Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV GSR 2024 Review

Mitsubishi has a new Richy Rich in its portfolio, the Outlander GSR plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV), which takes pride of place at the top of the Outlander tree.

Priced at $73,790, it’s now the brand’s most expensive vehicle in Australia. If the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo was still alive and kicking, it’d be blushing right now.

A buyer in New South Wales will pay $79,630 once on-road costs are added (according to the official Mitsubishi Australia website) making this $80,000 seven-seat family hauler one of the most expensive mid-size SUVs in the segment.

The retail price for the GSR Outlander is $2000 more than that of the previous PHEV flagship, the Exceed Tourer ($71,790), but that extra cash splash buys you bullish exterior upgrades to stand out from the crowd; those upgrades are only offered in PHEV form.

Plug-in hybrid competitors for the Outlander in the mid-size SUV segment are currently few and far between, with the BYD Sealion 6 the only similarly-sized rival right now. That vehicle is significantly cheaper, the top-spec Sealion 6 Premium priced at $52,990 without the on-road costs.

However, it should be noted that BYD’s new SUV does not have a seven-seat option, nor can it match the Mitsubishi Outlander’s 10-year, 200,000km warranty. Although for the record, you only get the full decade’s warranty when maintenance is undertaken exclusively by an official Mitsubishi dealership/workshop.

The battery pack (20kWh) has an eight-year, 160,000km warranty which is standard but comes with a ‘Drive Battery Capacity Care Program’ that guarantees it retains at least 66% of its useable energy capacity over the eight years, which provides peace of mind.

Service intervals of 12 months or 15,000km are middle of the road but capped-price servicing will set you back $5490 over 10 years, which equates to an average annual cost of $549 – a little on the pricey side for a mainstream Japanese SUV.

The equipment list for the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR is essentially identical to the Exceed Tourer, its donor vehicle. That means plenty of high-end items such as power-operated quilted leather front seats with massage, heating and memory functions, a dual-pane panoramic glass sunroof with one-touch open and close and a credible nine-speaker BOSE stereo.

Three-zone climate control allows front and rear seat passengers to tailor the temperature, while second-row doors feature in-built retractable sunshades as well. Seeing and being seen is handled by the automatic LED headlights with adaptive beams, plus the LED daytime running lights and fog lights, not to mention LED tail lights.

Riding on big 20-inch alloy wheels, the Outlander GSR also gets tinted windows and heaps of tech, like a trio of digital screens, a wireless phone charger, adaptive cruise control with MI-PILOT driving assistant and more. See the safety and technology sections below for details.

The $2000 premium for the GSR model buys what some brands call a ‘black pack’, adding black alloy wheels, black GSR badges, black grille, bumper inserts, wing mirrors and bonnet lettering. It’s also the only Outlander available with contrasting Black Mica roof and Red Diamond exterior paint work. All told, it creates a striking look.

There are several interior changes, like black headlining, contrasting silver trim stitching on the seats, dashboard and door and patterned panel around the gear shifter as well, but they’re much harder to spot than the exterior modifications.

The 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR carries a five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2022, thanks to eight airbags, adaptive cruise control, active lane keep assistance and traffic sign recognition that provides real-time speed limit updates.

A driver’s knee airbag and front centre airbag are included, but the side curtain airbags cover the first two seat rows, which means those seated in the third row lack side collision protection.

Blind spot warning and intervention along with autonomous emergency braking systems are in there, in addition to driver attention alert (which isn’t overly beepy and annoying) and parking sensors front and rear.

Four cameras deliver front, rear and side views, and an overhead 360-degree parking view.

Like other PHEV variants in the Outlander portfolio, the GSR is fitted with a rather eye-catching 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster that features plenty of options, modes and data.

By contrast, the 9.0-inch central touch-screen looks and feels a bit underdone, with drab visuals and not-quite-ultra-quick touch response. That said, the menu structure is good and using wireless or wired Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto makes the whole shebang look much prettier and more functional.

There’s also an excellent colour head-up display or HUD, which projects vital info on the windscreen, directly in the driver’s line of sight, such as vehicle speed, the legal speed limit and so forth.

You get USB-C and USB-A ports up front and for the second row – four in total – which are handy, and a 12V socket up front. A medium-sized wireless phone charger is in there, and like most of the Outlander PHEV range, the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander GSR plug-in hybrid EV comes with V2L (vehicle-to-load) functionality as well.

It’s like having a conventional three-pin household power point in your car. Or two power points, one in the middle seat row and one in the boot as it turns out. These pump out plenty of juju (1500W, 240V) and can run camping equipment, flat-screen TVs and even kitchen appliances like a toaster. Which we tested. The toast was good.

It won’t run everything, given home appliances often draw more power (2400W), but being able to charge an electric scooter or laptop or run a car fridge without adding an extra inverter is a very handy feature to have.

Like most hybrids, there are multiple power sources beating away underneath the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR’s body work – in this case one petrol and two electric motors – and they can work separately or in unison.

The three power generators drive all four wheels through a single-speed automatic reduction gear.

If there’s battery charge available, the Outlander PHEV usually favours its dual electric motors up to 70km/h, but it can reach a speed of 135km/h in pure EV mode using its front (85kW/255Nm) and rear (100kW/195Nm) e-motors.

The electric motors draw from a 20kWh Lithium-ion battery pack and Mitsubishi reckons that’s enough electrons to cover up to 84km per charge. Plugging the Outlander in is the cheapest way to charge the battery (within reason) but you can also force the engine to recharge the battery, when required.

The flexibility of the plug-in hybrid powertrain is impressive, with Normal, EV, Save and Charge modes available on the run, and there’s also one-pedal drive mode – one of the six regenerative braking levels.

The 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (98kW/195Nm) does its best work cruising at higher speeds, while EV mode is designed for slow speeds.

There are several different powertrain operating modes, such as eco, mud and power, which combines all three motors (185kW/450Nm) to deliver reasonably strong acceleration.

When car companies have to submit fuel economy figures, the test is done in a laboratory and in the case of the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR it recorded an impressive 1.5L/km100km figure.

Problem is, real-world driving is very different, and most PHEVs consume fuel at four times the claimed rate.

In our testing we managed 7.2L/100km over the course of a week. That’s not too shabby from a big, heavy family SUV. And splitting out slow-speed urban driving, the figure is 4.2L/100km.

In EV mode the Outlander covered 77km, which is very close to the 84km claim… and that included a couple of 100km/h highway driving stints as well.

Combined with the battery pack, the 56-litre fuel tank delivers a range of almost 1000km if driven carefully. The mid-size SUV is also happy to slurp low quality 91 octane petrol, which saves cash at the fuel bowser.

Recharging the battery (0-80%) takes a claimed 38 minutes on a fast DC charger, 6.5 hours on an AC or wallbox charger (0-100%) or around 12 hours plugged into a regular 2.4kW household power point (0-100%).

The Outlander PHEV also has a bi-directional charging system – or Dendo Drive House in Mitsi-speak. With the correct hardware installed at home, the car’s CHAdeMO port reverses power flow back into the house, like a mobile battery of sorts.

Check out our Watts Under the Bonnet podcast to get a better understanding of how bi-direction charging works, where we interviewed Mitsubishi’s eMobility Manager Tim Clarke.

The GSR name sounds fast. Hints of GTR, GTI and others bring back exciting memories but these were quickly dashed.

The reality for the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR is that it drives just like other variants in the range. That’s not a criticism, just an observation.

Light steering and a reasonably tidy turning circle of 11.0 metres kerb-to-kerb (reasonably tidy for a 4.7-metre long SUV) makes it a practical urban explorer. The parking cameras simplify slotting into busy shopping centre car parks, and the humming EV noise usually keeps pedestrians and their wayward shopping trolleys well clear.

Throttle response is prompt, thanks to the e-motors' insta-torque, and commuting to work all week using pure EV mode is a pleasant experience. It won’t accelerate like a Tesla Model Y from standstill, but the Outlander will keep up with traffic easily and is ultra quiet.

Even when the petrol engine ignites, the cabin remains quiet, thanks to solid layers of sound damping material in the car and also the 2.4-litre donk’s smooth, vibe-free operation.

Furthermore, it’s a deft highway cruiser and while its 20-inch Bridgestone Ecopia (255/45 R20) tyres are quiet and provide low rolling resistance, they will squeal in protest when pushed too hard. Which is a shame, because the suspension does well controlling the Outlander’s body through corners, and the SUV feels secure no matter whether negotiating roundabouts or twisting country roads.

The regenerative brakes will feel a ‘bitey’ and a little sensitive if you’ve never driven an EV before, but apart from that the Outlander is a very calm and composed SUV to drive. Ride comfort is very good for a vehicle riding on 20-inch rims, the Japanese-built hybrid sailing over rough roads and speed bumps with ease.

The Outlander PHEV GSR is AWD capable, has a couple of off-road modes and a handy 203mm of ground clearance, meaning it can tackle moderate trails. We didn’t test it off-road – unless you count graded gravel tracks – and the 20-inch tyres won’t make friends with rocks, but there is scope for a little off-road exploration with this vehicle.

The 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR is a relaxed cruiser, and its fancy interior lends the SUV a high-end quality, something not always associated with Mitsubishi vehicles.

The moment you set foot in the flagship SUV there’s a sense of surprise, because everything looks and feels rather up-market, starting with the front seats. The leather quality is better than average without being exceptional, but the cushioning, lateral bolsters, power-adjustability (with two-position memory), diamond patterning and massage functionality make the seats very comfortable and soothing.

There are some cheap and scratchy plastics here and there, and the plastic silver-coloured dials for stereo and climate controls feel flimsy, but everything in the cockpit feels good for the most part, and vast swathes are covered with soft leather-like materials, not just the steering wheel, seats and gear shifter.

The interior design and décor is modern without generating a radical ‘look at me, I’m from the future’ air, which some newly released EVs and hybrids are doing with notorious regularity.

Storage solutions are good but not great. Large, spring-loaded cup holders and versatile door pockets will fit large drink bottles, but incidental storage is average, with a tiny glovebox and small central bin.

The second row seats are pretty schmick, with individual climate controls, heated outboard seats, sun shades on the side windows and plenty of room. The seats slide fore and aft, adding versatility and creating a bit more leg room for third row seat occupants. That said, head room in the third row is tight and the term ‘occasional’ seat is apt. For smaller humans only would be our recommendation.

You get a power operated tailgate revealing pretty good boot space of 191 litres when all three seat rows are in use. That’s enough room for a reasonable grocery shop of around five or six large bags. Fold the third row seats flat into the floor and you get a respectable 461 litres of space, opening to 1387 litres with the second seat row folded as well.

It’s a hugely versatile boot, and although there’s no spare tyre you do get plenty of amenity with dual shopping bag hooks, four tie-down points, and a second power point (1500W, 240V), not to mention quick release seat fold latches.

There’s a lot to like about the Mitsubishi Outlander and the Aussie sales numbers bear out this fact, given it’s the second most-popular mid-size SUV in Australia right now. Only the Toyota RAV4 sells in greater numbers.

PHEV models account for around 20 per cent of total Outlander sales in Oz, and Mitsubishi reckons this could double as supply lines improve, suggesting there is a growing desire for the petrol-electric technology.
 
If you’re looking for a versatile, upmarket family SUV, the PHEV models won’t disappoint.

That said, I’m not convinced the GSR is the best-value model-grade in the Outlander line-up. But apart from the high-asking price there’s not much to whinge about here. It has an excellent warranty, good on-road behaviour, loads of tech and one of the most functional interiors in its class, making it well worth a test drive.

2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GSR at a glance:
Price: $73,790 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric
Output: 98kW/195Nm (electric motors: 85kW/255Nm front, 100kW/195Nm)
Combined output: 185kW/450Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Battery: 20kWh lithium-ion
Range: 84km (ADR)
Energy consumption:?21kWh/100km (NEDC)
Fuel:?1.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2:?35g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating:?Five-star ANCAP (2022)