2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV review: Road trip ready
For people who do frequent highway runs or just aren’t sold on the EV lifestyle, plug-in hybrids are the ideal stepping stone. When you drive a plug-in hybrid, you have access to enough electric range for emissions-free driving when you’re at home, but there’s a gas engine in reserve so you can take longer road trips without stopping to charge. A good PHEV offers a balance of efficiency, electric and total range, family-friendly space, and price. And that brings us to this 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV review.
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is the best-selling plug-in hybrid vehicle in Canada. We also named it the best PHEV for road trips in our round-up of the best cars for road trips in 2025. We revisited the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV on our recent winter road trip to Quebec City and the Hôtel de Glace. You’ll find the resulting review of the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in Canada and its winter conditions below.
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GT Premium was provided on loan by Mitsubishi Motors Canada for the purposes of compiling this review. Mitsubishi Motors Canada also hosted our visit to the Hôtel de Glace. No content was subject to review before publication.
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2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV review: Pros and cons
2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV pros:
- Fantastic balance of efficiency and utility
- Super All-wheel Control (S-AWC) is one of the industry’s best AWD systems
- 10-year/160,000-kilometre powertrain and battery warranty is Canada’s longest
2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV cons:
- Third row is nearly unusable
- Cargo space is lower than average
- Wireless charging pad disconnects frequently
What type of car is the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV?
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is a plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV. It has consistently been Canada’s best-selling plug-in hybrid vehicle since its release in 2018. The version currently sold is based on the fourth-generation Mitsubishi Outlander, which launched for the 2022 model year and shares many of its components with the Nissan Rogue compact SUV.
The Outlander PHEV is sold as a three-row SUV with seating for seven, but we recommend thinking of its as a five-passenger SUV for the reasons outlined below.
Unlike the gas-powered Mitsubishi Outlander, which receives a refresh, the Outlander PHEV gets only minor updates for the 2025 model year.
Size and exterior design
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has the same wheelbase and a similar length to the Nissan Rogue, a compact SUV to which it’s closely related. However, it is taller and wider, which gives it enough extra interior space to nudge it into mid-size SUV territory.
Apart from some added badging, the Outlander PHEV looks identical to the gas-powered Outlander. Together, the clean and distinctive grill lines, narrow headlamps, sharp door stamping, and floating roof line make this vehicle far and away the best-looking in the Mitsubishi line-up, and one of the better-styled mid-size SUVs generally.
Interior design
If you love orange — and it’s no secret that we’re big fans of it around these parts — you’ll love the Outlander PHEV GT Premium. It comes with semi-aniline leather seats with orange stitching accents, plus orange detailing on the dashboard, centre storage cover, and interior door handles. It creates a bold and distinctive look. If you’re not a fan, the top Noir trim offers the same features as the GT Premium in a blacked-out look.
The interior is well laid out. The low-profile shift-by-wire gear selector, which is straight out of the Nissan Rogue, opens up vertical space above the centre console. The cup holders are set back and out of the driver’s way. A little more interior storage would be welcome, but otherwise the Outlander PHEV’s interior is a welcoming and functional space.
How much power does the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV have?
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV combines a 2.4-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine with a pair of electric motors to produce a total system output of 248 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque.
What is the range on the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in Canada?
From a full charge, the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has an estimated range of 61 kilometres on electric power alone. In combination with the gas powertrain, it can travel for up to 626 kilometres between charging and refueling stops.
What is the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV’s fuel economy?
When the Outlander PHEV’s battery is depleted and the SUV is running in hybrid mode, expect to see fuel consumption of 9.2 litres per 100 kilometres in city driving, 8.7 on the highway, and 9.0 combined.
How does it drive?
From long periods of highway cruising to the snow-covered streets of Quebec City, we found the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to be a very capable companion. It offers a comfortable and stable ride, great power delivery, and a very reasonable amount of refinement for its price point.
Mitsubishi’s Super All-wheel Control (S-AWC) is standard on the Outlander PHEV in Canada. This all-wheel drive (AWD) system never shuts off and manages torque distribution individually to each wheel, making it one of the most effective AWD systems you can buy. It also equips additional drive modes for a total of seven: eco, normal, snow, gravel, tarmac, mud, and power. Bolt on a set of winter tires, and you’ll be ready to go just about anywhere in a Canadian winter.
On top of that, the Outlander PHEV has a sophisticated electric drive system, especially by plug-in hybrid standards. Five different regenerative braking modes can be accessed via the steering wheel’s paddle shifters, letting you choose a braking level you’re comfortable with while recovering as much energy as possible. A button on the centre console activates one-pedal driving, which means you can lift your foot off the accelerator to let the regenerative braking recover energy and bring the car to a stop.
This powertrain is very effective at retaining and recovering a charge as you drive. For its price, it punches well above its weight.
If we were to register one complaint, it would be that the steering remains a little too tight at highway speeds, which can make the Outlander PHEV feel twitchy at times. But this is well worth the trade for everything else it has to offer.
Seat comfort
We had no trouble finding comfortable seating positions that stayed that way for the duration of our eight-hour drive from Toronto to Quebec City. Memory seats are equipped in the front row from the SEL trim and up, which makes driver swaps a snap. On the GT Premium and Noir trims, a front seat massaging function also helps with longer drives. Heated front seats are standard, but ventilated front seats are not available.
A three-position bench seat is the default in the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. We heard no complaints comfort-wise from the teenager in the second row. She sat happily for hours with a charge on her devices thanks to the USB ports at the bottom rear of the centre console. Heated outboard second-row seats are added as of the SEL grade.
Where you won’t find much seat comfort is in the third row. This configuration of adding two extra seats to the back of a relatively small SUV is common in Europe, Japan, and other markets with lots of traffic and tight streets. But by North American sensibilities, it’s too tight a space to expect anyone to stay in long, including children. It’s a shame Mitsubishi doesn’t offer a two-row version that could give owners more cargo space instead. As it stands, it’s best to consider the Outlander a two-row SUV and reserve the third row for very occasional use.
How many car seats fit in the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV?
The seat anchors in the second row of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are laid out such that you can position one car seat in the centre or two car seats using the outboard positions. Three car seats may be able to fit if they all have a narrow profile and the middle seat is secured using the seat belt. The Outlander’s third-row seats do not come with car seat anchors and are not recommended for this purpose.
How much cargo space does the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV have?
Behind the second-row seats, the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has 872 litres of cargo space. When all rear seatbacks are folded, you’ll find 1,832 litres of cargo capacity behind the front row. This is on the lower side among compact and smaller mid-size SUVs, several of which provide more than 1,000 litres of rear space. For three of us on a weekend road trip, we found the available space to be plenty.
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has 362 litres of cargo space when the third-row seats are in use. This space is somewhat restricted by the tops of the seatbacks and the seat retracting mechanisms.
Infotainment and technology features
For the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in Canada, an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster are standard equipment. The LE trim upgrades the infotainment screen to 9 inches, and the GT trim adds a 10.8-inch head-up display. These systems are not especially flashy by modern standards, but they all work well and are easy to learn.
A wireless smartphone charger is standard in every trim but the base ES, a good pairing for the available wireless Apple CarPlay. (Note that wireless Android Auto is not available.) The tray proved frustrating as its hard plastic liner allowed our smaller phones to slide around and disconnect from the charger frequently. We ended up connecting cables to the USB ports, which up front include one USB-A and one USB-C.
How safe is the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV?
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gives the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV mostly good marks in its crash tests. However, it receives a “Poor” rating for its forward collision mitigation system.
Standard safety features and driver assistance technologies in Canada include lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert.
On the GT Premium and Noir trims, the Mi-Pilot Assist system is added, which combines adaptive cruise control with stop and go capability and a lane keep assist system into a hands-on highway driving assist feature. If you’re familiar with Nissan’s ProPilot Assist, you’ll notice that Mi-Pilot Assist is identical. This system’s constant alerts and audible notifications can get grating, but it otherwise works well.
How much is the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in Canada?
In Canada, the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV starts at $51,494 for the base ES trim, including destination charge and other dealer fees. Our GT Premium test vehicle rings up at $61,594 with fees, while the top Noir trim is priced all-in from $63,544.
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV previously benefited from significant rebates through the federal government’s iZEV EV incentive program as well as Quebec’s provincial program. These programs are both winding down, meaning price reductions are limited to the provinces and territories that still offer EV rebates.
Is it worth buying a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV?
Although EV rebates are going away, the Outlander PHEV still presents plenty of value without them. Depending on how often you can use its 61 km of range, you may be able to save significantly on fuel during your daily driving while still having a gas engine available for longer road trips. The S-AWC AWD system is among the best in the industry. And Mitsubishi Motors Canada offers a 10-year/160,000-kilometre warranty on powertrain and battery components, which is the longest warranty offered by any automaker in Canada.
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is an excellent vehicle all-round for versatility, functionality, and value. For families on the go who want to save money on fuel and reduce their environmental impact without going fully electric, it’s a fantastic solution.
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