We last test-drove the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle around the wind farms outside Wellington, and along the coast, but this time we decided to try it out in the hustle and bustle of Auckland.

 

And it was a big eye-opener, for despite its mid-size SUV positioning, it’s an absolute pleasure to manoeuvre around the city streets.

 

Driving is simplicity itself, since there’s just an accelerator (and brake, of course), and a selector lever for forward or reverse. No gears to worry about.

 

The same goes for fuel economy. With an ordinary car, whether it’s petrol of diesel, it takes time to warm up the engine, and during this period the engine runs inefficiently, exceeding its normal fuel consumption dramatically – by as much as 30 to 60 percent.

 

Conversely, a fully-charged PHEV doesn’t need any warm-up and uses exactly the same amount of fuel at the start of the day as it does later – zero, as it runs on electric power only until the juice has run out, which it will do after about 50km – far more than the daily commute for most people.

 

Of course, there’s a lot more to the PHEV than just its motive power.

 

In top-line VRX trim as tested here, it’s a remarkably comfortable vehicle, which comes with all the bells and whistles, including satellite navigation, leather trim, power tailgate, reversing camera, and radar safety/cruise technology.

 

In our next video on the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid we’re off to Mighty River Power’s headquarters to interview fleet manager Peter Corner about why the company has bought Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles.