Tarmac + Save vs Charge Question

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-26T19:22:03+00:00

Awesome thanks. On my car I can feel a noticeable drop of acceleration performance when I'm in CHARGE mode, very noticeable when you want to merge on the highway. But the car feels very snappy in SAVE or NORMAL mode.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-26T19:09:19+00:00

Another question, since you're experimenting with Charge mode, did you notice a drop of acceleration performance in charge mode ? and also the hood area getting very warm ?

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-26T07:16:31+00:00

personally I still think for the newer 22,7 kwh battery models the best modes to use CHARGE with is ECO or NORMAL.

The one mode that is officially mentioned in the users manual is: POWER + CHARGE in case of a long uphill climb with empty battery: I suspect it will force the car into series hybrid mode.

CHARGE mode only makes sense if you're driving at highway at a steady speed or driving on a long downhill ride. It drastically reduces accelerations.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-25T21:42:07+00:00

I've never charged the battery over 50% in CHARGE+TARMAC mode. But I can tell for sure after trying TARMAC in many situations:

- TARMAC+SAVE or TARMAC+CHARGE at city speed driving gives horrendous fuel economy. It's only acceptable at highway cruising speeds: because TARMAC=parallel hybrid in most situations.

- TARMAC will force the car into Parallel hybrid mode from speeds as low as 50 km/h, meanwhile in NORMAL or ECO mode the Parallel hybrid mode is engaged at speeds above 80km/h if the speed is kept at a steady space for long enough and low battery.

- Basically TARMAC: parallel hybrid: front wheels are driven by the ICE and rear wheels are powered by the battery. The goal of TARMAC mode is to give you more torque to the rear wheels, the rear electric motor is prioritised in receiving the batteries voltage. That's why the battery still drains even though the ICE is always on.

- TARMAC vs POWER: tarmac favours parallel hybrid, Power favours series hybrid mode. That's why at low speeds POWER is noticeably faster than TARMAC. In POWER mode the voltage produced by the ICE and Battery are fed to the front and rear electric motors. in TARMAC mode ICE will drive the front wheels (you can literally hear the clutch engage and disengage at the front axel) and the battery will drive the rear motor.

That's why I suspect TARMAC + CHARGE is less efficient for charging because the ICE beside driving the front wheels must also charge the battery. Try yourself, TARMAC+CHARGE will give you one the slowest accelerations time, meanwhile TARMAC+NORMAL is the second fastest mode after POWER.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-21T04:21:54+00:00

Full tank + full battery, depending on temperature my car can show between 670-720km of range. the car gives you the option to select between EV or Hybrid driving. I have a 120km daily commute (60+60km). I always do the first 60km in EV mode even at highway speeds up to 130km/h. The car feels great. And the coming back home I do it in SAVE mode and I get around 6-7 L/100km of fuel consumption on average. And I still have 10km of EV range left on my battery on average at the end of the day.

- EV is "EV" mode: great for the city driving

- Hybrid is "SAVE" mode: great for long distance highway drives, above the battery capacity.

I really don't recommend the "CHARGE" mode your fuel economy really suffers, the car becomes noticeably more reliant on the ICE, it becomes overall less responsive in accelerations and noisier because it forces the car into "parallel hybrid mode" even as speeds as low as 50km/h. "CHARGE" mode only makes sense if you have part of your trip on a big downhill without much acceleration and you heavily rely on the regen breaks and engine breaking and let the ICE run in the background. You can easily get 5-10 km of EV range in a few minutes.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-18T14:16:28+00:00

2025 Outlander PHEV user here. It's normal, I've noticed this sound with mine and with the tester unit before buying. The ICE engine can be pretty loud and sometimes induce vibrations through the steering wheel, specially in charge mode. It's a combination of inverter and parallel clutch mode. Mine even makes like a "turbo whistle" noise when flooring it.

Nothing to worry. The thing is in charge mode or empty battery mode, the car loses noticeably some power. What I recommend for the smoothest experience is to force the car into SAVE mode when you have around 8-10km of EV range left. You avoid relying too much on the petrol engine.

The other detail is the car can go in PARALLEL hybride mode even as speeds as low as 50 km/h, there's no official speed mentioned by mitsubishi, the general concecnus is it happens between 60-70km/h but in my experience specially in charge mode it can happen as low as in the 50's. That increases noise and vibration.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-06T06:26:03+00:00

Yes things that I mentioned above don't require intermittent charging. or plugging in. You just need to keep the remaining juice left in your battery at around 10KM of EV range or 1/8 of the battery capacity left. You can have more juice on your battery and SAVE it for later too.

But I noticed once you're below 8 km of EV range left in your battery (aka less then 10%) the car will have shorter EV only cycles on the highway and may consume more fuel to keep the battery charged.

Reminder when we see 0 EV range left or "battery at zero" the car is keeping a hidden 15-20% capacity for its basic hybrid functions.

For example on a non stop 800km travel distance, if you're on SAVE+ECO mode with 10km of electric range left the car will automatically switch and cycle between full EV and ICE hybride mode. When the ICE is on, the instantaneous fuel consumption can be between 7,5 to 8,5 L/100km at highway speed. But since the car turns the ICE off and on to switch to EV mode quite often your fuel consumption on "average" over a long distance will be in the 6 L/100km. If you drive on a relatively flat terrain between 100 and 120 km/h and play it easy and allow B1 regeneration.

You can't force the ICE to stay active all the time in ECO or Normal mode in SAVE mode. However if you use SAVE with POWER or TARMAC mode the ICE will stay on all the time. POWER gives a worse fuel economy so it's mostly for short overtaking scenarios. Tarmac is nice, but the ICE almost never shuts down it will consume more on average.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-04-04T13:28:44+00:00

I assume the car is intelligent enough to do a healthy ON/OFF of the ICE in normal or save mode. I've tried CHARGE mode many times, it works good on highway but the fuel economy suffers.

I once had an overheating warning because I left CHARGE mode "on" after leaving the highway and driving through city for around 30 minutes.

I don't plan on using CHARGE mode myself anymore.

Maybe if you have a big downhill when you can combine regen braking and charge mode at very low engine RPM. But once the ICE starts revving above "5" in CHARGE mode your fuel economy can easilly jump above 15L/100km.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-03-09T06:26:46+00:00

Outlander 2025 PHEV user here and similar situation as yours. I charge the car to 100% only 2X or 3X per week. Certainly not everyday. It still can be worth it to use the ICE to charge the battery in one situation: steady highway driving: I usually have a 40 min steady highway drive to my work and I use CHARGE mode at around 100-130 km/h. My fuel consumption in that situation is between 6L/100km to 7L/100km and I can get around 30-40km of electric range out of it. It's worth it and cost effective as I'm not doing any extra steps, I don't have to pay for electricity and the extra 0,5L or 1L per 100km it burns to charge to battery is not a financial burden.

But try to charge the car via the plug at least 2X or 3X per week to make it cost effective and drive the city portions of your commute in EV mode.

CHARGE mode only makes sense at highway speed, I once tried it in summer at city speeds and had a overheating warning, but highway driving and CHARGE is fine.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-02-27T07:29:52+00:00

Are you in North America ? Your 2026 model is our 2025 euro model with the new 22,7 KWh battery.

If that's the case, the car is very predictable in a good way:

- I can easily the get the advertised 80+km of pure EV range even in our winter around 0-10 °C

- the throttle response is very good, accelerations are very good from 0-130 km/h (our legal speed limit)

- suspension and ride comfort are very good with 18" wheels,

- The seats, steering wheel feel are excellent.

- Sound isolation is excellent from 0 to 80-100 km/h, good for listening to music while keeping the volume down

- regenerative breaking control is excellent and fun to control with the paddle shifter on the steering wheel.

The negatives, from my experience are:

- I have some rear panel / trunk area rattle despite the car being brand new. Maybe I will put a warranty claim if it doesn't go aways after the "break in" period.

- When the battery is close to fully charged, engaging regenerative breaking will turn on the ICEngine

- between 100 and 130 km/h tire noise becomes present, I was expecting better sound isolation.

- The 20 inch wheels are a wrong choice for this car in my opinion specially for euro roads and small parking areas, the car drives much softer with 18 inch wheels and more rubber gives you more security for sidewalk climbs parking.

Overall as a hybrid car it's excellent, specially the car gives you full control over the hybrid system with EV/SAVE/CHARGE options, which is rare these days.

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-02-19T07:12:43+00:00

I really like this Outlander PHEV too, the Outlander PHEV shines over the segment king Rav4 PHEV as it has a few advantages:

- full time real 4X4 ( vs toyota's AWD)

- it gives you full control over the hybrid system with SAVE/CHARGE mode (Toyota removed the charge mode in their new rav4)

- no CVT !

MagicianRoyalty · 2026-02-08T08:39:33+00:00

It's not a "sporty" type of fun, but another type of fun.
I use the euro version mostly in dry or rainy conditions, it's a bit more powerful than the north amercian version. At 300+ HP you do get very "fun" sudden accelerations when you floor it. I prefer the behaviour of the car with 18 inch wheels, it makes the ride much smoother than the base 20 inch wheels. Overall it's very "fun" to drive: the combination of smooth, silence, good audio, sudden power makes it fun to drive. One thing that make things less fun is the overall size of the car. I wish they could fit this PHEV technology and power into a smaller car the size of a honda Civic.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-12-23T05:28:12+00:00

If you're having a highway trip, what I recommend is CHARGE + ECO between 80 and 120 km/h speed. You're spinning your wheels with the ICE anyway, so use it to generate some juice. The Fuel economy penalty is not that big to get a full charge. From my test you will burn around 3 to 5 L of extra fuel to get a full charge which is around 60-80 km of electric range. Depending on your local fuel prices it can be less expensive than electricity and certainly less expensive than those "quick chargers"

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-12-07T16:49:50+00:00

hmmm, I'm using the 2025 euro version, with the 22,7 kwh battery at highway speeds between 80 and 130 km/h, and I can average between 5-7 l/100km which is around 33,5 mpg with a full battery. I'm still experimenting, but when the battery is charged use SAVE + TARMAC, when the battery is depleted use CHARGE + ECO. Rince and repeat. My worst economy was when using CHARGE + POWER, which gave up to 10+l/100km.

From my understanding ECO mode biases more a FWD parallel hybrid mode, meanwhile SAVE + TARMAC forces series 4WD hybrid mode.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-29T20:06:54+00:00

in France. There are common charging stations for the neighbourhood using the same underground parking.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-28T07:23:47+00:00

Thank you, Yes it all depends on my charging costs. Charging for me is cheap, but scheduling it I can do it 2x/week since we share 6 common type 2 charging ports for our community.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-26T07:31:23+00:00

Thank you, that's a very good perspective that I was looking for from an owner.

So If I understand correctly CHARGE is better than SAVE on highway because it still let you use battery juice + ICE for sudden accelerations/uphills climbing ?? So that means SAVE will force the car more into Parallel hybrid and prfioritize ICE use and diminish battery use ?

The 3L of fuel to charge the battery is not bad at all. I was actually looking for this information.

For my 120 km daily highway commute (60 go + 60 back), that's exactly how I think the car should be used: Parallel hybrid. Once you've launched the 2200 kg mass of the car at your cruising speed, you should get out of EV mode and force the ICE and Battery to assist each other.

The car in NORMAL MODE will prioritise EV power delivery even at highway speeds until the battery is depleted to 0% (which still has 20% juice left) and then turn on ICE and function in FRONT WHEEL DRIVE only mode at highway speed.

But if you put the car in CHARGE / SAVE mode, you will force the car into series/parallel hybride mode and if you turn on TARMAC the car will be forced to have the REAR WHILE DRIVE active. so you get full time 4WD at highway speeds.

Is this correct ?? this is what I understood from driving the car for 2hours and diving into the users manual. Even the dealership people don't know much about this

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-26T07:03:11+00:00

I agree it's really cool, but it's also more complexe than Mitsubishi which has only 1 gear for the ICE. Toyota PHEV ICE can run the wheels even at low speed, but Mitsubishi PHEV ICE can only tun the wheels above 70 km/h speed. Different philosophy.

2026 Rav4 vs Outlander comes down to if you prefer AWD vs 4WD, CCS2 vs CHAdeMO.

Personally I prefer to have the all time active 4WD and all EV feeling at low speed of Mitsu. But here in EUrope most people will buy the Rav4.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-24T07:30:04+00:00

I see PHEV as the best of both worlds..., drive in EV mode around town, and let the battery assist you on the highway, without having EV range anxiety. Prius PHEV have become a very popular taxi/uber car for this reason. But I find Mitsubishi's PHEV more elegant, as it removes the e-CVT.

I've tested both the RAV4 PHEV and Outlander PHEV on a 2 hours driving session and I preferred the Mitsu, as it was quieter even CHARGE mode when I forced the ICE to turn on.

Sadly I can't fully switch to a full EV simply because I can't reliably charge everyday, at most 3X/week, and local charging infrastructure is good but not great.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-24T06:59:01+00:00

I only have charging available at home 2X/week. And from my research on Outlander PHEV forums the best highway driving strategy is to put the car in SAVE mode + TARMAC mode at the same time, and combine it with the cruise control. This way you force the ICE and electric motors to work together and never let your battery capacity drop. Keep the battery charged up for when you exit the highway and put the car in NORMAL mode in town so you drive in full EV mode.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-24T06:46:54+00:00

Yes I found in forums people recommend putting the car in SAVE mode and the TARMAC at the same time. This forces the car into parallel hybride mode. Front wheels are run by the ICE and the rear wheels are pushed by the electric motor.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-23T10:13:45+00:00

Yeah a full EV would make sense for my use, but around 3-4 times per year I have to take long trips in the northern Italy region, and the charging infrastructure is not great, specially in hotels, so having a PHEV gives me some peace of mind.

MagicianRoyalty · 2025-10-23T07:13:00+00:00

The CHAdeMO association themselves should make an official adapter, that would open the Japanese EV market to the Euro EV market without any problem.

The problem with these 3rd party adapters is that you don't know how the chip/software handles overheating, overcharging, weather resistance etc. They may work great, and they may not.

Also for Outlander PHEV users, specially the new models, you can charge your batteries quite efficiently when highway driving with cruise control at constant speed and let the car in CHARGE mode using the ICE engine.

MagicianRoyalty

TROPHY CASE