The Mitsubishi i-MiEV Is the Most Pathetic EV In Existence
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- CHECK OUT THIS MITSUBISHI i-MiEV ON CARS & BIDS!
crsnbds.com/imiev
This is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the most pathetic EV in existence. Today I'm reviewing this i-MiEV, and I'll show you all the many quirks and features. I'm also going to get behind the wheel of the i-MiEV and show you what it's like to drive.
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DOUGSCORE CHART:
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 THIS...
00:37 You Can Buy It On CARS & BIDS!!!
01:12 Overview
01:45 The Beginning of the EV Revolution
02:15 First, But Not Best
02:47 Styling
03:18 Based on a Kei Car
03:49 Interior Quirks & Features
05:03 Featureless
06:08 Range Sucking AC
07:13 Mickey Mouse Gauge Cluster
08:28 Gear Selector
09:44 Infotainment
11:19 Weird Wipers
11:54 Rear Seats: Excellent Headroom, Terrible Legroom
12:49 The Dots
13:24 Cargo Area
13:59 i-MiEV? Or i?
15:06 2 Different Charge Ports
16:19 22.5 Hours to Charge!
17:08 Front Compartment
17:50 Wheels & Tires
18:32 Basically a Porsche 911
19:17 Pricing
20:13 US Market Performance
20:46 Rebrands
21:06 Nobody Bought It
22:06 Driving Experience
26:08 Final Thoughts
26:33 DougScore
#dougdemuro #cars #mitsubishi - Авто та транспорт
Sometimes I love seeing how aggressively Mitsubishi does not have their shit together
I'm surprised they're still in business (in the U.S. at least), considering that they've been fumbling hard for many years at this point.
@@XxGorillaGodxX when you look Mitsubishi as whole, it's really not a surprise 💀
@@saltytuna3812 true. It’s really just passenger cars and especially in the US market. They do well in other countries and in other industries
Only useful for suicide missions.
R.I.P Evo
I love it when Doug reviews these run of the mill cars as opposed to the high end exotics
same
there's way more. quirks and features!!!
This is not really what I'd call a "run of the mill" car but it still makes an interesting review nonetheless lol
@@jeffb.6642better to say "cars regular people can afford"
I taught him well 😌
I actually used to work with a guy named Rick who bought one of these new in 2012. It’s been his daily driver since and it’s got him through the worst Chicago Midwest weather. He knows it’s hideous and very outdated but it’s paid off, gets him to work and back, it’s a serious money saver and it’s held up extraordinarily. He also has a newer Camaro as a weekend car.
noice!
A neighbour used his a lot and liked it. The keys where always in it and he told me just to take it whenever after work and weekends.
It's funny that I actually also have a Camaro and I had this car for my urban activities.
Well, if your electricity is cheap it will be incredible economic in the long run as maintanence is limited to brakes and tyres. The engine doesn't need any maintanence at all for the first 500,000 miles (or the life cycle of the car).
@@ofnotandi Lmao what kind of fantasy neighborhood do you live in?
I actually have 2 of this mitsubishi imiev. 1 is my wife's, she had it since 2014 and the other i found on craigslist for $1800 with a dead internal charger and battery problem, was able to fix it with junk yard parts and also installed junk yard CMAX battery in parallel to rise the range to 85 miles, still driving both imiev as a daily car. It is actually a great car if you dont have to commute far to work. Imiev is able to do 80% of all the driving needs.
Imagine having TWO cars that cumulatively cover 80% of one's driving needs.
That is unironically HILARIOUSLY FUCKING PATHETIC lmfao.
That’s cool. Consider to make a video of your repairs and parallel battery setup.
I need an $1800 car just to go to the gym and mall but the Texas heat would be murder in the summer with a car that can't run the AC.
@@MsBaztasticjust use a spray bottle...... Haven't had any air conditioning in 3 or 4 years and when you don't have a heater core under the - it's a lot cooler in a car.... You can just spray a mister into the fan
So this video is full of S?
I used to deliver pizzas in one of these things and it was BRILLIANT.
A horrible everyday driver, but great as a fleet-car and in-town runabout.
I can see that. I though about buying it and giving it a wild paint job. Just to make it even more ugly.
GO HOME PIZZA BOY… THIS COMMENT IS CLOSED. 😂
@@MurderBong I was slinging those Gallo 24s all over town
@@tylerbecker3348Would have loved to see it: Motley red sprinkled with styrofoam "cheese" bits, burnt crust trim, and pepperoni wheel covers...
@@1.618Goldenblack with flames on it
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate that Doug is trying to fit in the backseats again?
But only if they have doors 😔
Yup. I could not watch until the end of the clip, did he also check out the user guide? It's been a while since he did that in his videos.
Back seats and convertible tops functioning... good times.
Dunking on Mitsubishis and trying to jam into the backseats.
We're going old school!!
The US spec iMiEV is 4" wider than the standard as the US distributors thought the original size was too small for Americans. You can see the extra space each side of the back seats, and normal iMiEVs just have one front wiper. Back seats are great for kids or other shorter people. It is a great car for city driving. I have a very rare Tamashii option which has leather seats and I love it.
This car actually had a lot of range for the time. Not a great car but certainly not the 'worst EV in existence'.
It’s the worst when it comes to “Real” EVs! Worse than it are those neighborhood EVs that were like Vespas as cars because they couldn’t go highway speeds.
@@julianurbaszewski4055 No way. The Smart EV is much worse. Can only hold two people and about the same range and costs as much as a regular sized car. Then they refreshed it, made it bigger and uglier, and could still only hold two people and the range was about the same. The "panoramic" roof is plexiglass for crying out loud.
It have LTO batteries. So unlike other EV.. the range will proboly last
But it took 32 hours to charge fully, so you couldnt commute more than 12 miles or so or because it could not keep up.
At least it has fast charging, unlike compliance vehicles of the time such as the Fiat 500e, Smart ED, and Focus EV.
I have a Mitsubishi Minicab MiEV, a kei van that shares the drivetrain with the i-MiEV. Genuinely the best car I’ve ever had. The original traction battery back started to fade a couple years ago, so I’ve replaced it with an upgraded pack, double the capacity over the original, now good for roughly 160 kilometres around town with the air conditioning on. Cheap as chips to run, extremely practical, all the car we need.
For most use cases this car is perfect. It makes definitely more sense than running a Ford F-150 down the road to grab some errands. I like your approach upgrading the battery pack 👍
saddest thing i read today
@@dvojlitrvplastu926 You need to read more.
@@Vitally_Trivial id rather ride a bike
@@dvojlitrvplastu926 Then go ride a bike. I’m not stopping you.
In Europe they were also sold as Peugeots and Citroens with a lower spec. One feature missing was the B mode. Except if you filed out the slot on the shifter to extend the lever's travel you did in fact have B mode. They literally disabled the feature by not letting you move the lever to it.
not lower spec. exact spec.
bruhh
Depending on the market, there were two trim levels, the lower one didn't get the floodlights on the front and they had a more basic stereo.
Yeah same sh*t : peugeot ion - citroën c-zero
Ahead of their time! Just like all the modern cars that install features and then lock them behind a paywall.
Doug is the kind of guy to look at a gauge cluster that clearly looks like Shrek and call it a mouse.
Dead meme, same comment as a few dozen of your fellow mental midgets, grow up, take your inane comments elsewhere and make millions of normal people happy
I thought the cluster looked like Sid from Ice Age
Lol
I see sidd from ice age😂
Overweight Sid anyone?
I love it when you do the quirky cars! In this case, I have owned my imiev for ten years and I do actually drive it every single day. It only takes three hours to charge on a dryer plug. Since we just run it around town four short trips the range isn't a big issue. I have filled it up with ladders and tools and bricks and furniture and it swallows it all up. It's absolutely ridiculous and I love the thing!
So this video is full of S?
This car was most popular EV in Estonia, in 2011-2015 (government bought 507 of them) because of CO2 emission quotas exchange with Mitsubishi. All social services, government agencies had them and even some were in army, where it was used for in-base transport. From experience max. speed was 110km/h. At -25 degrees Celsius range was 25km top 😁
Interesting
Honestly 60 miles of range and 80 horsepower sounds perfect for a city car. Small and light, easy to park. Makes sense it was made for the Japanese market.
Exactly... all the numbers make sense for the purpose it was built for.... kind of silly to be shocked bu it as if reviewing it as a regular sedan 🙄
@@lepepusit's more reviewing it from an US-centric pov. Even for people living in cities, driving close to, or above 60mi per day is really common.
@@pleaseelaborate3163 You just nailed Doug's big blind spot
Then they should've kept it in Japan. Almost makes no sense in the US.
@@terrorzilla and the price of Gas in the USA. Notice the Doug score doesn't include MPG which Government ratings show as 176MPG for a Tesla Model 3 in the U.K. Once bought, running one (including taxes) will be far cheaper than any Mercedes A class.
I leased one in 2012 and drove it for 2 years, 28k miles. It was not great but was essentially a free vehicle as the lease payment, insurance and charging costs were less than what I was paying for gas in my full size truck. It did the job I needed it for and that was it.
Did you throw it away at the junkyard after?
@@daniloz5673
He leased it.. and said it worked for his needs.. and was basically FREE.. sounds smart to me. After a lease is up, you just hand them the car back.
@@daniloz5673nope.
In some situations I could see this being essentially a highway legal e-bike.
First comment is from a dumb child
My family bought this car (but the one from Citroën) in 2012 and they still own it. It's driven almost every day. Granted it has seen better days, but it still works and it has worked great for everyday earends. But we obviously also need a gasoline car as well (for when you need the extra range)
If you go into the design aspects of this, it is a master class though. They pushed the wheels to the edges for maximizing the space, egg shape for having good aerodynamics while also maximizing space etc
Doug, the kind of guy who drives The Pontiac Aztek to feel handsome.
Dude speaking fact
lfa aint a match for the potato aztek
Or probably he's just a Breaking Bad fan
Oof, emotional damage.
😀
As a Norwegian, this car is an everyday sight. The cheapest electric car you can buy right now, way cheaper than even a used leaf
I saw a new Nissan leaf at a Nissan dealership looked pretty nice was available for $39k kind of expensive
@@michaelsuzio4268kind of? You can get a Model 3 with incentives for like 28k
When they gonna sell the new sakura?
Nice
I remember when it first came out and they wanted 50k for it 🤢
I think “MIEV” is supposed to be read “ My EV “
As a retired person, I could use this as a second car to go shopping or visiting neighbors, which is mostly what I do anyway. The things that you find laughable wouldn't bother me, as long as I have my other car for longer trips, especially in the winter. The one turnoff is the price.
I worked at a shop that serviced a lot of these cars. We had a Peugeot variant as a shop vehicle and i loved it. I have never again driven such a practical car since. We drove it with 4 grown men almost every day and the one we had was super reliable. It would instantly start at -15c and just drive through snow like it was a normal day.
The electric mirrors were a super nice feature to squeeze through a lot of small gaps and in summer i often put the 4 electric windows down and it was like driving a convertible.
Everyone hates it but i will always remember this quirky little egg and i hope i will be able to aquire one someday.
It brought the men closer eh?? 🤣No I get you. I miss squeezing my friends into my 90 Integra. The best thing waa that when you are young your body can contort into any shape ... and its fun!
Mark my words, this car will be lauded in decades for its simplicity and “purity”. No menu diving for controls, no complex sensor arrays, lack of networking etc. it will be seen as a baseline of sorts, a running, working proof of something billions in the future will drive and be shaped by
Idk i remember Estonian state being 'futuristic' in the early 10s and buying these en masse for its social workers. Who drive around countryside. In the winter as well. It proved to be very problematic.
to be fair every properly maintained gasoline car start instantly at -15c
but at -15c the range of this car litteraly it's cut in half compared to let's says +20c
We owned one of the petrol powered ones (mid engine rwd, intercooled turbo) and very nearly bought an electric one (yellow, Hello Kitty livery) because while they're not a long distance cruiser by any means (but possible all the same) as a small grocery getter they're almost without equal. Good driving position, great cabin space, enough for small shopping (or heaps with the seats folded), good power (unless the wastegate locks open, then it's a slug) and just pleasant to get around in.
Sure, you could argue that any Kei car is a good powered shopping cart but the 'i' was one of very few Kei cars that were actually engineered to a specification as most of them are dumbed down and then tarted up to a price point. Compared to a similar era kei car, the i was not really very exceptional with regard to features JDM customers wanted, but engineering wise it was on completely different level. I'd guess that was part of it's failing, it wasn't bling-y enough and cost too much to build vs a sea of tin cans on wheels with chrome accents and flashing lights. The wipers are a LHD thing. In it's proper RHD configuration, the wiper (1) is cool.
I loved ours, and only gave it to my sister in law when we moved from Japan to Australia, otherwise we'd still have it. What I did find is that while the petrol one was a decent drive, the electric one rode better with more weight and the electric torque made it more zippy at lower speeds. As the car never drove further than 40km a day, and never more than 20km from home, it would have been a perfect 2nd vehicle.
I wouldn't swap my current car for an i, but I can definitely see me buying one some day just for the fun of it. And if it's electric, I'd have to think updating the driveline wouldn't be too difficult.
Also not sure whether the i in this video is less than 100% or Doug is just taking the piss and being a prick. Probably the latter. He'd probably say a 2CV is a decrepit sh!tbox because it's tippy, slow and under powered and completely miss the point...
fun fact: early versions of the i-MiEV had an option where it came with a slot in the dashboard which was to fit an ipod nano that came with it. you would upload music onto the ipod and just plug it right into the slot on the dash for music
Yeah, and with the factory Bose system it sounded great in there..................
@@jordach545Don't worry. It was ahead of its time and most cars ahead of us will be just like it.
Saw a UA-cam short on that custom iPod the other day. Would have been so cool haha
We own a 2011 i-Miev and we love it. It is driven every day and does the job perfectly. It is particulary useful inside the city where it is smaller than anything else and can park in the smallest spaces. It is quick and easy and handles motorway speeds well. We charge it at home and it is essentially free to drive. When we lay down the rear seats is has a very big trunk and can trasnsport large stuff like washing machines easily. It is the most genious little car every built. Very sad that no cars in its class is produced anymore.
Funny, Doug makes this video saying how horrible his car is in every single comment is from an owner saying this is the best car ever on earth. Lol😮
It was too expensive at the time. Vehicles like this are now taking off at relatively more appropriate prices. The Dacia Spring for example.
"free to drive" except maintenance, warranty and most importantly, depreciation. Its probably already worthless.
@@rykehuss3435 Our car has paid for itself several times with all the fuel we never had to buy. The service costs over 13 years has been very low. All in all the cheapest car we have ever had. And it still goes strong in 2024.
I had Citroen C Zero, its the same car and honenstly it was fantastic. The back seats folded completely flat leaving a large load area it had a good hearter and air-con and was quick and nimble around town. Yes the range is short 50 - 60 miles but i knew that when i bought it. And of course at the time home and public charging was cheap.
Had the Peugeot iOn version for some years as secondary car, I loved it just as well! Could fit a washing machine inside when the seats were folded.
Doug is the kind of guy to sell you a car by calling it a forgetful joke
Ikr...damn
Americans are the kind of people why wish death on people for driving bland and pathetic cars
My daughter bought one in 2013, and aside from couple of bad cells recently replaced, has had a great 110,000km run out of it, as a daily city driver, with most charging done at home.
At the time it was purchased new for AUD20k, way below its 2012 release price around double that.
It’s been utterly reliable, except for the recent cell replacement which totalled about $1.5k. It’s still recovering range (~80km ATM) as it’s cells rebalance, and we have cold daily temps which probably curb the range.
As a value for money proposition over the years it’s worked out well, and some of its shortcomings are totally acceptable and understandable from both the (low) price and general build perspectives.
If you wanted one back 10 years ago and could’ve gotten it for the bargain price we did, you wouldn’t have been disappointed either. And it’s still going!
If anyone offers one that’s used with low range, it’s totally fixable, and now here in Aus a QLD EV specialist offers a great battery upgrade that delivers twice the original range, and even optional cruise control.
With a high voltage charge inlet as well as low voltage household charge from a 15A outlet to fill the battery at home overnight, it’s hard to imagine too many complaints, we certainly don’t have any.
It's a shame Mitsubishi have left the small car market here in Australia altogether.
There are millions of people both in the US and around the world that would find a car like the iMiEV completely adequate for their driving needs. With newer battery technology it would make it even better. Most people think they need 300 miles or 500km of range but most don’t. A big battery car will sit around doing 30 miles a day for most of its life. Wasteful. As more and more evs enter rental fleets the argument for owning a big battery car get weaker and weaker. Personally, I rent Model 3’s for longer trips the half dozen times a year I make them.
@@MattExzyagree...
@@jamesroyston2378all that we got was just downgraded electric cars like this one.
As an owner of one, might I ask how you got the cells replaced? I may need that soon....
Everyone I met owning one loved it. I've met proper roadtripping people enjoying the travel. Of course it can't compare to anything newer, but a small simple EV is a good thing. I wish it could have progressed in the last 14 years.
Yup! Thanks to its fast-charging capabilities, you can _technically_ cross the entirety of the European continent in one. Slowly, but not unreasonably slowly.
Apparently people keep it running / upgrade it with simple battery swaps. Instead many new EVs won't move as soon as the manufacturer's cloud servers stop working
Stockholm syndrome
@@bitscorpion4687Nonsense
They have.this genre of vehicle is just starting to take off. The Dacia Spring for example.
Actually not a bad purchase in Norway. They were cheap and did the commute that most people did. We seldom drive more than 80km/hr , so this really boosts the range
And in Norway you have Level 2 charging right away as there everything is 220-240v
And here I thought I had it bad with 90kph speed limits outside of cities. Can't imagine tolerating any less
@@BichaelStevens That is a very car centric approach. If you look at the average speed on your odometer i would be surprised if its above 60km/hr. All the intersections / red lights really eat into the average speed. I did a 8000km road trip last month and averaged 54km/hr. But 80km/hr is the general speed limit. Doesnt matter if the road is a one lane rural road or a multi lane straight road. It is the safest roads in Europe, so hard to argue with the results
EDIT: I drove this car quite a bit back in the day. I think you could expect around 90-100km range in the winter and that was if you kept the cabin heat so cold that you had winter clothes inside of your car.
The icon on the "fuel" door release in the driver's footwell is clearly a charge station - it even has an obvious plug with two prongs at the end of the cord. Same image Mitsubishi used on the dashboard for the gauge. They did not re-use an old part for the gas powered version, they actually went to the trouble of stamping out a custom part.
Was about to post the same thing.
Doug misses things like this all of the time. One of his quirks I guess.
@@dwensinger true. I guess it feels different to "miss" something vs. rallying against a thing that was done but was not in fact actually done. If you can see it in the video you can see it real life.
Doug might need bi-focals way earlier than he suspects....or he's making mistakes on purpose to get more comments.
Doug is an asshole.
We drove our 2012 i-Miev from Chicago to Santa Monica on Route 66 in 2017. Performed perfectly. With side trips it was 5893 miles there and back. Still have it. Most reliable car I have ever owned.
This is what EVs should be, small, relatively inexpensive, reliable, and efficient (even more so with newer tech)
Not the aesthetic. Disgusting
Yeah but… nobody bought it…
This is exactly what they should NOT be, the entire reason Tesla was originally successful is because their cars were way sportier than anything else on the market at the time. You're probably salty EV's don't suck as much as you wish they would
@@drumnbasssakuga9352 not sportier, more luxurious and longer range, the original roadster was sporty tho
@@RockyFoxxowo almost anything is sportier than this and the Leaf, and I’d argue any Tesla is sportier than your average commuter car like a Honda CR-V.
The charge flap release on the floor has a picture of a plug attached to what is supposed to be a public charger box. The icon on the other lever is just a plug. This is probably to differentiate the two different sized ports- one for low voltage charging at home and one for high voltage public chargers.
Not all of them though had the high voltage plug though I think. Some only had the standard home charge port.
We have a 2012 and we love it! It's not the fastest or fanciest, but it gets us from here to there with about the same efficiency as a new Tesla. The styling grows on you - we used to hate it, but now we think it's cute. Yes, the heater uses a LOT of power, but the A/C is not that bad. I like the display a LOT better than the glorified i-Pad most new EVs have. We leave the back seats down so there's lots of room for cargo and our little Furball. I don't see how you have a problem with the charge port - two ports, two levers... and we use L1 charging all the time and it charges fine overnight.
"Here's the most pathetic EV ever built and you can buy it right here on Cars and Bids." 🤣
A lot of weird crappy cars are sold on cars and bids for collectible reasons. Although they need to be in very good condition. There's other people like Doug that buy such cars. 😋
Not everyone can say your ride was dunked on by Doug.
Says it's in San Diego, so I wouldn't doubt it's owned by him
@@80s_Boombox_Collector Owned, operated complete with a UA-cam advertising agency.
Doug made me realize that the i-MiEV is just a spiritual successor to the original Mercedes A-Class.
I don't know man, but in my eyes, this is just a Japanese Tata Nano
@@jc_47dude I was thinking the exact same thing
The side profile is almost identical! 😂
you’re crazy, that’s an insult to the A-Class
@@jc_47exactly
I love to see Doug review quirky strange stuff like this car...his enthusiasm and joy for strangeness is purely contagious and perfect entertainment.
The I-Miev was a PHANTASTIC car and is still today a well used cheap EV loved by every owner i know, and i know a lot of owners. It was extremely durable, low to no maintenance cost, kept almost all of it's range for over 10 years despite this very little battery that would be almost everytime charged to 100%.
Yay! This was my first EV. Actually first 2 EVs a few years ago when they could be found for $3-4k. I lived in Portland Oregon and this car was amazing for getting around town and parking was laughably easy. Peppy up to 40 mph. Perfect for the city. Way better than riding a bike in the rain. Sold them for more than I paid and got a fiat 500e which was much more enjoyable to drive but not as much cargo space. Loved these little cars. They have there place
Was it enjoyable to cruise it around in crackhead Portland?
I had a 500e too! That was a fun car to drive. I lived in LA and that thing on the freeways or in the canyons was wild.
Still have my 2012 i-MiEV and love it for all the reasons you state. The UA-cam presenter here simply doesn't get it and is annoying fool.
This car isn't peppy nor is this a decent car in any way
@@yellowsnowman9157, wow! Aren’t you a negative fellow. Good job keeping that UA-cam comment section stereotypes alive 😂
In the UK we call it “i meev” and the major issue was always the sticker price and range. £33,000 after EV plug-in grant was eye-watering, especially compared to the ICE versions which were a third of the price.
We never got the ICE version, we only get the ICE step up, the Mirage.
@@fortheloveofnoise9298There is a Peugeot version called the iON as well
I recall the Citroen version being advertised at about £12k when they stopped production.
lol. People in the US call it 'I meev" too, it just depends on the individual.
@@robsmall6466and the Citroen version the cZero
Whats crazy is this is actually the BEST EV in existence.. If Electric vehicles were like this, cheap, short range it would make sense, city people can use them and feel great! for the rest of us 70-150k dollars for silly EV's is pathetic !
Actually, it is one of the best small cars ever produced and definitely the overall best wee car I have ever owned (until I bought my Tesla Model S). Quite why there are not countless millions of these buzzing about towns and cities the world over is a complete mystery (except, of course, as we now know, Mitsubishi - along with all the other legacy car makers - simply do not want to make EVs as they can't make any money out of them. Pretty pathetic, really - and what does it say about the car industry that not only can Tesla (and lots of Chinese EV makers) make a *stoking profit making them but does so as a car maker that is less than 20 years old!
It has limited range but the main reasons for this is that it was based on a petrol car ( the 'i') and hence the battery design was sub-optimal and it's batteries were very early lithium ion technology. It is extremely efficient and costs pennies to run. It has all mod cons, very good crash worthiness and will quite readily zip along at 70+ mph (just not for very far!).
And *please* don't complain about its looks - you are an American... and the only attractive car to *ever* have come out of the US is the Tesla Model S!!!
I own the Peugeot version of this and I just love it. In European cities is just fits in perfectly. I use it to bring my three kids to daycare and then it takes me to work, about 60km per day. Even with heating turned on, the range absolutely enough for me, as well as the comfort. And the torque is pretty decent for a city car too. If you want to drive a slow car, try VW‘s up! with 60hp petrol engine.
My wife has the Up's Skoda Citigo twin. She once got 70MPG from it driving the ten miles home from work. Consequently the road tax is the same as an i-MiEV; nothing. In comparison a Gas Guzzler from the same year could now cost £695 a year.
"absolutely enough"... 🤣
That sounds like a very European mindset!
My wife's Pacifica PHEV can do nearly 50km on battery alone, but can still seat 7 people AND drive more than 400 miles on gas.
@@jasono2139 Interestingly they used the drivetrain from the i-MiEV in the Mitsubishi Outlander which was the best selling PHEV in Europe for five years. We no longer get any Chryslers here although the Jeep Grand Cherokee will soon be available as a plug in hybrid.
@@Adi-bo5do yeah... Most people NEED a bigger car with more seats and a longer range.
Trading all of those to eek out a pathetic $2 in savings every 1,000 miles is called "stupidity". 🤦
have you tried parking in a cramped street? Not fun at all. Smaller cars are easier to park
He made fun of this car the whole time and I really enjoyed the car. It goes to show you how people that try different ideas get crushed and are forced into a narrow market for unique cars.
You enjoy ugly, very cheaply built cars that have garbage range, handle like trash, and are extremely slow?
I will agree, this car would be very useful where I live. Short commutes and the ease of driving is what we need. But he is right tho, this car is very ugly to look at 😅
imagine patronizing Doug's car site by selling your car there then he makes a video calling your car a piece of crap joke before it even sells
Because all this guy does is just shit on practical cars which actually do their job as, "cars". He just likes shitty supercars and the like because "AAAAA V16 and 2920092921HP" I mean LOOK AT ALL THOSE HORSES WOW!!! FUCK THIS Mirage, Fuck this Camry, Fuck this Miev, so darn practical.
Since I watched this guys Mirage review I knew he had no sense. Every single comment about it was JUST negative, you can't give a Science test to a Finance student and expect great score, to just call him "nah you're retarded fuck off". I don't get why is he even using the same score criteria that goes for ultra luxury cars and useless sport cars for practical cars. Obviously bro, nobody is turning heads at a Corolla or Camry, that's the darn point, don't blame them, it's literally how it's made. I randomly clicked to see if he has changed and fuck no lol.
If it had a bmw or porsche badge his delivery would be much more positive
My favorite EV shenanigan I’ve seen is someone in a Walmart parking lot with a propane tank powering their generator to charge their Mustang Mach e.
That would be something you would’ve HAD to do when this was released lol
Two interesting points. First is that this provided the practical on-the-road info and R&D testing for the drivetrain management of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which was a very successful car for Mitsubishi especially due to the tax breaks on hybrid cars in Europe (particularly for company car use). Second, more frivolous point is that the Citroen and Peugeot versions did not have the Eco and Brake (regen) modes, however, there is an easy fix to cut out the same gear shift lever slot path in the plastic cover to provide the these!
I felt scammed when I bought it in Gran Turismo as a kid 😂
I think the i-MiEV was more ahead of its time than most people realize. So much focus on range and power right now adds a huge amount of battery mass. If you could (reasonably quickly) charge your car literally everywhere you parked it, then you would hardly ever need 300+ miles of range.
has highway speed. can get 100km in one charge on highway. that pretty much covers 99% of all driving needs.
The roll on acceleration was quite good, it had good pickup once it was going.
Agree with you and also, unlike todays's cars it gave you more interior room. Today's cars give you similar room with triple the vehicle mass and double the length. Plus it looks keen!
Yup, TBH 90% of city trips could probably be accomplished in something like this.
@@riskinhos I don't get with cars like this why people whine about the short range. Where are you driving it? It's a runabout for local trips. If it fully charges in 7 hours that's FINE. I think a lot of the attitude is from people who have to travel hours across poorly planned cities to do so many simple things.
This car, just like every other EV out there, was very successful in one specific market, Norway. Due to very generous policies for electric cars, these were (and are) cheap to both buy and own.
One of the reasons Tesla has sold so many cars is because of us!
"Due to very generous policies for electric cars" There are also very punitive polices on ICE there I believe! 🙂 With taxes, the price of a Ford Mustang GT is around quadruple of the US price I believe? Even for economy cars, something like a 1.4-1.5L Golf would be taxed quite heavily?
@@TassieLorenzo When it comes to petrol and diesel engines, the bigger the engine is the bigger the tax. These engines are taxed more aggressively than other drivetrains. More enviormentally friendly cars are cheaper, to make people buy them. An example would be the Ford Explorer, since it is an hybrid, it is a lot cheaper to buy and own than it would if it were a big V8. Don't get me wrong, the Explorer retails for over $100,000 here, and like any other car, it's probably a lot more expensive here than in the US, but a V8 would retail closer to $200,000 - $300,000. Even the fuel cost is ridiculous here (over $8 USD per gallon) making electric cars even more relevant. I hope this answered your question, I have a tendency to rant a bit!
This is actually the perfect EV. Small battery, light weight, perfect for commuting, affordable. Can't wait to see the new version on the roads soon.
Doug is the type of guy who remembers the Mitsubishi Mirage of 2017 and comes back for a second serving.
It looks like a car, but it’s a Mirage.
There's a guy in my town who owns one of these, and one day he came into where I work and asked where to go to pay for a speeding ticket and I was just honestly impressed he managed to get one in that car
I've got an even slower car and managed two speeding tickets so far. With enough determination and carelessness, anything is possible.
I would absolutely LOVE for you to look at the Mitsubishi Minicab EV. Pretty much the same car but in a kei van form. I would love to own one one day
Dacia Spring : Hold my beer !
My dad and I converted a 1977 VW Rabbit to electric, with a similar weight, battery capacity, and motor to what the i-MiEV has, and we used the i-MiEV as a benchmark of what our range should look like. We pretty much got it exactly the same.
Also, that infotainment screen actually seems pretty decent compared to cars that were 5 years newer.
In Germany „mief“, which is exactly pronounced like „miev“ means that something stinks (if you even go into slang you might even call the car „i stink“ or „i suck“, so to speak 😁)…so the Mitsubishi had a hard stand here. Most people bought it rebadged from peugeot or citroen 😁
If you think about the design being over 10 years old, one of the earliest mass market EVs for a cheaper price point… it’s not bad. Released in 2009, development likely occurred for years prior. I’d say that’s not bad at all.
I remember working for a Mitsubishi dealer from 2010-2013 and the owner of the dealer saying that he told Mitsubishi that he flat out refused to take sales orders or stock any for inventory, and that he definitely was not going to invest in the EV chargers and specialty equipment for the shop. In my life, I have one seen one of these in person.
Doug is the type of guy to buy a CarMax dealership so he can review the cars and then place them on cars and bids
Doug buying a CarMax would be an amazing video! Even if he just worked at one for a day.
@@EightPieceBox his range rover was from CarMax
@@KilowattTheFurrywow, really? How dense are you not to realize folks that watch this channel would know that?
@@ozarkliving7263 Well he didn't know at least lol
This was a real early adopter EV. Range, and thus usability, was severely limited by 2009 battery tech, but the performance isn’t actually bad in terms of European/Japanese city car standards. And as a city car it’s actually quite good, being small and manoeuvrable yet still practical enough.
Yes I can agree with most of that but mitsubishi has always built the cheapest in terms of quality compared to rivals. Even Japanese rivals; Honda, Nissan, Subaru are just better built.
Exactly, unfortunately most people forget what they actually need from an efficient city car. They think these are made to travel in the wild and conquer the world in one charge. 😂 Especially for the time, I think this car is fairly good.
Doug really selling this one hard
thumbs down for using the worthless word "actually"....twice.
The next time you hear people whining about the lack of a truly cheap, simple EV just remember what the Doug Demuros of the world think of such cars.
I got to drive one of these when I worked at a used car dealer. It was definitely something lol. It sat on the lot for a while until it transferred elsewhere, and it was dead half the time,but it was neat to look at sitting next to the other electric cars we had in stock at the time lol.
Doug is the type of guy to review two egg shaped cars in one week
Not original. Painfully obvious. Take your stupid comments elsewhere and make millions of normal people happy
The six dots represent the six main principles of the brand: reliability, safety, environment, quality, cost-effectiveness, and capability. Each dot represents one of these values, reflecting Mitsubishi's commitment to these aspects in their electric vehicle offerings.
Non of us knew this. Thanks for sharing
what did you seek these ?
Ahhhhh - I thought I cracked the code lol, thanks y’all!
That explains everything about Mitsubishi as a whole. Besides, looking at their profit margins and their corporation. They don't need to make or sell cars to stay in business. They are profitable in their other business ventures.
You ought to feel ashamed for knowing this.
this car is actually pretty good... it's perfect for congested and crowded cities where you u mostly commute between 25-35 mph and are able to charge at home.
That's funny. I don't find it ugly. It's not cute either but if it has to be ugly to people who don't like it then so be it. This is probably the ideal car for me. It was given a bad rap by those who think EVs should travel thousands of miles on minutes of charging and do so at breakneck speeds. It can reach 60 mph as quickly as a Ford Festiva could and you choose this to pick on? The Ford Festiva cost me 14K because I was married to an idiot whose father was also an idiot and was guiding her through a car purchase that I hadn't approved while I was planning to get us a Dodge Shadow ES Turbo for about the same price. People make their decisions on the merits of a product. For me, it comes down to being able to get this car for $4500 and not having to buy gas again but instead convert it to Sodium Ion and keep plugging along.
This is a good little car and the fact they are still around means they are pretty reliable and well built
It was from 2009... Most cars built from that time are still around. 🤦
Hell... There's still Chevy Cavaliers driving around from the 90s. That doesn't mean they're a good or reliable car.
@@jasono2139 The Cavaliers are reliable though. They're called the automotive cockroaches. Common and ugly, but hard to kill. The same is true for the Cobalt honestly. It uses the exact same powertrain as the late model Cavaliers.
It's as old as my Insight. That thing also goes strong still.
@@SkylineFTW97 yup, they were the cheaply made, cheaply built cars of the day. Even if they had reliability issues, there was enough of them that they'd be around darn near forever... Despite having some of the highest death counts per mile driven of any other car on the road.
@@jasono2139 Chevy Cavaliers are fine cars. Along with Ford Escorts, Dodge K-cars (Plymouth Reliant). Nothing wrong with those beasts. Ok. Body rust, but the engines ran for ever and the trannies last well. Cheap to fix with lots sold and in the junkyard if that makes one happy for parts...
Actually, Citroën and Peugeot did with this car the same thing they did with the « Triplettes » (as we call them here in France) : Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107, Citroën C1.
I find it funny that the rear is so crowded since the car it’s based off of, the production Kei Mitsubishi cars like the EKWagon, have amazing leg room. Almost impossible amount of room for how small the car is.
Doug is the type of guy to feel jetlagged after flying to the same timezone.
😂😂😂
Instead of a mobility re-think that can be repaired by anyone, we got SUV EVs that are scrap metal as soon as their smartphone app stops working.
I loved ripping the concept of this car around Monaco in Gran Turismo 4. Then in GT5 and 6 I loved drifting the i-MiEV around the Suzuka East Course. 😂
Hey Doug, I’m surprised you didn’t take the silver lining position unlike Savage Geese. The car is immensely practical as a runabout. I pick it over my fancier EVs for most local driving. Had it ten years. Will own it until either it or I die. FYI, the Steering wheel is leather covered on cars with SE package like the vehicle shown. 2014 and 2016 cars got heated passenger seat as well as standard. Also, the US spec iMiEV wouldn’t make a good legal Japanese kei car since it has been widened for our market. Visibility and ease of parking as well as turning circle are unmatched. And yes, the charging remote is ridiculous. Never used it. Also, the car there has a likely tired cell in the pack due to range estimate when running AC. Probably fixable.
The higher end stereo in the reviewed car has a 40gb hdd for ripping cds. Most cars did not get that satnav stereo though so a very basic radio instead. Those cars were also not equipped with remote functions on the ignition keys. Most of those cars got steel wheels with hubcaps. Still, an immensely useful car day to day. I took home a 60” tv from Best Buy in my iMiEV. The load area is really huge with the rear seats folded down. It’s been a great car to own and drive.
he is biased AF
It looks like an awful ride dude. You can love it all you want, it was being sold for $30,000 new with abysmal speed, handling, range, features, etc. You love it that's great, there's people that love their Yugos too.
There are a few tootling around here in Malta. Some were purchased by government departments in early 'EV adoption' programs. They were very basic and expensive for what they were. However, they were incredibly reliable. I have a friend of mine who commutes to work and back every day and loves it. I have some love for it. They had to start somewhere.
I find this car oddly charming ! The only downside I see is the price. $30k feels like too much even back in the day. Other than that it feels like it would have been a great little car for small budget / short range.
So one "quirk" of the car that I expect Doug missed: The headlights are a right pain to change, because the end of the headlight bucket is basically under the dash. You pretty much have to take the buckets out to change the bulb, which is "only" three bolts. One of them is easily visible, one is under the black plastic trim that the wipers come out of, and one of them you get to by pulling the end of the bumper cover loose. I looked at the directions, and took my car to my local mechanic, who charged me $250 for the replacement -- and I felt like that was a good deal.
When I was living in West Virginia, University Toyota and Mitsubishi in Morgantown had several iMiev cars that they gave to people as loaners, and they would also rent them out for $20 a day, I rented one for a week and had a blast in it, everyone who seen it would always ask questions, driving on the road. Cars would get beside me and stay beside me because they were taking pictures and waving and smiling. I really wanted to purchase one and even had a deposit in 2011 after seeing it in person at the 2011 Chicago auto show. Glad I didn’t, but maybe I’ll buy one one day. I currently have a 2016 prius and a 2018 Toyota Mirai fuel cell. I like weird stuff lol.
Aging Wheels just dropped a review of the Mirai: ua-cam.com/video/rtZQLUtckS4/v-deo.html
@@mattb4721 I watched it the day he uploaded it, I love Robert’s videos! I think I also commented on that video but thank you for the heads up dude!
The I Miev was designed with a single wiper…Doug, 10 years ago in winter (our frozen Canadian winters) you would have laugh so much at my place: it was freezing at -13F on the highway in January or February…I saw a guy in a I-Miev freezing to death to save electricity. All windows were frozen by the inside and the guy was using a scraper to see. It reminded me in same situation inside of my 1971 Beetle!
You wouldn't happen to be in the Lower Mainland of BC because that was probably me
It was designed with a single wiper, but the North American market models had a wider bodyshell by about 4 inches. (You can even see where they had to put basically a filler section to fill the gaps between the dash and the side of the car in photos of the interior between the LHD European (which used the standard width bodyshell but a new dash design) and the North American models (which used the LHD European dash design).)
@@wilsonofcanada no, it was in Montréal (Québec) on a highway.
OMG, how dare something exist outside Doug;s sense of style and not cater to his comfort, convenience and amusement.
I did part of my mechanic stuides with a Citröen C-Zero, basically a rebranded I-Miev. And i remember two things.
First, the range-meter is wrong. Is a common trend in EVs that it shows you more miles than what its actually capable off, specially when under load.
And i mention this because we checked with acual voltage and intensity values. The heater uses TWICE AS MUCH ENERGY than the actual engine when at full heat! (It got the car up to 55ºC/131ºF tho).
And the second thing. In the gear selector, a lot of cars detect when you skipped a gear and displays a "check engine" light or whatever. In the C-Zero however this was not the case. So we managed to alter the conectors in a way such that putting the car in the "D" position moved the car backwards, and "R" moved it forwards!
When a teacher went and tried to move the car... Well, luckily it wasn´t a very powerful engine.
We also tried this on a Prius but it didn´t work.
I have one, as a second car here in Norway. They are really common here. I love it! Its great! Nimble af, super cheap to own, cruises nicely and its pretty funny in the winter with the rear wheel drive. Yes, the range is limited, and yes you kinda shouldnt use the heater or the ac, but its just great and cheap and fun to be in, fits into tight parking spots and narrow streets. Mine dosent have the screen, so Im about to modify a CarPlay unit into where the double din radio is. Its gonna make the car even better.
That remote to set charging times has got to be in contention for quirk of the year.
15:55 They actually changed the latch because you can see the 2 prongs of an electric plug at the end of the "fuel pump" which was probably kept because it's an universal and well known symbol
It is great to have a full Doug DeMuro review of the iMIEV, with all of the quirks and features. You just don't get this detail from any other car reviewer. The iMIEV was a ground breaking EV, one of the first to be sold with a Li-ion battery. It also was the first with DC fast charging, these two features have enabled EVs to finally be competitive with ICE cars again, the first time since the electric starter was introduced.
I do wish Doug had compared specs with the gas version of this car, which was called the i. IIRC, MIEV was an acronym the referred to wheel motor EV. The concept car had wheel motors, which were wisely replaced by a single motor with differential and half shafts in the production version. As I recall, this was one of the first EVs that were designed to outperform their gas equivalent version. Gas versions were limited to 660 cc by Japan regulations, which was an increase from an earlier limit of 550 cc. Even though acceleration was not competitive in the North American market, it was very competitive in its home market. The only drawback compared to the ICE version was the price, which was about double, IIRC.
We had one of these as our patrol car. A quirk he missed is how the hood stays open. Instead of a stick, it's a little lever thing on the hinged end that you flip up
I guess you were a City Cop. The i-MiEV actually makes sense for areas that are mainly pedestrianised.
In Estonia they bought them for social workers to drive around rular areas. It backfired so hard, the workers got them stuck in the freezing winter because they lost 70% of their range and if you would turn the heat on its game over. People were not really fond of them and it cost a shit ton of money for taxpayers.
Nope, you remember it incorrectly. In 2010 or 2011, Estonia sold CO2 emission quota to Mitsubishi Corporation. As a result of this deal, Estonia received 507 i-MiEVs for social workers of local government, plus charging stations etc.
So basically no cost to the taxpayers. Unused CO2 quota was traded for these cars. Pretty solid deal.
@@ollu7they still got horrible cars
@@ollu7 Estonia's CO2/capita is super high tho -- so why would they have spare credits?
@@concinnus quotas for 2008-2012 were based on 1990 data. Back then, it was the end of the soviet era and Estonia's emissions were a lot higher. Same goes for Latvia, Poland etc, those countries have also made deals with unused quota.
@@ollu7The quotas are total nonsense on their face.
That's not a Mickey gauge cluster, that's SHREK
There was also a petrol only version, the Mitsubishi i with a single 1 litre engine choice. The electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV was also badged and sold as the Citröen C-Zero and the Peugeot iON but these two manufacturers never sold the petrol version based on the Mitsubishi i.
Love the weird quirky car videos. It represents Doug's quirky personality.
Doug really needs to review himself.
My elderly parents had one in Australia. It was fine as a shopping trolley around the city. Did the job. Charged from the house solar panels. 240v in Australia , so fast enough. Servicing cost was almost free. Cheap city transport.
Loved the review as usual. Given how early it came out, still a solid vehicle(given the design constraints). I like how you pointed out the headroom, reminds me about the Honda Fit headroom. I see the battery already lost 33% capacity over 15 years too 😅
33% over 15 years might not be too bad. Apparently it's cheap to refresh. A Hyundai Ioniq battery refresh is $60k!!
"the Most Pathetic EV In Existence"
REVAi: "hold my beer"
I had one for 2 years and it was super economical. Only maintenance I had to do was wiper blades. Cost about 1.5c/km to drive. Wasn't really feasible as my only vehicle, but it handled about 90% of my needs and saved me so much money.
My parents bought one of these new after it sat in a lot unsold for 11k. my mom still dailys it in the summer. The one amazing thing about this car is the traction control turns completely off and if you are in snow the car wants to party.
My parents did too, however ours was bought used and bought only last summer. They still love it though!
Much as I like Doug, I find the pisstake a little unnecesssary because the iMiEV does everything it was designed to do in an era when electric cars were just starting. It was a very small city car and certainly not designed for the USA. Mitsubishi's mistake was shipping it there. Then again, the USA's dislike for anything small and efficient has meant that the citizen who just wants to move around their small town or city misses out. It's a cultural thing. I don't have an iMiEV or want one, but I can see why people would like a used one. In Australia there is a garage that replaces the tiny 16kWh battery with one double the energy at 32kWh, for the same size, such has energy density improved in the passing years. And they've made other improvements which turns the little car into something a bit more practical, with almost double the range.
Btw, I have a VW ID3, a car that Americans probably wish they could have, but because the exterior is the size of a Golf [interior the size of a Passat] they can't because [apparently] nobody wants a quick compact car in the USA.
That stereo also has a hard drive. such a feature is now illegal because it duplicates the files on any cd you put in without permission from the license holder :)
So happy to see Doug try and sit in a rear seat again!
Love the return to extra quickly offbeat cheap cars
This video cracked me up😂 it’s so funny that he pointed out all of its flaws, and then said “it’s up for sale!” And I wouldn’t want any other salesman. Pointing out the flaws is what I look for!
It cracked me up how Mitsubishi half-assed everything from bumper to bumper! I mean, they couldn't even stamp a lighting logo on the charge port releases! That's hilarious how lazy their designers were.
@@largol33t12 right!
I could totally see Aging Wheels scooping it up too. It's got the same rating as a Yugo!
I'm still processing how this is the same company that introduced the Mitsubishi Lancers
took me a while to realize MiEV is an acronym for Mitsubishi Electric Vehicle
This car failed because it was low-key ahead of it's time. Lithium batteries were really expensive back in 2011 and they had much lower power density than modern lithium batteries. If this car came out today with current battery tech I think it might sell really well in Europe, we need more small electric city cars here.
Really low key. So low key as to not be ahead of any time.
EVs are a scam so it's true this scam car was the first
Yeah Douggy is comparing it with EVs today? 😑Of couse technology has changed a lot
A lot of your complaints about this car had me thinking, "So? So what?" It wasn't made for everything you want. So?". It seems perfectly ok for a local runabout. Perhaps not in sprawled out US cities, but in well planned places for sure.
Yeah, everytime I see him reviewing small cars I keep thinking "well I'm glad I'm 5'2, not 7'2 like you" 😅
Agree with all you've said except not for the price. From 2018 onward, Mitsu was selling the Outlander PHEV which, yes, was a hybrid BUT on batteries alone it got 35km of range... and the price for the PHEV was $25,000 to $33,000. So, something doesn't really add up with the iMiev. You get literally double the vehicle for the same price and sorta the same range. Why was the iMiev so expensive? The tiny lithium battery in it couldn't have cost that much. It seems to me like it should have been $15,000-$17,000 tops.
Honestly though in well planned places you don't even need a car at all so the point you're making here is kinda moot.
@@Ziegfried82 Even in a well planned place I'd still like the option of a lockable weatherproof climate controlled vehicle that can carry some cargo and/or passengers, and this type of thing would fit the bill nicely.
One thing about this car. It's absolutely brilliant. Spacious, handy, easy to use and enough range for most of the tasks it's supposed to handel. I like this car and wish I went for one back in the day when it came out.