Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross vs BMW 850I

What's the difference?

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross Plug-in Hybrid EV is an interesting inclusion for the brand, especially as it is typically considered a ‘value player’ in the market.

But with negligible real-world fuel consumption benefits if you drive beyond the limited EV range and a high price premium over the non-PHEV models, it’s important you see if the sums add up for your particular needs.

Primarily going to use the car for running around town? Cool. Think the 50-ish-kay EV range will work for you and make you happy? Amazing. Sold on the look of the car? Hat tipped.

But let me say this - if you are considering the Eclipse Cross PHEV, there are some alternatives you should also have on your list, including the MG HS PHEV, the Hyundai Ioniq PHEV, Kia Niro PHEV, and - the one I’d buy - a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. For me, plug-in hybrid tech is a bit of a halfway house, in most instances offering too high a price premium for the range you’re getting to drive electric. Heck, a Kona Electric isn’t much more than the top-spec Exceed PHEV, and I’d have that if I wanted a real day-to-day EV experience.

Does the world really need a car as outrageously loud, over-the-top, exclusive and stupidly fast as BMW’s new 8 Series? Obviously not, but BMW clearly felt that its range, and its customers, could do with something like this. On paper, and even from the kerb, it seems a strange beast - luxurious and yet lightning quick - but from the driver’s seat it just instantly makes sense. And makes you smile. Scarily, there’s an even faster 8 Series Competition version to come…

You’re going to be able to tell the PHEV model from its more conventional counterparts by those oversized ‘Plug-in Hybrid EV’ badges on the front doors, and if you want to tell those behind you what you’re driving, there’s also a ‘PHEV’ badge there, too. Wait, wasn’t the plan to do away with the term ‘PHEV’, Mitsubishi? 

But aside from that, the outside features just the different 18-inch alloy wheels (which are the same on all PHEV models, no matter the cost - I think that’s a bit lame, because if I’m spending $7500 on the Exceed I’d like a different wheel design!). Oh, and the Aspire and Exceed get that different lower front splitter, too.

Plus the PHEV has two fuel filler doors - one on each side of the car over the rear wheels. The driver’s side one is the EV charging ports (x2 - detailed below), and the passenger’s side one is for the petrol. Note: while the EV port is push-openable, the petrol cap still requires you to lift a lever in the driver’s footwell. 

It may be categorised a small SUV but at 4545mm long, riding on a 2670mm wheelbase, 1805mm wide and 1685mm tall, it’s big for its boots. The popular Mazda CX-5 is only 5mm longer, and it plays in the midsize SUV segment!

Inside there are some design differences, with a specific gear joystick-style selector, and a different instrument panel.

It is impressive how the brand has managed to shoehorn a petrol engine, two electric motors, a battery pack and more into the car, but there are some practicality implications. Read about them in the next section.

In terms of improving on the car it’s replacing, the new 8 Series pretty much smacks it out of the park. Time has not been kind to vehicles fitted with pop-up headlights and the previous 8 Series, which roamed the planet in limited numbers from 1989 to 1999, with now-unimaginable V12 engines, seems a strange-looking beast, with its tiny little kidney grille almost hiding beneath a BMW badge.

The new M850i is a simply stunning looking beast, particularly in Coupe form (the Convertible is not ugly, but it just doesn’t look as complete). Extremely wide and menacingly low, it seems to loom over whatever patch of ground its parked on, giving off an air of magnificent malevolence.

It looks fantastic when followed from behind, but it’s the front view - featuring the thinnest headlight design ever seen on a BMW for a sleek, Iron Man-like face - that really grabs your attention.

Proportion, poise and big old 20-inch wheels give it plenty of presence, while the way the glasshouse tucks in at the rear only magnifies its powerful hips.

BMW has also thrown plenty of design flair at the interior, where you’ll find the unusual yet fabulous-feeling glass gear lever (there’s more of this sparkly, cut-crystal-like stuff on the volume knob, Start button and iDrive controller).

Not only does it feel truly unique and expensive in your hand, but it has an 8 buried beneath it, which shifts and shimmers as you try and see it through the many angles of the glass.

Elsewhere, the cabin is swathed in merino leather and feels undeniably classy, with a touch of modernity via its big screen, but it’s still not quite as beautiful as the cockpit you’d find in an Audi of a similar price. Close, but not quite.

Up front, the cabin is a pretty smart place, with nice enough materials and finishes, and a few good storage options. There’s a cubby in front of the shifter, but oddly enough it doesn’t have a wireless charger (there are 2x USB 2.0 ports above) and isn’t quite big enough for a smartphone (even the smaller ones don’t fit there all that easily), and there are cup holders between the seats, a decent covered centre console bin, and door pockets large enough for bottles.

The PHEV models get a different instrument cluster dial for EV driving readout info, but all have the old-school 4.2-inch TFT colour display that lacks the size and usability of some rivals with larger info screens - the MG HS PHEV, for instance, has a 12.3-inch digital display, which shows you a lot more info than this tiny little screen does. Heck, there’s not even a digital speedometer in there - and you only get one if you buy the Exceed model, which has a head-up display (HUD).

That’s part of the problem with the way this car’s interface operates. If you want the most detailed information you need to use the touchscreen media system, but that negates the usability of the media functions. On multiple occasions I found myself switching between Apple CarPlay phone calls and searching for that particular driving info screen I found most useful (there are about 15 screens to choose from, and plenty of them are hard to decipher).

It’s a huge disappointment for a customer who might want to see all that detailed information but also listen to a podcast, answer a call, follow their phone’s mapping or just have anything other than the hybrid info come up on the infotainment screen. The screen itself - an 8.0-inch unit, with sat nav integrated into the top spec only - is fine, but small compared to today’s rivals.

In the back seat, there’s a compromise for cabin space. The leg room is good, but the seat has been bumped up to accommodate some of the electrical hardware and the petrol tank, meaning someone my size (182cm/6’0”) will find they’ve got enough room for their legs but not their head, and those even larger will really need to take care getting in and out. While pre-facelift examples of this car had a clever sliding second row seat, that’s gone. It was never a feature in any PHEV version, and undoubtedly the layout of the battery pack has something to do with that. 

The double pane sunroof no doubt eats into the space in the rear to a degree as well, and in the Exceed it likely feels a bit more cramped because of the black headliner. 

While three adults could potentially fit across the back row for very short trips, there are dual ISOFIX and three top-tether points for child seats. The Exceed is the one you want if you’re aiming to treat your rear-seat passengers right: it has heated rear outboard seats, rear directional air vents and two USB ports for charging - the ES and Aspire miss out on all that stuff.  

Boot space is 359L (VDA) for PHEV models, which is a step down from the 405 litres (VDA) for the non-hybrid models. There is extra hardware under the floor, and you don’t get a spare wheel in the PHEV models either - instead there’s a tyre repair kit. For context, we only just managed to fit all three CarsGuide hard suitcases (124L, 95L and 36L) in the boot of the PHEV version, while it was far less of an issue in the non-PHEV.

Oddly, no model comes with a power tailgate. 

At the very least, you’d have to say the 8 Series is fit for purpose. The seats are hugely comfortable for long journeys, so that’s practical, there’s a handy tray for your phone, where it will be wirelessly charged, and there are two cupholders in front of that, and storage for bottles in the doors.

No human larger than primary school age will ever sit in the back, so there’s not a lot going on back there.

In terms of boot space, it’s reasonably capacious at 420 litres, or 350 litres for the Convertible.

It can be hard to use the word “value” when talking about a car that costs north of $270,000, and keep in mind that this 8 Series is thus even more expensive than a Porsche 911. And a car has to be very good indeed to be worth more than one of those.

We would respectfully suggest that this BMW is pitched a little high in price terms. 

Staggeringly, while the standard equipment list is lengthy and the inclusions are high end, you can still spend even more on options, and fairly easily push the price past $300,000 - Pure Metal Silver pain, for example, will set you back $10,400, while a pack of external carbon bits will hit you for another $7500, or $6,600 for the Convertible.

Standard equipment includes, deep breath, 20-inch M-branded light-alloy wheels, a tyre-pressure indicator, M Sport Brakes, M Sport Differential, Adaptive M Suspension Professional with Integral Active Steering, Active anti-roll stabilisation, Comfort Access including a kick-open tailgate, wireless phone charging, Soft Close Doors, BMW Crafted Clarity Glass Application, Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant Plus, including 3D View and Reverse Assistant, Laserlights, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch Control Display, metallics, paint, merino leather upholstery, heated steering wheel and arm rests, and seats, a 16-speaker harmon.kardon sound system, a Head-Up Display and the hugely pointless Gesture Control. 

The Convertible model also gets an Air Collar, to keep your neck warm when the roof is down.

The plug-in hybrid version runs a non-turbocharged 2.4-litre Atkinson cycle petrol engine producing just 94kW and 199Nm.

Meagre outputs, but the petrol unit is backed by two electric motors - the front motor has outputs of 60kW/137Nm, while the rear motor produces 70kW/195Nm. It’s all controlled by a single-speed transmission.

There is no ‘combined power output’ figure, but there is a 13.8kWh lithium-ion battery pack as part of the equation as well.

The engine can power the battery pack in series hybrid driving mode, so if you want to top up the batteries before you get to a city, you can. And there is regenerative braking, of course. More on recharging in the next section.

Truly, there is one impressive engine sitting under that big, hulking bonnet. The M-fettled 4.4-litre V8 has two turbochargers located inside the V of the block for “immediacy of response”, and they certainly deliver that.

Peak power of 390kW is delivered between 5500rpm and 6000rpm while its hefty 750Nm of torque is on song, for effortless overtaking, from 1800rpm all the way to 4600rpm.

Looking at those rev figures it’s clear to see that you are initially launched by a huge wave of torque and then, while you’re still drawing breath, the power really kicks in. 

All that grunt equates to 0 to 100km/h in just 3.7 seconds, which is very fast indeed, and you also get to enjoy a growly, guttural soundtrack, thanks to the standard Sport Exhaust.

The Convertible has the same engine with the same figures, but it’s slightly heavier and thus takes 3.9 seconds to hit the tonne. Which is still stupidly fast for this much car.

The Eclipse Cross PHEV has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 1.9L/100km. That’s astounding, really, but you need to realise that the test calculation is only for the first 100 kays - there’s a really good chance your real-world consumption will be a lot higher, as you can only deplete the battery charge once before calling on the engine (and your petrol tank) to juice it back up.

Electric driving range is stated at 55km based on NEDC cycle testing, while the WLTP rating is a more realistic 45km. In our testing we fell between the two during our “fully charged” 100km run, in which the electric charge initially ran for 50km. But, over the 100km run, the dashboard info screen said the car used “82 per cent” electric driving, while somehow also showing 3.9L/100km for petrol consumption.

I did the numbers at the fuel filler, and the actual return was 4.5L/100km. That’s okay, but not nearly as spectacular as you might hope, and I’ve seen very close in a RAV4 hybrid - which in most instances is cheaper than the Eclipse Cross despite being bigger and, frankly, a lot better.

I also ran the car for a further 100 kays without plugging in, just to see what the ‘worst case scenario’ might be - and it wasn’t too bad, with the fuel consumption jumping to a real-world return of 5.5L/100km. But again, that’s worse than you’ll likely get with a RAV4…

When it comes to charging/recharging, there is available AC charging using a Type 2 plug that can fully recharge the battery in as little as 3.5 hours, according to the brand. DC fast charging with a CHAdeMO plug should fill from zero to 80 per cent in 25 minutes. Maximum charge input is 3.6kW.

Like me, you’ll want to do the maths to see what is going to be the most economical way to run your car - aside from just plugging it in at the office and hoping nobody notices.

A standard 10-amp household plug - which should take about seven hours to replenish the batteries - could cost as little as $1.88 to get back your circa-50km EV range - that’s based on overnight charging, off-peak, on an average 13.6c/kWh electricity price. Of course, if you’re considering a PHEV, you might have a solar array and the electricity could well be free. Good for you.

But remember, there’s more to it than just the electricity costs - you need to also consider the additional purchase budget required just to get into the PHEV model over a regular Eclipse Cross. 

Good luck ever matching these figures, with all that V8 temptation beneath your right foot, but the claimed number, at least, is 10.4 litres per 100km for the Coupe and 10.6 for the Convertible. During our launch drive we would have been absolutely nowhere near those figures.

If you’re after that electric car thrill of near-silent, almost mind-blowing acceleration, the Eclipse Cross mightn’t be the right car for you

But if swift progress and the buzz you get from taking off from the traffic lights without any hesitation at all is more your thing, it could be great for you. And if you’re not quite ready to go “full EV”, then it’s probably something you’re considering.

The EV driving mode is the best driving mode in this car. You can run it just on the petrol engine to ensure you save your battery range, and you might choose to do that when you’re driving on the freeway and know you’re approaching an urban area where the EV goodness will be better used. Or you could have it so it's using battery and petrol power, and that’s where you’ll get maximum combined performance.

But running the car in the default, EV-prioritised mode means you will make the best of this powertrain's strengths, because - for the fifty odd kays you’ll get out of the battery - it’s pretty good.

It’s also impressive the way this powertrain dips between petrol engine, battery pack or both at higher speeds. When the battery range had depleted on my test drive, the engine kicked in almost imperceptibly, working to power the car and also generate more electricity for the battery pack. It then dipped out of petrol, back to battery, and so on and so forth, multiple times during my drive. 

The best thing about the way it did so was that it was smooth. There is barely any vibration from the petrol engine, the transmission doesn’t have any gears to fumble with, and overall the refinement is really good.

There are drive modes - Eco, Normal, Snow, Gravel and Tarmac - and in my test I kept to Normal. I did fiddle with the regenerative braking reactiveness, though, using the paddleshifters to dial up or down the aggressiveness of the energy recoup system. It doesn’t feel as aggressive as some pure electric cars, but thankfully it has a decent pedal feel and progression when you apply the brakes yourself. 

The steering is light and lacks feel, and doesn’t offer that much engagement or involvement. That might matter to you if you’re like me. I wish it was more fun. But at least it’s easy to park.

While the suspension is fine and comfortable on the highway, it can feel wooden and the ride is quite lumpy at low speeds. It never really feels all that well resolved for urban driving, which is a bit of a downer considering that’s likely where a car like this will spend most of its time

The tune of the suspension - being a bit firm at lower pace - surprisingly doesn’t have any payoff when it comes to cornering, as it lacks a bit of body control, shifting its weight side to side. 

All in all it is a decent plug-in hybrid offering – and will be perfectly suitable to someone who wants some EV driving as a part of their lifestyle. It’s just a matter of doing the maths as to whether it will work for you.

There is a sizeable distance between driving a small, lithe sports car that can sprint from 0 to 100km/h in a scorching 3.7 seconds, and then piloting something that feels as large, and louche, as a cruise ship that can do the same thing.

Accelerating in the M850i is an experience that can only be described as hilarious. There’s just so much mass attempting to move so quickly that it defies belief. The way the nose rears into the air, and the rear end seems to dip towards the ground, brings to mind a bucking bronco, although a feisty polo pony would probably be more appropriate.

It’s easy to see why this car is all-wheel drive rather than the traditional BMW rear-driven layout, because there’s just no way you could get all that grunt to the ground with two wheels, or not without some serious power oversteer issues.

For a car that weighs more than 1.8 tonnes, the 8 Series is surprisingly fluid and involving on winding stretches of road. It feels hunkered down and hammered into the road, which is less of a surprise, but the steering is so perfectly weighted and the power delivery so well calibrated that it really encourages you to push on, and rewards you sense of adventure with smile-widening pace.

It’s quite something to suggest of a car that costs a quarter of a million dollars, but the M850i actually exceeds your expectations in terms of driving joy. On paper, it looks like a straight-line bully, or merely a very grand grand tourer, and it does eat up the miles on a freeway with class and ease, but when you want to point it at a mountain pass, it excels there as well.

We drove the new 8 Series back to back with BMW’s also-new Z4, and what really stood out was not just the gulf in power and poise, but the huge difference in the ride/handling balance.

The M850i really can soak up the worst our roads can throw at it with aplomb, while still making you feel connected to the ground beneath you, and inspiring confidence, and its abilities really did make the Z4 feel very brittle and hard indeed.

To be fair, we didn’t get to throw this big luxo-barge at any sections of really sharp S-bends, or 35km/h corners, and no doubt it would be challenge for it to change direction quickly, but through fast sweepers it really does excel.

And as far as its grand-touring design brief, it absolutely nails it.

There’s no ANCAP rating to go on for this car, and nor is there anything similar out of Europe to give us guidance, but you do get eight airbags - front, full-length sides and head protection on the sides and in headliner, plus knee airbags for the front seats.

The 8 Series also gets Driving Assistant Plus as standard, which includes Active Cruise with full Stop&Go function, which BMW considers to be “full AEB”, meaning it will bring the car to a standstill, automatically, when required.

There’s a huge 10 year/200,000 kilometre warranty on offer - but it’s valid if you maintain your car with Mitsubishi’s dedicated dealer service network over the 10 years/200,000km timeline, or else you get a five-year/100,000km plan.

But while the rest of the car will be covered by that decade-long warranty if you service it with Mitsubishi, the battery is only covered for eight years/160,000km, no matter where you have the car serviced.

Maintenance is due every 12 months/15,000km. But just a note - the more complex powertrain means higher service costs than the regular turbo-petrol versions. The annual fees are: $299, $399, $299, $399, $299, $799, $299, $799, $399, $799; so an average cost of $339 for the first five years, or $558.90 per visit over 10 years/150,000kn. 

Included for customers who service their car with the brand is four years of roadside assist.

Do you have questions over reliability, issues, concerns, recalls, automatic transmission problems, or anything else of that ilk? Check out our Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross problems page.

BMW is sticking with its not-very-industry-leading three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, and says its customers are happy with that, rather than the five- or seven-year warranties some other companies offer. When you’re paying this much for a car, it seems a trifle mean, frankly.

Like all modern BMWs, the servicing requirements for your M850i are controlled by the Condition Based Servicing (CBS) system, which means that “advanced algorithms monitor and calculate the conditions in which a vehicle is used, including mileage, time elapsed since its last service, fuel consumption and how a vehicle is driven”. 

That information allows the car to decide for itself when an annual vehicle inspection or oil service is due.

BMW offers two fixed-price servicing plans, under its BMW Service Inclusive (BSI), which is available in two packages: Basic - $2,290 for five years/80,000km or $5,170 for Plus.