IMiev, Ion and C Zero - the forgotten electric cars

[AnotherClarkey]

Amidst all the talk of Teslas, I3s and Leaves one (well, three) cars seem to have been largely forgotten - the Mitsubishi iMiev and associated badge engineered versions.

They are now at the 8-9k mark and generally seem to be regarded as quite fun to drive with a range not too different from that achieved by the Leaf. Are there any reasons why one wouldn't be worth a punt?

I would really appreciate views from those who own/have driven these.

[jeffa]

I picked one up even cheaper - a 2009 model. Some quirky features - speed and all distances in miles but stated as mph for speed and km for distance. The dc fast charge works as does the charging from the mains but there is a pin missing on the slow charge which means you cannot use a type 2 charging lead, unless like me you use your ingenuity and some electrical engineering experience. Great for city use and I did drive it with my daughter from Brighton to Birmingham but broke down through lack of battery (my fault) at one point.

[adamfawsitt]

We wanted to try an early electric car and have put 19.5k miles on a C-Zero without incident.

[Amateurish]

The iMIEV is a bit st compared to a LEAF. So given that the latter can be had for £10k now, it would be a better bet.

[jeffa]

Amateurish said:

The iMIEV is a bit st compared to a LEAF. So given that the latter can be had for £10k now, it would be a better bet.

I am not sure what the basis of this assessment is. Looking at performance: The i-MiEV/Ion/C Zero have similar power to weight ratios to a Leaf and early ones have a similar range to a similar aged Leaf. The Leaf is much heavier and admittedly has goodies such as auto lights, wipers and cruise control but when I bought my -i-MiEV for much less than £10k, I did not think these extras were worth thousands of pounds.

Incidentally, my TVR was not ready for the sprint recently at Rockingham so I took the i-MiEV instead. It was very popular with the other drivers and marshalls and now has the electric car record at 114.25 secs until someone in a Tesla or i3 has a go. If anyone is interested, the Service Hydraulics Speed Championship now has two extra classes 6A for electric cars and 6B for hybrid. Yours truly is waiting for some competition in 6A. The more the merrier.

[AnotherClarkey]

jeffa said:

I am not sure what the basis of this assessment is. Looking at performance: The i-MiEV/Ion/C Zero have similar power to weight ratios to a Leaf and early ones have a similar range to a similar aged Leaf. The Leaf is much heavier and admittedly has goodies such as auto lights, wipers and cruise control but when I bought my -i-MiEV for much less than £10k, I did not think these extras were worth thousands of pounds.

Incidentally, my TVR was not ready for the sprint recently at Rockingham so I took the i-MiEV instead. It was very popular with the other drivers and marshalls and now has the electric car record at 114.25 secs until someone in a Tesla or i3 has a go. If anyone is interested, the Service Hydraulics Speed Championship now has two extra classes 6A for electric cars and 6B for hybrid. Yours truly is waiting for some competition in 6A. The more the merrier.

Interesting - now that the price is reasonable (considering the eye-watering amount they were new) they look like a pretty good punt.

[rodericb]

Interesting. Now that batteries have moved on a bit and there's more people dabbling in electric cars there could be potential to do a bit more with these. The i-miev is just an electric version of a petrol powered kei car (Mitsubishi i-car) so there may be some non-powertrain goodies available ex Japan.

[danp]

These seem to be dropping in price still and getting tempting to me! Leafs seem to have hit 10k and plateaued.

What's your estimate on the "real world" range for say a 3 year old one with 10k miles on it? My parents are 50 miles away (so should be fine) but the mother in law is 70 miles via the scenic route (or 100 along the m4 so could charge up).

Any other insights from owners?

[GRynners]

I've been looking at these too and am in a similar position. Have done some digging round and there is a half decent I-Miev forum which answers some of the real world questions on range (although predominantly US members). Will be interesting to see if any replies on here though.