Shopping for an EV - Outlander PHEV (3/3)

And how did the Outlander PHEV felt like? - You may ask.

Well, pretty much like every midsize heavy SUV feels like, apart from some extra buttons and extra-silence in the electric-only drive.

This was my first plug-in hybrid drive, so i can´t say if the transition (gas/electric) is better or worse than in other PHEV's, but after driving the Leaf or i3, everytime i went back to my regular car, i felt like i had left an iPod and was back an LP disc (Does anyone remember these?).

Not so with the Outlander, it probably felt the most simple to use and analogic plug-in i have ever tried (1),  and probably that's one of its strengths, because many buyers feel a bit intimidated by the 22nd Century Technology and "The Future Is Today" tags that many times are attached to electric cars, if they find that their plug-in isn't that much different from their previous car, probably many would feel more comfortable with that.

Towards the end of the test drive, i saw a gravel road and asked if i could go there, and the sales guy said:

- Sure, after all, this is a 4WD!

"Now that's trusting your product!" - I thought, remembering that Lexus advises buyers not to off-road their hybrid RX's, "Because it might harm the electric parts of the car".

Finally, back to the dealership, i said that the Outlander PHEV was a bit more expensive than what o thought and asked i could get a discount, he replied that they didn't had margin for that, because the technology was new and it was already being sold with the lowest price possible, i asked if they could sell a demonstration vehicle with any discount, to which he said that the car had just been launched and you had to wait some 6 to 9 months in order to do that, so it was agreed that we talk again by that time.

Before i said goodbye, i asked if they were successful in selling PHEV's, to which he replied:

- No, not really...

- Because it's a new kind of technology and people aren't into that?

-No, because it is expensive, and buyers shy away from this to more affordable cars, i had one person that came here to see it (Outlander PHEV) and in the end, i sold him an ASX SUV, only because he didn't had the money to reach to the Outlander"


(1) - Except for the Mitsubishi I-Miev

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QNX-powered Audi Virtual Cockpit drives home with CTIA award

Congratulations to our friends at Audi! The new Audi Virtual Cockpit, which is based on the QNX OS, has just won first prize, connected car category, in the 2014 CTIA Hot for the Holidays awards.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Audi Virtual Cockpit is an innovative, versatile, and absolutely ravishing piece of automotive technology. But you don’t have to take my word for it — or the word of the CTIA judges, for that matter. Watch the video and see for yourself:



Created in 2009, the Hot for the Holidays awards celebrate the most desirable mobile consumer electronics products for the holiday season. The winners for this year’s awards were announced this afternoon, at the CTIA Super Mobility event in Las Vegas. Andrew Poliak of QNX Software Systems was on hand and he took this snap of the award:



Visit the CTIA website to see the full list of winners. And visit the Audi website to learn more about the Audi Virtual Cockpit.

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