New forum member with recent purchase

[phb10186]

Hi all,

I have been surfing around the forum for a few weeks.

I bought a 2012 Silver I-MIEV with 'Keiko' trim and 11,000 miles, replacing my 2002 Celica VVTL-I, which I really loved. So far so good. Definitely great for my residence in the suburbs of north London.

Basic spec is as follows:

UK spec (likely JDM spec I would have thought)
Keiko trim seems to mean brown seat fabric with silver piping and brown dash fascia... not sure if it means anything else.
Front seat heaters x 2
CHadeMo port
Remote charge and /heating/ cooling OMRON transponder
Audible drive noise button

Looks like the car was supplied via a dealership in Poole, Dorset on the south coast, as a demonstrator model, as the pictures the owner gave me had the car covered in all the EV promotional vinyl decals (and I mean all over the car!).

I bought this on the South coast about 95 miles away from where I live in London, so I knew I had to charge, so I charged at 75 miles from home via CHadeMO to 87%, and avoided the motorways, opting for the 50mph country roads, and I got back with 10 miles to spare (though I was being careful to extend the range as much as possible, everything off, 45-50mph, regen on hills, light and progressive throttle).


Bough after my parents bought a 2012 Black I-Miev with 20K miles. Main differences are:

Theirs has an exterior trim package with 7/8 spoke alloy wheels and a rear spoiler, none of which feature in mine.
Mine has the interior trim Keiko package, but no exterior package, and I have the standard alloy wheels.
I've got the charge delay and climate control transponder, theirs doesnt.
Ive got both front seats heated, they only have the drivers.
I have a very annoying driving sound simulator button that defaults to 'on' and have to press it to cancel at each journey (button located next to passenger air bag override switch), theirs does not have this.
The writing on the climate control knobs on mine is black, theirs is red.
Theirs seems to drive slightly smoother, I put this down to higher Tyre pressures on mine (currently running 38PSI)

Interesting to compare the relevant specs on these two. As they were sold in fairly small numbers in the UK, there is no real 'spec' level in my opinion. Some of the promotional cars had leather trim I noticed, but all this was from the Mitsu custom trim brochure, likely for the purposes of promotion.

There are several spec items on the car that don't feature in the owners manual (likely because changes were more frequent than manual updates I am guessing).

I haven't seen any I-Mievs in the UK never than 2012 thinking about it, but there seems to be a fair number of 2012 cars around (proportional to their numbers in general). Many Citroen C-Zero and Peugeot Ions around, but always better to have the slightly higher specced Mitsu, and I beleive the Citroen and Peugeots didnt have the other drive options other than 'D' (which in the UK are marked 'B' and 'C', rather than 'Eco' and something - essentially more or less regen).

Never owned a Mitsubishi before, I have always been a Honda and Toyota guy (more Honda).

I'm a fairly competent home mechanic, but by no means a professional. The rear seat lever was broken on my car when I got it, so I have already had the back seats out to replace that lever, which was a simple job involving 6 bolts, because you cant get access to the screw head with the seats in situ.

Other than that, all seems fine, though my initial thoughts are that there is little or no rust-proofing on this car, and the wheel arches could certainly benefit from it, especially as I saw a regular 'I' 2008 model driving locally with noticeable rust on both rear wheel arches. Also the stereo binnacle does rattle a bit during drive, but certain minor plastic part rattles are something I have become used to with small Japanese cars over the years.

Decided on the I MIEV as it parks easily in London and you benefit from free entry to the central London zone (non-plug ins now pay £13 a day I believe), I never need a car with 5 seats (and if I do, I'll use the Insight). I liked the fact that the rear seats fold flat, and I like the 4-door 4 seat Kei car layout in general, as sub-compact city cars have an inherent utility about them. I also like the seating position being high, which after my Celica is a nice position to be in.

Driving: initial thoughts, well it's no speedster, but that's not the point. Ave speeds on journeys in London are 18-20mph ave at best these days, so im happy to not have gears or a clutch to worry about anymore (though have been a tad disappointed with the CVT unit in the Insight). Other than that, it certainly doesnt like pot-holes or speed bumps, and it is highly susceptible to the road surface in general, as it tracks slightly, so requires more steering inputs than I am used to, but nothing major.

One other thing I have noticed on both the I-Mievs we now have as a family is that the brake booster seems to accumulate a lot of pressure on faster journeys, so just breathing on the brakes gives a lot of brake assistance, almost over-assisted in my opinion, but then I'm used to a traditional vacuum assisted servo set-up (not sure what this has, but likely some electric vacuum device).

The rear suspension is fine, I really don't know what all the complaints are about on the various videos about.

-Ben

 

[misterbleepy]

Interesting to hear so much detail about a RHD i-MiEV - I am jealous of your remote, seat heaters, extra transmission modes (though one day I will tweak/fix my iOn) and even your driving noise thing - there are a couple of places I drive where I could do with something like that.
Impressive range after you collected it too - you must have a gentle right foot.

 

[PV1]

Glad you now have an i-MiEV of your own.

As for the brakes, there is a dead zone when first applying the brakes. This first bit of travel only increases regen without actuating the friction brakes (if you apply the brakes while coasting in Neutral, you'll see what I mean), and further pressing the brakes brings in friction braking on top of regen. As I was reminded the other morning, the i-MiEV can stop very quickly. Regen alone does more than 90% of my braking.

It's really interesting to hear of the different features and options on these cars in different parts of the world, and I'm amazed that you got a MiEV remote with your car (the Omron remote). That was something we thought only NA cars received.

 

[phb10186]

Interesting to hear so much detail about a RHD i-MiEV - I am jealous of your remote, seat heaters, extra transmission modes (though one day I will tweak/fix my iOn) and even your driving noise thing - there are a couple of places I drive where I could do with something like that.
Impressive range after you collected it too - you must have a gentle right foot.

The driving noise thing only makes a whirring noise via the cars speakers up to 20mph, after which it stops. The road noise after 20mph negates the requirement, which they programmed in.

I looked at a C-Zero/ Ion, but since I paid £5250 for the I-MIEV there was no point looking further. There is currently a sweet-spot between roll-out and uptake, and it shouldn't be possible to purchase these for so little, the market has bottomed out.

But 240v grid supply changes the entire EV scene to 110v, so we are lucky here.

 

[phb10186]

Glad you now have an i-MiEV of your own.

It's really interesting to hear of the different features and options on these cars in different parts of the world, and I'm amazed that you got a MiEV remote with your car (the Omron remote). That was something we thought only NA cars received.

I was very surprised as well, ive not seen another UK car with it, and it wasn't advertised in the car listing. It is of limited use for me really, as I charge the car on my driveway, rather than in a garage - so its not connected that much, however I am gerring a home charger fitted, so it will come in more handy.

Clearly, there is a lot of odd specs floating around, and I cant understand where the Omron remote came from, as I would have thought that it was installed by the dealers in NA, but clearly there are a few in the UK with it, but I can't even to begin where it came to be installed. Perhaps it was a limited UK trial sent to a few dealerships - it cant be fitted at the factory in Japan right?

The Omron remote features in none of the UK sales literature/ options list.

 

[kiev]

Nice write-up. The pedestrian warning system audio can be disconnected at the external speaker under the car if you don't want to hear it.

You will find that remote most valuable to pre-heat your car in defrost mode during the winter with the seat warmers switched on.

 

[phb10186]

Nice write-up. The pedestrian warning system audio can be disconnected at the external speaker under the car if you don't want to hear it.

You will find that remote most valuable to pre-heat your car in defrost mode during the winter with the seat warmers switched on.

I'll not fiddle with it, its one of those new things to get used to, as I forget to cancel it, i'll get used to it - if it keeps people safer, then it's no bad thing.

 

[PV1]

The remote was installed at the factory, as the antenna for the receiver is printed into the right hand side front sail window. The receiver is just underneath the dash. But, both may be on the left hand side for the RHD car.

 

[kiev]

If you want to hear if from outside the car, start it into ready mode, shift to N, set the handbrake--then you can get out and walk around to hear the spaceship sound...

 

[phb10186]

If you want to hear if from outside the car, start it into ready mode, shift to N, set the handbrake--then you can get out and walk around to hear the spaceship sound...

It is absolutely a spaceship sound. It's also the kind of sound that would freak the lesser brave out on a dark country road in the middle of nowhere.

 

[kaiat]

It's really interesting to hear of the different features and options on these cars in different parts of the world, and I'm amazed that you got a MiEV remote with your car (the Omron remote). That was something we thought only NA cars received.

No, the European iMievs got the remote too. At least here in Norway they got it, but I guess the other European countries did too. The French clones did not get the remote however, it was appearantly a Mitsubishi-only thing. It should be noted that I have seen MY2012s both with and without the remote and I have a feeling that the remote came around the time when they changed from LEV50 to LEV50N cells in the battery pack. There was a couple of other small changes too and all this happened around mid-2012 if I am not mistaken.

 

[phb10186]

It's really interesting to hear of the different features and options on these cars in different parts of the world, and I'm amazed that you got a MiEV remote with your car (the Omron remote). That was something we thought only NA cars received.

No, the European iMievs got the remote too. At least here in Norway they got it, but I guess the other European countries did too. The French clones did not get the remote however, it was appearantly a Mitsubishi-only thing. It should be noted that I have seen MY2012s both with and without the remote and I have a feeling that the remote came around the time when they changed from LEV50 to LEV50N cells in the battery pack. There was a couple of other small changes too and all this happened around mid-2012 if I am not mistaken.

Well I have a UK registration date of 13th April 2012, so the car was made some time before then, and the remote.

 

[kaiat]

Interesting that your car is that early. It is possible that these early 2012 iMievs here in Norway is actually 2011-models, most likely unsold cars from other European countries. iMiev was the first car which really started the EV-craze here in Norway and the Mitsubishi-dealers could sell pretty much everything they could get of it.

 

[phb10186]

Interesting that your car is that early. It is possible that these early 2012 iMievs here in Norway is actually 2011-models, most likely unsold cars from other European countries. iMiev was the first car which really started the EV-craze here in Norway and the Mitsubishi-dealers could sell pretty much everything they could get of it.

I've been very impressed with the Norwegian approach to uptake of EVs reading around. You would have thought one of the richest economic areas on the planet (London), would be swarming with EVs, but sadly the Anglo Saxon approach is a bit less enthusiastic, dare I say short sighted. The standard-issue black SUVs seem to be as common as ever. There are quite a few Outlander PHEVs and Prii are very common now, but generally little change recently since fuel went down in price - if anything, EV used prices are as low as ever, and there has been a temporary resurgence in gas-guzzlers. In fact many who work in central London probably only do 3-4K miles a year these days, so whats the bother of running a V8 right? A debate even I crossed, but applied some long term logic I suppose.

Us Brits have not acted anything like fast enough on environmental issues, and although politicians want to position the UK at the front of green energy, it is exactly the same story as in the US; where it is just political banter. In the UK at least, a way of taxing something at the point of use, rather than subsidising the use of an alternative. The air quality in London is terrible, but they do now give a £5K grant on all EV and PHEVs, so something at least. Though we still burn coal mostly for our energy, and we are about 20 years or more behind with alternative energy infrastructure - not sure what they have been doing with the 80% or more tax on all the fuel used here, bolstering government pensions most likely.


Also, don't forget the UK is Right hand drive, so we are used to Japanese brands that are built in Japan coming in a more JDM spec than the EUDM one. In fact, I have written about this on other forums, where Japanese cars built in Europe for the UK are essentially EUDM spec with RHD, those manufactured in Japan itself tend to be JDM - and those are the cars I really like.

Though uptake of EVs is growing now, I am pleased that the UK assembles all the Leafs for Europe in the Sunderland plant - though I am sure most of the components come from Japan.

 

[misterbleepy]

If you want to hear if from outside the car, start it into ready mode, shift to N, set the handbrake--then you can get out and walk around to hear the spaceship sound...

It is absolutely a spaceship sound. It's also the kind of sound that would freak the lesser brave out on a dark country road in the middle of nowhere.

and now I'm doubly jealous that my iOn doesn't have a spaceship mode ;-)