Bigger, heavier, pricier … but more electric-pure range, a better driving feel and, of course, it finally delivers as a seven-seater.

Price: $79,990.
Powertrain: 2.4-litre petrol engine, electric motors front and rear axles, total output 185kW/195Nm; all-wheel drive; claimed combined economy 1.6 L/100km WLTP, 38g/km CO2.
Vital statistics: 4710mm long, 1862mm wide, 1745mm high, wheelbase 27106mm.
Like: Better in every regard than the first-generation; quiet ride and secure handling; EV-only range much improved and seems accurate; gets a rebate.
Not so much: Can be thrashy under heavy load in hybrid modes; new ‘one-pedal’ feature feels aggressive.

 ACHIEVE the $6000 discount, offered as a release strategy, and the Clean Car rebate and there you go … almost $12,000 trimmed from the full list price.

Sure, this still only basically halves the premium the electric-assisted variants have over their fully petrol equivalents, which look much the same and kit identically. Bear in mind the fully petrol equivalent of the VRX PHEV written about today costs $54,990. But, hey electric, right?

Clearly, that’s not an issue. There’s a strong order bank. When Outlander clocked as the country’s top-selling passenger car in April, the electric-assisted variants achieved six out in every 10 registrations.

The second-gen Outlander is on a whole new and larger platform, offering enough extra room that the PHEV now only continues as a five-seater in entry form. Buy mid or high grade and it has seven chairs, over three rows, just like the petrol version.

Same but different. The PHEV doesn’t take the 2.5 engine in the pure petrol, a new engine from Nissan, but instead continues with Mitsubishi’s own 2.4-litre four cylinder, now making 98kW (so, 4kW more than before) and 195Nm (4Nm less).

This time, though, there’s a heap more electric assist. It takes a 85kW/225Nm motor feeding the front wheels, a 100kW/195Nm motor driving the rear, these drawing off a 20kWh battery under the floor. The previous model had 60kW/137Nm front, 70kW/195Nm rear and a 13.3kWh battery.

All this means more electric operability. The old car was cited to optimally deliver 55km pure electric driving. The new will give 84km, a 52 percent improvement. Overall range rises 50 percent, to 900km. It’s not just the powertrain. The fuel tank is 11 litres’ larger this time, to 56 litres.

Absolute economy figures from PHEVs always read spectacularly. No change here. MMNZ cites 1.6 L/100km under the Worldwide Light Vehicle test procedure. The old model provisioned 1.9 and 2.1 L/100km.

That all sounds great, but everything with the Outlander PHEV still comes down to how the vehicle is being used; patently the more a driving scenario suits electric, the less petrol it uses. That’s just logical.

Mitsubishi says it has made improvements to enhance that potential, but with the first-generation model driving on the open road for any distance made quite an impact on overall economy. How different would this one be?

To discover this with a full week’s test, I drove an Outlander VRX from New Plymouth to Kuratau at the southern end of Lake Taupo, and return. That put 524km on the clock. I then added 206km urban driving. When returned, the trip computer advised an overall fuel consumption of 5.6 litres per 100km and 253kms’ more range.

A good result? I suppose that largely depended on how the Outlander was driven. So, my plan was to simply drive to Kuratau in a totally normal way without making use of any of the energy-conserving features aboard the SUV, therefore allowing the Outlander to decide for itself in which mode it should run – as an EV, a series hybrid  which uses the engine to generate more electricity, or a parallel hybrid which combines the engine and the motors for maximum oomph.

The return journey was going to be all about economy, making use of all the energy-saving devices aboard this vehicle.

The trip to the lake saw the battery range expired shortly after Mt Messenger 55km away, and the fuel consumption then got as high as 7.1 L/100km over the Waituhi Saddle between Taumarunui and Turangi, before settling down to 6.4 L/100km.

An outstanding feature of this drive was how easily the PHEV took on the steep bits. But while in hybrid mode the engine noise was very pronounced as it worked hard carrying out its duties, either by feeding power into the battery pack or by clutching itself into the drive system.

For the return journey an EV Mode was selected to prioritise electric use, a Drive Mode Selector was switched to ‘eco’ for the most economical motoring, and the intention was to use regenerative braking whenever possible to maintain battery charge.

Once again, the climb up the Waituhi Saddle quickly drained the battery level, to the extent that at the summit there was just 28km remaining. But this quickly changed during the downhill run, initially via use of a new feature called Innovative Pedal Operation Mode (one-pedal driving) which is essentially the exclusive use of the vehicle’s accelerator pedal.

When you lift your foot off the accelerator a combination of regenerative braking and friction braking is very pronounced, capable of bringing the Mitsubishi to a stop even when it is moving steeply downhill. I found it a little too aggressive – almost like driving with a handbrake on - so I quickly opted to use paddles on the steering wheel that offer six levels of regenerative braking. That was far more controllable.

By the time the vehicle had reached Taumarunui the battery level had improved to 38km, which meant the electricity prioritising EV Mode was able to be maintained for some distance. Still, by the end of the journey the overall economy had returned to 6.4 L/100km.

Once again, by the time home was reached the overall economy was 6.4 L/100km. Then, one of the drive computers was re-set to zero and the batteries fully charged, and the Outlander PHEV’s duties were largely confined to normal everyday commutes, including just a couple of short journeys at open-road speeds.

Over this second period the computer display showed an average fuel economy of just 0.8 L/100km, with the second display also reducing to an overall economy, visit to Kuratau and all, of 5.6 L/100km. That was an impressive result for what is now a sizeable and rather heavyweight SUV.

It’s not surprising that the PHEV is heavier, given that the vehicle carries a generator, two high-output electric motors front and rear, the petrol engine, and a high-capacity drive battery under the floor.

It doesn’t feel heavy. I found it performed well even when in the ‘eco’ mode. It goes even better in ‘power’ mode, which not only gives sharper accelerator response but also makes the steering more direct.

Handling feels very secure as well, thanks I think to a combination of the vehicle’s electronic Super-All Wheel Control and the fact that much of its heavier weight is located under the floor which gives the Outlander superior stability. At the VRX level this Outlander also has 20-inch wheels shod with P225/45 tyres. Personally, I think it rides and handles better than the petrol model.

It’s important to remember that the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV isn’t an EV – it’s a hybrid. But it is obvious that during everyday use at the lower speeds it is quite capable of almost achieving electric-only economy.

And even a longer journey features fuel use that, depending on which statistics you are prepared to believe and where you are driving the Mitsubishi, ranges from better than 80 percent less than the petrol model to 21 percent less.

Personally I was happy that I was able to spend my week with the PHEV and still have a substantial amount of fuel in the tank. By way of comparison the pure petrol VRX has a slightly smaller 55 litre tank to carry its 91 octane petrol, has a published fuel economy of 8.1 L/100km which gives it a range of around 650km, which would have meant I would have had to gas up to complete a similar week-long stint with that vehicle. 

And here’s another thing.  If I could have been bothered, I could have achieved greater fuel economy with the PHEV during the return journey to Kuratau simply by making use of EV charging stations along the way – the vehicle’s DC fast charge system will take the battery to 80 percent charged in just over half an hour.

But that’s the beauty of the PHEV, you see – you don’t have to, because in this vehicle’s case there’s that impressive total petrol-electric range. Any two-tonne SUV that can achieve 6.4 L/100km or better on a long trip has to be regarded an economical and environmentally friendly vehicle – despite its extra price.