2017 Hyundai Tucson vs Mitsubishi Outlander

What's the difference?

In 2015, Hyundai dropped a bomb in the medium SUV market with the all-new Tucson. Replacing the flawed but much-loved (and much-bought) ix35, the new Tucson arrived to market in a state preceding Hyundais weren't always in when launched - finished.

Not only was it finished, it was good. Very good. It looked great, had an excellent interior, appeared well-made and rode and handled like no Hyundai SUV before it. It also came with a few pieces of in-car technology that wouldn't be matched for almost 18 months by other makers. With a range stretching from $27,990 to $47,450, the Tucson covers a lot of bases for a lot of buyers in a rapidly growing market sector - the medium SUV.

Mitsubishi's plug-in hybrid Outlander is officially the best-selling electric vehicle in Australia. Though to be fair, that's like saying Blockbuster is the country's best-performing video store. It doesn't mean much if nobody is noticing, and the Outlander PHEV isn't exactly flying off the shelves.

But that's no fault of the plug-in Outlander - it's sold more 120,000 units globally since its launch in 2014. It's just that Australia's taste for electric vehicles is lacklustre, and the absence of meaningful government support isn't helping. Or, in the words of Mitsubishi's own executives, "Sales in Australia are still in an infancy period…but we're hopeful."

MORE: Read the full Mitsubishi Outlander 2017 review

Since its launch in 2014, the hybrid Outlander has moved around 1650 units here (substantially less than the Prius, which managed almost that many last year alone, but a quirk of the official classification system ensures Mitsubishi's PHEV is classified as an EV rather than a hybrid), which is but a drop in the regular Outlander's petrol-powered ocean, with the conventional models selling more than eight times that number every single year.

But Mitsubishi is hoping this 2017 update will go some way to changing all that, adding a pure EV mode that will allow you to waft about town using nothing but power from the twin electric motors, and tweaking the acceleration and handling for when you're in the mood to burn some fossil fuels.

So, is that enough to attract buyers to the plug-in Outlander like moths to the flicker of an electric candle?