THE CAR IN FACTS
LOn paper it might seem similar to our long-term Skoda Kodiaq – 4x4, diesel, auto, seven seats, well-specced interior – but one quick glance tells you that the Shogun is a very different proposition.
Its big, boxy and butch looks scream that this is a 4x4 of the old school. No-nonsense, goanyway, never-mind-yourcut-glass-inspired-headlights machismo oozes from it.
You climb up into
the cabin like you would in a pickup truck and from there you look down upon the world. Where modern SUVS sink you low in the seats, wrapped in a cosy cabin, in the Shogun your seat is high and surrounded by deep windows that let in plenty of light and give great visibility.
Also unlike most SUVS, the Shogun expects you to know your way around a 4x4 system. It has four driving modes – rear-wheel-drive, full-time four-wheel drive, four-wheeldrive with locking centre diff, and low-range 4WD – each selected manually via an oldschool lever in the cabin.
It all suggests that this is not a car for those who occasionally venture into a muddy festival car park but for people who want to take their whole family and a horsebox across a ploughed field and who put raw toughness ahead of everything else.
It’s what Mitsubishi call an “authentic 4x4” and it’s one of a dying breed, eschewing the refinement of modern SUVS in favour of old-school ruggedness.
Our test car had a tricked-out interior with fabulous white Nappa leather and a host of modern gadgets such as auto dipping lights, heated seats front and rear, sat nav, parking camera and auto climate control. But beneath that sheen is a car that’s changed little since an update in 2012 and, further back, since its launch in 2006.
The engine is five years old now and is coarse, loud and unrefined. At any speed and under any load you’re well aware that there’s a diesel unit ahead of you and we saw just 27mpg for the duration of our test. The pay-off for that is the 3.2-litre’s prodigious lowdown torque means the Shogun is capable of towing up to 3.5 tonnes – handy for horseboxes and caravans.
The rest of the driving experience follows the lead of the engine – it’s old fashioned and unrefined by today’s standards. The steering is fairly light but slow and vague and the ride isolates you from bad surfaces more through sheer geography than advanced damping. Body roll, at least isn’t as bad as you might expect from such a tall vehicle.
While the cabin is full of up-to-date gadgets there are plenty of shiny, brittle plastics around plus some “wood” that I could live without but at least ● Price: £43,305 ● Engine: 3.2-litre, four-cylinder, diesel ● Power: 187bhp ● Torque: 325lb/ft ● Transmission: Five-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive ● Top speed: 112mph ● 0-62mph: 11.1 seconds ● Economy: 30.4mpg combined ● CO2 emissions: 245g/km there’s loads of space and the boot is huge.
There is still a market for the Shogun and its Land Cruiser and Grand Cherokee rivals. People who want a well-equipped vehicle with genuine off-road abilities and the capacity to tow the heaviest trailers but don’t want to pay Land Rover Discovery or Range Rover money.
The sacrifice they have to make in the Shogun’s case is that its ruggedness is there to see, hear and feel at every turn.