Little i-MiEV Electric Car: How Does It Compare To VW e-Golf

[Cacti]

From Green Car Reports:

The 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV is an outlier—in design, in layout, and in the way it drives. Yet our long-term 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf is nearly the polar opposite—a full battery-electric model wearing the look, feel, and functionality of one of the world’s best-selling cars of all time.

As we mentioned this past week in a drive report of the i-MiEV, Mitsubishi was one of the leading-edge offerings in a fledgling electric-vehicle market four years ago—and it seems that during four years the market’s expectations of how an EV should be packaged, and how it should perform, have changed considerably.

If you’re relatively new to electric vehicles, we recommend that you click through our reviews of the Volkswagen e-Golf and 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV at our companion site, The Car Connection. But based on our recent short drive of the 2016 i-MiEV and our several months already with the e-Golf, here are several key differences (other than pricing, which is an obvious advantage of the Mitsubishi) that small-car fans and EV enthusiasts are likely to see between the two:





http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099653_little-i-miev-electric-car-how-does-it-compare-to-vw-e-golf

 

[PV1]

I have to say, that is one of the fairest i-MiEV reviews I've read yet, though I almost always do better than EPA range.

 

[pbui19]

The article mentioned the cost difference, but failed to quantify the $10K delta. I'll vote to keep my $10K ($35K vs $25K before incentives) for that extra 20-mile or so. Although the iMiEV is "just" enough for my daily 50-mile round-trip + 2200 ft elevation climb. That extra 20-mile extra would be nice, but not for $10K.

 

[Don]

Considering you can still pick up very low mileage lease return 2012 iMiEV's for about 1/4 the price of a new Golf, what to get would be a no-brainer for me - We bought our second iMiEV 3 months ago and paid $8700 for a Premium package car with only 3900 miles on it - Not scratch on it anywhere and it still looks, smells and feels brand spanking new inside. We paid nearly $30K for our first one (minus the Federal Tax Credit) in May of 2012. I honestly don't see us needing to buy another vehicle for at least the next 10 years, considering our ICE vehicle which rarely gets used only has about 70K on it and that's not increasing by 2500 miles per year thanks to the EV's

Certainly if the price was closer to equal, I'd much rather own an e Golf than an iMiEV - One of my all time favorite cars of everything we've ever owned was a VW Rabbit GTI we bought new in 1983. The e Golf a much better car in many ways, IMO. I guess you just have to decide how much better, considering the price delta

Don

 

[RobertC]

I was considering test driving the VW e-Golf until I saw it had front-wheel drive. I have driven the Ford Focus Electric with front-wheel drive and, even though it had excellent acceleration, it felt like it was pulling me down the road and lacked the control that I am used to with the rear-wheel drive electric Mitsubishi i.

I believe that the following is a list of all-electric vehicles currently available in the US that have either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive:
Tesla Model S
BMW i3
Mitsubishi i
Smart ForTwo Electric Drive

If you just need a car to get to from point A to point B, then a front-wheel drive vehicle is adequate, but if you enjoy the fun of driving, rear-wheel or all-wheel drive is required.
Race cars are rear-wheel drive.

It seems that most of the auto manufacturer electric vehicle conversions (Kia Soul EV, Chevy Spark EV, Ford Focus Electric, Fiat 500e, Honda Fit EV, and VW e-Golf) are all front-wheel drive. The Nissan Leaf, like all of Nissan's four-door sedans, is also front-wheel drive. The Tesla Model X will be all-wheel drive, and the Tesla Model 3 is projected to be rear-wheel drive.

 

[kitkit]

Thanks for the link. I agree that this is a very fair review for our beloved I-Miev.

For me, getting a brand new 14 I-Miev for $9,200 (after incentives) is a no-braner. I had considered Fiat 500e, Smart EV and E-Golf before my purchase, but I don't want to spend the extra $10k-15k as I-Miev perfectly fits my need. The article is spot on- I would have purchased a Leaf or E-Golf if the price difference is minimal.

 

[roflwaffle]

Is that before or after TTL?