Exploring Oregon's Coast in Mitsubishi's Plug-In Hybrid

I left San Francisco in 2000 and as the old song goes, "I left my heart..." While I did love the city, it really was the Pacific I missed. This was confirmed when we took the family on our RV travels and discovered the southern Oregon coast. I haven't been back in nine years, so when my travel pal Chelsea of Someday I'll Learn asked me to join her on a trip to coastal Oregon, I couldn't say "yes' fast enough.

 I was offered the travel services for the purpose of this review.
All opinions are my own, It is my Universe, after all.

The travel junket was for the new Fully Plug-in Hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander. I was very intrigued by this opportunity. Over the summer, I drove a fully electric car for the first time. My best friend visited me for my 53rd birthday and we took a roadtrip across western New York. It was a rental car. For the record, I had purposely avoided an electric car. I think they are terrific for commuting and hope that we shall all be driving them in the future, but driving places where I wasn't familiar, I certainly had not planned on trying out a new a kind of car. However, life had different plans, as it so often does.

The car rental agency which will remain unnamed (but may or my not be known for its distinct goldenrod lettering) was understaffed and way behind on its delivering of cars. I, however, was waited on by a very nice gentleman who told me that while I would have to wait an additional two hours for my requested vehicle, I stress additional, we could take an electric immediately. Considering we had a prepaid tour in Niagara Falls about four hours later and we were hungry, we said, "yes!".

The car drove well. I have no complaints about that. It was my constant concerns when the dash would show the available miles grow low. It simply wasn't a car for exploring.

Well, this is not a problem for the Outlander! Not only is this car a well designed 4x4 crossover with sport, mud, and snow modes, but it is smart sustainable vehicle. It has two engines - one fully plugin and one true hybrid, The car can decide for you when it is the best time to use which platform. Or you can choose manually. How cool is that?

For me, this is the car of the time and for the near future. Until the infrastructure supporting plugin only cars is more established nationwide, including more rural areas, they won't be reliable vehicles for widespread traveling. Adding the second gas hybrid engine allows that comfort level that there is nowhere I can't go even a place with no cell signal, which is exactly what Chelsea and I did in our Oregon coast wanderings!

So, if you are looking for an opportunity to explore the beach, woods, hills, or just drive to work, and still do it in the most sustainable way, the Fully Plug-in Hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander may very well be the car for you.