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Our unforgettable Iceland Ring Road trip in a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

4th March 2025, 13:12 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

Since it was the end of summer, we got some exciting offers on the Mercedes GLE, Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser, but without rooftop tents.

BHPian ₹itzylove recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Better late than never! Finally sharing the details of our unforgettable Iceland Ring Road trip from August to September 2023. We had initially planned to explore Scandinavia, but life had other plans, and Iceland became our dream destination instead. With busy work schedules, we only managed to book the essentials like tickets, car rental, and visas well in advance. The itinerary? That came together just a week before departure. We watched a few YouTube videos and read some articles at the last moment and decided to explore the rest after reaching there. We just had a rough plan and a few things to do.

The Plan

Our goal was to complete Iceland’s famous Ring Road, starting west, heading south, moving east, and finally up north in a counterclockwise direction. Late summer (Aug-Sep) seemed ideal for fewer crowds and relatively mild weather. Packing two big trolleys of warm clothes, Indian masalas, and ready-to-eat MTR packs, we set off. We opted for Lufthansa premium economy, extra legroom, minimum layover time, and the same operator for both flights; it was worth the splurge.

Car Booking - The Sad Story

Even though I was excited about exploring the beautiful landscapes of Iceland, I was even more excited about driving in that terrain; so picking the right car was key for me. Since Iceland is a friendly country for camping, we decided not to book hotels separately and started exploring the camper van options to begin with. The most common ones are two-seaters with a bed instead of rear seats, like Renault Kangoo, Dacia Dokker, etc. These are available both in automatic and manual transmissions. However, they are only front-wheel drive (FWD), except a few VW and only one Pajero, which have beds in the rear and also 4X4. I wasn’t too keen on driving those small vans and wanted to try out some 4X4. The VW was more like a Van and missed the Pajero only by a day. Since it was the end of summer, we got some exciting offers for GLE, Defender, and Land Cruisers from Hertz, but without rooftop tents well within my budget.

We found out that there are a lot of options to rent the camping gear separately, like beds, and I wanted to check if it’s possible to fold the rear seats and make a flatbed in these cars. I was quite sure it would be convenient, but I still wanted to check if Hertz would allow me to camp inside the car. So, I wrote an email. Their reply was, “It’s ok with us, however, some campsites will have rules against sleeping inside the car”, which we later realized wasn’t true, at least not in Iceland. Disappointed after seeing the reply, I started exploring more options with rooftop tents and found the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

It’s a plug-in hybrid vehicle with a pure electric range of 40 km, twin-motor 4WD system with Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC). It comes with a 2.0 Ltr 4-Cylinder engine with 2 electric motors, one at each axle. It also has heated seats and steering, which are very useful in Icelandic weather conditions. A super easy, no-nonsense car to live with, it gave no trouble throughout the trip. I was recommended to use 95 octane fuel, but not to worry, every fuel station in Iceland only has 95 octane gas. Fuel prices were approximately 180-190 INR per litre.

The Travel

We picked our flight from Chennai to Reykjavík via Frankfurt. Our preferred carrier for domestic was, as always, Indigo (mostly on time). We traveled from Coimbatore to Chennai, made sure we had a backup flight in case of any cancellation, so we reached Chennai airport well in advance. We went out and had dinner at Murugan Idli Shop.

Day 1: 29/8/23 Grindavik – The Start

Upon arrival, the car rental guy picked us up at the Reykjavík Airport in a Mercedes Vito Tourer, their office very close to the Airport. We got our Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV equipped with a pop-up tent, sleeping bags, a foldable table, chairs, a stove, an ice cooler, utensils, and Wi-Fi. He was so friendly and we started making a good conversation, that’s when I realized there is no such rule not to sleep inside the car. He rightly pointed out that all the small campers are typically offering the same. I was cursing my luck for missing out on driving a Defender, which is one of my dream SUVs to own.

After a safety briefing (and a heads-up about upcoming rain and wind alerts), he also introduced us to the website vedur.is to keep an eye on the weather, especially wind. He warned us about a windy day ahead next week and asked us not to take any chances using the rooftop tent. He suggested we either sleep inside the car (by folding the second row) or book a hotel room. We grabbed a quick lunch at a burger joint, stocked up on groceries, and reached Grindavik for our first camp night. The place lived up to its great reviews, a lively spot where travelers exchange tips and even leave behind extra supplies.

Dinner was a comforting Muttai Kolambu (egg curry - with our own masala, which really lit up a lot of fellow campers). A friendly couple from the Netherlands couldn’t resist the smell, tasted our curry, and fell in love with it. Afterward, we started working on a detailed itinerary, keeping an eye on the weather using vedur, and decided to revise our travel plan due to the weather alerts. Instead of going counterclockwise, we pivoted to clockwise to experience the north before the heavy rain hit.

Campsite image from Google:

Popup Tent - How to close - Please watch it in 3X speed:

Day 2: 30/8/23 West Iceland Highlights

Búðakirkja: A quaint black church surrounded by lava fields.

Gatklettur: A stunning rock arch by the sea.

Svörtuloft Lighthouse and Ingjaldshólskirkja: Picturesque spots perfect for photography.

Ingjaldshólskirkja: Beautiful road with a church.

Kirkjufell: The iconic "Windows screensaver" mountain (the most photographed mountain in Iceland).

We ended the day at the Grundarfjörður camp, conveniently located near a swimming pool. Note, however, that there is no kitchen or good shower room here.