Opinions please. Is the PHEV for me?

[David666]

Hi All,
Came across this forum today. Found it really useful, packed with loads of great advice.
I have a test drive booked tomorrow for a PHEV and am looking to buy one as a company vehicle. I've looked at the PHEV in a showroom and liked it. The savings from mpg and company car tax are a no brainer.
The question is, is this the vehicle for me.?I'd appreciate your advice...
My commute to office is 45 miles. 5 miles country roads, 20 miles motorway, 20miles A roads. I drive a fair bit for work also - Average 27000 miles p.a
I use my iphone a lot in the car, calls, podcasts, music etc. I also use the sat nav a lot.
Wife,3 kids, occasional trips to South of France.
I generally find myself in the outside lane of the motorway.
Current car is an A6 2.0 TDI which I get 42mpg average.
I get the savings on fuel and car tax but wanted views on whether other PHEV owners think it would suit my driving needs? If I went ahead I guess I would look to install a charging point at home and office.
Would appreciate your honest opinions.

 

[jdsx]

Hi All,
Came across this forum today. Found it really useful, packed with loads of great advice.
I have a test drive booked tomorrow for a PHEV and am looking to buy one as a company vehicle. I've looked at the PHEV in a showroom and liked it. The savings from mpg and company car tax are a no brainer.
The question is, is this the vehicle for me.?I'd appreciate your advice...
My commute to office is 45 miles. 5 miles country roads, 20 miles motorway, 20miles A roads. I drive a fair bit for work also - Average 27000 miles p.a
I use my iphone a lot in the car, calls, podcasts, music etc. I also use the sat nav a lot.
Wife,3 kids, occasional trips to South of France.
I generally find myself in the outside lane of the motorway.
Current car is an A6 2.0 TDI which I get 42mpg average.
I get the savings on fuel and car tax but wanted views on whether other PHEV owners think it would suit my driving needs? If I went ahead I guess I would look to install a charging point at home and office.
Would appreciate your honest opinions.

I would say it's pretty borderline, but if you can get a charge point at work (as well as home) then the answer is probably 'yes'; if not, definitely 'no'. Best distance on battery is realistically 20-25 miles in winter and 25-30 miles in summer, and less at motorway speeds.....
You do realise that you cut very little off your journey time by always 'finding yourself' in the outside lane? The PHEV will educate you to find a more relaxing way to travel and you will arrive a few minutes later, but much more relaxed! :lol:
However, the iPhone integration and SatNav is not to everyone's taste, so that might not help! Also the third seat in the back is not great...
Enjoy the test drive!

 

[Stvtech]

In my opinion, if your 45 miles is round-trip and you can fully charge at work, then it is a viable option. Not so viable if it is 45 miles each-way, because the realistic EV range is only 23 miles or so (at this time of year).

My typical use is a round-trip commute of 18.4 miles, all done on EV. It costs me about 70p in electric for each commute.
Today however, I had a 73-mile round trip to a client, up hill and down dale, and averaged 53mpg. That included EV use about equivalent to my usual commute. The drive was in no way unpleasant.

My business miles have shot up in the two short months I have had the Phev, my previous E-Class having covered only 19,400 miles in two years, yet the Phev has now already covered 2500 miles. But the longer trips haven’t really presented a problem - it runs very well in save mode at the legal limit on the motorway. It will only return about 35mpg at that though. Drop down to about 65, and that’ll put you up to low 40’s.

I initially described the phone integration as pitiful. I now simply consider it workable. Aside from the voice (which could be improved but isn’t really that bad) the Sat Nav is OK, and it hasn’t let me down yet.

Pottering about town, the Phev is a pleasure to drive. This is where I find it runs rings round any other car I’ve driven. If you can live with the lower quality finish that you will have become accustomed to with your German breed, then it might well be the preferable option. Plus you get 4x4 in readiness for the predicted el nino that will bury the UK in snow next winter.

Be mindful of the small fuel tank and lower mpg when heading off to France, and the rest can be sussed out on your test drive (narrower rear seat accommodations than the Audi for example).

Because the Mercedes C350e plug-in is not too dissimilar in price, why not consider that also? Might be better suited to lane 3 of the motorway, even if the saloon’s boot wouldn’t carry all your stuff to the south of France. Perhaps the estate then, and higher BIK… Hmmm… But at least in will give you a bit of perspective when weighing up the Outlander.

just get out there and enjoy the test drive tomorrow - bet you’ll be grinning at some point

 

[David666]

Thanks for the advice Stvtech. Anyone else want to chip in?

 

[user 816]

I agree with both sets of comments above.

Economically it depends on who pays for what. I think the commute bit is a yes, even if you don't get a charge at work you should have a full charge from home to give a good average MPG on the way in. So your total average across the way in and out (at nearer 30 mpg using outside lane!) will still be decent enough.

You mention 27K business miles, presume your fully reimbursed for this? The problem is how your reimbursed. If its at a set rate per mile that generally covers petrol and charging electricity then your fine.

If they are reimbursing direct fuel cost say against a fuel card then its not so clear because that doesn't cover the electricity cost. So unless you want to subsidise your business miles through your electricity bill it become almost pointless charging up. But without charging your MPG will be at its worst so your private miles (such as you commute) will be expensive in fuel.

I got fed up of this situation (my employer has buried its head in the sand on electricity costs) so I do charge up,but only as a cheaper top up, usually I arrive home with most my battery still charged because I use the 'save' function, using EV mode for selected town sections.

I really love the drive, its so effortless it almost takes you there itself. Don't be too put off with the seat initially, its a bit short on lumbar support so is better slightly more upright but my dodgy back has soon got used to it and I find it very comfy now.

 

[maby]

Doing 27,000 miles per annum, you are effectively buying a petrol car with an electric automatic transmission - the EV range will cover such a small percentage of your usage that the effect on the running costs will be negligible. That said, it is a decent enough car driven as a pure petrol vehicle and the BIK savings are (currently) pretty impressive. I don't think that you will save on the 42mpg you are currently achieving and, if you are an "outside lane motorway driver", you may well come out worse - we do just about 12,000 miles per annum with the emphasis on longer distance motorway runs and I am definitely not an "outside lane" driver - we are averaging around 45mpg, possibly improving a bit as the weather warms up.

So, don't rule it out, but you definitely need to like the car for itself - the savings you can make relative to a modern diesel will not be enormous. Take the claims of 148 mpg with a very large bucket of salt!

 

[kentphev]

Is it your own company or a car being provided to you as an employee?

If its the latter and your business fuel is paid for.... then regardless of your driving style you're getting a big family friendly battle-wagon with low BIK.
If its your own business... you could look for a nearly new and save a packet. You can get 6 month old ex-demo Gx4 with 1,500 miles for £27K.

I think it perhaps boils down to who is paying for the fuel on the 27,000 business miles!

My own situation is that I work from home and personal mileage is local poodling about which I can do as an EV. If I have to go on-site then its 200-300 mile round trips but fuel is expensed.
I needed something that can go off road with a big boot and wanted something electric. Dont think there is another EV can match the outlander on those criteria.

 

[jdsx]

Doing 27,000 miles per annum, you are effectively buying a petrol car with an electric automatic transmission - the EV range will cover such a small percentage of your usage that the effect on the running costs will be negligible. That said, it is a decent enough car driven as a pure petrol vehicle and the BIK savings are (currently) pretty impressive. I don't think that you will save on the 42mpg you are currently achieving and, if you are an "outside lane motorway driver", you may well come out worse - we do just about 12,000 miles per annum with the emphasis on longer distance motorway runs and I am definitely not an "outside lane" driver - we are averaging around 45mpg, possibly improving a bit as the weather warms up.

Assuming you can recharge at home and work, so twice a day every weekday, you could do 12,500 miles a year just on electric (approximately); more if you include weekends, so it's not necessarily a small percentage and certainly not negligible...

 

[David666]

Hi, to all of you who have sent your thoughts. Thanks very much for all of your comments.
I test drove the GX5 today and really enjoyed the experience. Even after driving the vehicle for 30 mins, I now understand the comment that the PHEV will educate me to drive well! Difficult to explain really but it seems to shape your driving habits to be more controlled which was genuinely refreshing. I was told that the 5 will not be available until December however which is a bit disappointing.
The sat nav seemed pretty straight forward and I found myself happily navigating the various basic features after the test run. The Mitsubishi guy tells me that the connectivity issues with the IPhone were more to do with an iOS issue rather than a mitsubishi one. I didn't pair my phone via Bluetooth today but the Mitsubishi guy had an iPhone and said he has no problems at all?
To answer some of your questions- my round trip to and from work is 90 miles. Any miles over and above this for work are reimbursed to me by the company.
I was told that the installation of a pod port (think that's what it's called?) would be net around £150 so I will look to get one installed at home and office.
Post test drive, I'm more convinced that the PHEV is the way for me to go. I will have a look at the Merc C350e (thanks for the heads up on that Stvtech) although having compared the specs, I think it may be a bit lacking in the rear seats/luggage capacity. Shame, as the price point is similar and the interior specs are very good. The local dealership don't have one in at the moment so are looking around to find one to test drive. I also like the Audi A3 sport back hybrid. Looks great, good mpg but too small.
The only thing which is still unclear to me is what sort of mpg I will get for some of those 3hr motorway runs. I checked the trip details after the test drive today but it wasn't that clear. There were 2 results : one shown as Automatic and one shown as manual? The guy from Mitsubishi wasn't able to explain the difference? I guess the acid test will only come if I get one but the concern for me is the mpg when motorway driving for a few hrs on petrol? I'm guessing low to mid 30's mpg?
Seems that in 12 - 24 months time there will be a lot more new hybrids on the market. Whilst there isn't a huge choice at the moment, I liked the PHev for itself and not just the money I will save each month on tax (I estimate approx £7000 over 3 years). That kind of saving cannot be ignored and the phev has definitely grown on me!

 

[Titan]

Sustained motorway driving will net you mpg in the 30s. Whether that is high, mid or low depends on your speed and driving style. On a recent 2hr trip when I wasn't posting attention to mpg but was keen to get there I returned 34. However on the way back I fought tooth and nail to stop it falling below 39 (doing 100-120kph). It is possible but you need to think about your driving, which in itself is a fun challenge.

 

[jaapv]

In daily use, driving with the flow and Save on, on average about 35 MPG (UK), pushing it on the Autobahn with a full car and Ski Box about 25 MPG (UK)

 

[kentphev]

Re the manual vs automatic mpg display. On mine the auto figure seems to reset periodically (4hrs I think someone said?) and often doesn't give a reading if you've done an ev-only drive.

The manual reading (on mine) appears to be the long term mpg. After 900 miles of motorway and about 3 weeks of mainly short EV runs mind says 63 but is increasing all the time.

Resetting the B Trip counter had no effect on the mpg displays.

 

[CymruPHEV]

Hi

Sorry to hijack your thread David666 but my question is very similar and have just found this forum after weeks of researching whether a PHEV would be suitable for my next car so would be VERY grateful for the forums views.

I am a company car driver so the BIK saving is huge, no question, but I also don't want to lumber my company with a costly uneconomic lease vehicle either! I commute about 100 miles each way 2 days a week and will be able to charge at home and at work. The other three days are usually anywhere in UK or Ireland so daily mileage could be 200-300 miles with probably 1 stop to recharge at a services and a overnight stop at a hotel hopefully with a charge point. I completely realise I am at the limits of whether its viable economic choice for the company but a saving of £150 per month BIK and the fact it is a 4x4 are very tempting! My current vehicle real life mpg is 45-50 and as long as the PHEV isn't much worse the company don't mind.

The dealer has told me that if I don't do over 70mph on the motorway the petrol engine will stay in generator mode and will only tick over? Is there anyone using their PHEV for the same use as I would? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[anko]

I completely realise I am at the limits of whether its viable economic choice for the company but a saving of £150 per month BIK and the fact it is a 4x4 are very tempting.

Looking at it from the company perspective, you are way over the limit. Combined with BIK savings, it might be still right.

The dealer has told me that if I don't do over 70mph on the motorway the petrol engine will stay in generator mode and will only tick over?

Fortunately, the car switches from generator mode to parallel mode at speeds above 40 MPH.