Our cars: Mitsubishi L200
Food delivery run helps us to test pick-up’s practicality
I GENERALLY dread visiting my mother-in-law. Not because she’s like someone from an old Les Dawson joke or she thinks I’m not good enough for her daughter – although she’d be right if she did. No, my reluctance to visit her is totally down to the journey from my home near Cambridge to her flat in West London.
The M11 can have its moments but is usually okay, then you have to run the gauntlet of the North Circular or the M25.
We usually allow two hours for the trip, yet it can easily take three, with much of the time spent in grinding, stop-start traffic. But I was looking forward to the latest visit on VE Day. Not just because my wife could top up the freezer with meals for her mother, who is now quite a frail 92, but also because it would be the first time I’d driven more than a couple of miles to the supermarket in the L200 since the end of March.
It was good to get out, and the lack of traffic due to the lockdown made the trip a pleasure; the journey was done in a barely credible one hour and 20 minutes.
Freezer filled and, via a short detour to my equally aged mother on a similar food
delivery mission, it took a near identical time to get home. Mission accomplished.
To make the trip, I had to fill up and saw it was two months since I’d last done it. I don’t think I’ve ever gone that long between fills in my daily driver. Fuel consumption in the L200 is just over 27mpg, and for once that is not skewed by towing my track cars.
I had hoped for more given the onboard computer often shows economy in the low 30s. I also expected better from a new design with 30bhp or so less than many rivals. Things may improve as the miles rack up and the motor loosens up. It seems a little less harsh than before, but it’s still hardly refined.
The trip to the pumps saw a repeat of the fuel flap failing to open when the release by the driver’s foot was pulled. Fortunately, my
wife was able to pull the lever as I pushed on the flap. It needs investigating since I don’t want to get caught out when I’m alone. I’m really not a fan of the system because I still forget to release the flap when I go to the passenger-side filler. I’d prefer a door that works with the central locking system.
I mentioned my concern over the security of the pick-up bed in Issue 1,626, but right now I’d be quite happy if some criminal cleaned it out, because even more test samples and unwanted kit have gone in there since my previous report.
The load bed is big, but I’m running out of space as I’m getting to the end of my garage clear out. Happily, the extra weight helps settle the L200’s ride, particularly on the motorway, but on the capital’s rough streets it remains a trial. There doesn’t seem to be much compliance in the suspension, which reacts to every bump or dip, and there’s also a rattling from the rear seat.
Still, the 130-mile round trip confirmed our L200’s cabin is a comfortable place to be. The air conditioning coped easily with the VE Day heat, the seats were comfortable, and the infotainment system proved easy to use, with Apple CarPlay providing us with both directions and entertainment.
The steering is slow so it requires plenty of arm-twirling when parking, but it is well weighted and needs little effort on the move – which is exactly where I want to be, and preferably towing my Caterham or Lotus Elise to a race track. I know that the L200 will be more than up to the job, and I’m keen to see how it changes as the miles go on.
“Extra weight in the load bed helps settle the ride, particularly on the motorway”