Motorway miles or town miles does not make much of a difference. If you don't charge the battery by charger, the car will do so by generator. Electricity flows in both cases. Try to find out whether it has not been charged by CHAdeMO all the time - that can impact battery life.
The indicated miles of range does not mean much; we call it the guessometer. Driving style, car load, outside temperature, wind direction, use of airconditioning, heater, other accessories, tyre pressure, etc, all will impact the range significantly.
40.000 miles is not that excessive, paying more for a few less does not sound productive to me. It depends on the mileage you intend to do. Get the car you like best for the price.

 

[greendwarf]

With respect to jaapv, there must be a difference with any car between hours of non-stop high speed straight line driving and endless stop-start slow speed with lots of cornering, pot holes etc. as to relative wear & tear. The big difference with a plug-in hybrid is that high mileage in a short time span, as here, will be done primarily powered by the ICE rather than the battery.

So this car will be more similar to a normal 2 year old car with 40,000 miles than my 2014 car with the same mileage. Users like me can go months without using the ICE - so my engine is less worn. But to answer your question - 28 miles per charge has always been the upper end of actual achievement and even more unlikely during colder weather. I've found 25 more realistic.

However, jaapv is correct the decision should be based on how you want to use the car. If you just want to potter about locally most of the time well within recharge range this should be fine. If you expect to do lots more long journeys then you need to bear in mind the wear to the ICE already. The biggest disappointment is for those users who buy the car for commuting thinking they can consistently get around 25 miles every day on battery only and hope to never buy petrol again - they need an all electric car not the Outlander. :idea:

 

[Shadowelite]

Im only going to be doing short drives like 5 miles a day on a weekday and about 10miles ew in weekends But this might change but mpg is not that important to me lol
I can charge at work not at home at the moment as im moving homes

Sounds like a good dealer.
Motorway miles or town miles does not make much of a difference. If you don't charge the battery by charger, the car will do so by generator. Electricity flows in both cases. Try to find out whether it has not been charged by CHAdeMO all the time - that can impact battery life.
The indicated miles of range does not mean much; we call it the guessometer. Driving style, car load, outside temperature, wind direction, use of airconditioning, heater, other accessories, tyre pressure, etc, all will impact the range significantly.
40.000 miles is not that excessive, paying more for a few less does not sound productive to me. It depends on the mileage you intend to do. Get the car you like best for the price.

 

[Shadowelite]

They sent me the battery report and its showing 95% health
That means it defo spent a lot of time on the motorway by sounds of it

 

[ThudnBlundr]

A car used on a motorway will have done far more of its miles with all the fluids up to the correct operating temperature and should have far less physical wear than a car of comparable mileage used for shorter trips. It will also have run in pure EV for far less of its miles, so it should have a healthier battery.

We bought our 2015 pre-facelift model 2½ years ago with 40k miles on it, and we're still gong strong at 67K. EV range now shows above 20 miles only occasionally, but the only thing we've needed (apart from regular servicing, brakes and tyres) is the shock boots replacing.

 

[greendwarf]

A car used on a motorway will have done far more of its miles with all the fluids up to the correct operating temperature and should have far less physical wear than a car of comparable mileage used for shorter trips.

Surely this is only true for an ICE - a hybrid will probably have done most of its on battery and so the engine will be worn less.

 

[jaapv]

With respect to jaapv, there must be a difference with any car between hours of non-stop high speed straight line driving and endless stop-start slow speed with lots of cornering, pot holes etc. as to relative wear & tear. The big difference with a plug-in hybrid is that high mileage in a short time span, as here, will be done primarily powered by the ICE rather than the battery.

So this car will be more similar to a normal 2 year old car with 40,000 miles than my 2014 car with the same mileage. Users like me can go months without using the ICE - so my engine is less worn. But to answer your question - 28 miles per charge has always been the upper end of actual achievement and even more unlikely during colder weather. I've found 25 more realistic.

However, jaapv is correct the decision should be based on how you want to use the car. If you just want to potter about locally most of the time well within recharge range this should be fine. If you expect to do lots more long journeys then you need to bear in mind the wear to the ICE already. The biggest disappointment is for those users who buy the car for commuting thinking they can consistently get around 25 miles every day on battery only and hope to never buy petrol again - they need an all electric car not the Outlander. :idea:

Surely the forces on the suspension are far higher at high speed. I would say it is a toss-up for that aspect unless you have to drive miles of unpaved roads. I cannot recall when I last saw a pothole... As for wear, Mitsubishi builds their cars for an average use of 200.000 miles, so 40.000 is neither here nor there, regardless of use. At 150.000 km and seven years my car feels as taut as new, the only repairs have been rear motor rubbers (guaranty), new exhaust (rather unusual) brake disks front (normal wear) and now the condenser of the air-conditioner (probably my own fault through under-use) Its usage has been a fairly even mix of commuting and long distance.

 

[jaapv]

A car used on a motorway will have done far more of its miles with all the fluids up to the correct operating temperature and should have far less physical wear than a car of comparable mileage used for shorter trips. quote]

Surely this is only true for an ICE - a hybrid will probably have done most of its on battery and so the engine will be worn less.

But the short-distance car will have done far more cold starts, both for heating and recharging. That is the main cause of engine wear.
Motorway charge/recharge cycles will keep the ICE at operating temperature.

 

[greendwarf]

A car used on a motorway will have done far more of its miles with all the fluids up to the correct operating temperature and should have far less physical wear than a car of comparable mileage used for shorter trips. quote]

Surely this is only true for an ICE - a hybrid will probably have done most of its on battery and so the engine will be worn less.

But the short-distance car will have done far more cold starts, both for heating and recharging. That is the main cause of engine wear.
Motorway charge/recharge cycles will keep the ICE at operating temperature.

But as users here have been pointing out with the forced engine start to use petrol, you can go a long time without these "cold starts" if you only drive within recharge range, so your point is only likely to be valid for an ICE car.

Oh BTW if you are feeling nostalgic for potholes come to the UK we have plenty to spare :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: and we also have speed bumps in most urban areas

 

[ThudnBlundr]

But the wear is not only in the ICE. What about the bearings and bushings in the drive train and suspension. By far the majority of wear in any system is done when the system is cold and the clearances are far smaller. As it heats up, the clearances increase and reduce contact wear.

 

[greendwarf]

But the wear is not only in the ICE. What about the bearings and bushings in the drive train and suspension. By far the majority of wear in any system is done when the system is cold and the clearances are far smaller. As it heats up, the clearances increase and reduce contact wear.

We seem to be getting away from the point here. The question was whether a car with a high mileage - thought to have been mainly on done at motorway speeds under ICE - would be a better buy than one where it has been done at low speed, primarily on battery.

There will lots of factors involved - so yes, frequent short urban journeys on battery will wear different components differently compared to longer high speed ones in ALL cars. However, the unique significant factor with a PHEV will be engine wear against battery degradation (both expensive items to replace).

So IMHO a buyer would have to decide which of these is likely to have the biggest impact on future driving plans to make their purchase choice.