Editor Review

Perfect D Segment SUV

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Exterior

  

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Overview

Mitsubishi Outlander is the ultimate sports utility vehicle available in its prescribed segment. This awesome performer is absolute worth of money put on it. Outlander user would feel the punch of driving it.

This SUV was originally available as Mitsubishi Air trek. This variant class was first launched in Japan in the year 2001. The name Air Trek was coined to express the idea of adventure-filled travelling pleasure. It has the normal 5-speed manual transmission gear box.

Then this lead to the face lift of Air trek in to much improved and improvised successor Outlander. The new name plate Outlander meant to give more joy for the user when travelling to distant destinations with a pinch of adventure.

Design

From the outside, the Outlander is a very good-looking SUV, with sporty lines and nicely molded lighting. The front has a prominent skid plate coming up from underneath, indicating a good approach angle for off-roading.

The bumper bisects the grille's honeycombed top and bottom to give it a strong performance look. The prominent wheel arches are pretty common these days, but the clearance inside the wheel wells suggest the Outlander is ready for bigger wheels.

Interiors

The view forward is dominated by the heavily raked windshield and the resulting ultra-deep instrument panel.The seats provide a marginal level of comfort and support. The side bolsters are soft, and thus cave when called upon to perform.

There's enough room for adults in the reclinable second row even when it's fully forward. Slide it back a few inches, and there's plenty of legroom. But this is fairly typical of the class these days. Unfortunately, the seat is flat, hard, and generally not comfortable to sit on.

The seat's padding is extremely thin, so that it takes up as little space as possible when stowed in the floor. Putting the seat up and down is very complicated.

The instructions are unclear, and it took the salesman a few minutes and multiple attempts to erect it. The cargo area is a plus. It is access through a liftgate-tailgate combination. The tailgate is essentially the rar bumper--making me wonder about damage in a minor rear-ender.

Engine

The 2.0-litre diesel engine available in the Outlander from launch is a 140bhp engine also used in the Mitsubishi Grandis people carrier, and supplied by Volkswagen. It is also used in various Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and Skoda models. For the most part it performs very well, with maximum torque of 229lb-ft arriving at just 1750rpm.

However, there are a few scenarios that seem to catch it out, such as a sudden long incline during a steady motorway cruise hindering its ability to maintain speed, and resulting in having to change down to fifth gear. Otherwise the engine is responsive and pulls keenly from low revs. The second-generation Outlander is the best car Mitsubishi has produced in years.

Not only does it match the latest class leaders in many areas, it also offers several unique features. Unlike the original Outlander (which came only with a petrol engine and four-speed automatic transmission), the new model comes with a modern diesel engine and six-speed manual gearbox.

It is roomier, has a better quality interior, is better to drive and is more practical than before, with some models getting third row seats and all benefiting from a split tailgate improving access to the luggage compartment.

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