For many places "not America", the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is now on sale and can be seen in normal everyday life. (The Outlander has been further delayed in the US until late 2015 thanks to California regulations).
And so we came across a fairly unique review of the plug-in Mitsu from Dublin via the Independent. The Outlander PHEV goes on sale in Ireland - home of a bazillion (technical term) unused fast charging stations - this summer from €41,950.
*Note: Video review is not embeddable. Follow this link to check out the Independent's Outlander "FEV" review.
Once you get passed the car being called the 'FEV' by the Irish host, it is tidy piece on the abilities of the 4WD plug-in, the only such vehicle configuration currently being offered anywhere.
On the Outlander's refinement and EV driving capabilities:
"Well there’s certainly a big shift on when it comes to the quality of the interior, there’s a decent amount of refinement in the materials used but still the Irish buyer is hung up on diesel and Mitsubishi are trying to say that the Outlander PHEV can replace the fuel economy that a diesel offers.
While I’m thinking of fuel economy Mitsubishi claim that the Outlander PHEV can do 1.9l/kms which is startlingly low but in my drive around Dublin I used no fuel at all because the car always tries to run on batteries right up to 120kms (75 miles)"
On range anxiety:
"Having the petrol engine there just as a back up means that you don’t feel that same range anxiety that you get with a pure electric powered car, you just keep on driving and when you run short you just put some petrol in and keep on going."
Also of interest: Ireland ranked dead last in EV sales out of 17 countries in Europe with just 58 cars sold - that is .07% of total car purchases in the country. The Outlander PHEV should go a long way to improving that number in the second half of 2014.