OUTLANDER GETS THE BUSINESS
Mitsubishi’s SUV a safe bet for compact lovers
The front and middle row seats were acceptably comfortable, and braking and steering offered decent response and feedback.
Isuppose if I were renting a car on a family vacation, I’d be satisfied with a Mitsubishi Outlander—sort of roomy, comfortable on the road, third-row seating, decent fuel economy, safe. And boring. Which, as most middle-aged men know, is just fine when hauling around family. When we were courting, Beautiful Blonde tolerated my race driver ways as somewhat dashing. Now it occurs to her that being flung about the cabin willy-nilly makes her somewhat nauseous. Such is the way of life.
So our weekend foray around northeast Texas, in search of high school baseball teams that themselves were in search of dry fields on which to conduct playoff games, was well equipped with an AWD Outlander GT. There would be no time-trial driving on this journey. Not that there wasn’t need. After a rain-delayed Friday night match, we arrived at the purported site of Saturday’s noon game to discover a flooded field and empty parking lot. A couple of quick phone calls brought the information that we needed to haul tail across back roads to a field 54 miles away.
So we did, in a sedate manner, befitting of the Outlander’s personality. In the highly competitive world of compact sports utilities—CUVs among the motor pres press intelligentsia, an oxymoron if ever th there was one—the Outlander is running n behind the pack. The Honda CR-V, GMC Terrain, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape, Jeep Renegade, VW Tiguan, others are more attractive, quieter, offer slicker cabins and more spirited driving, and have wider dealer networks. To its credit, Mitsubishi knows the cu current Outlander, introduced in 2014, falls well short of most benchmarks and has alreadyalr rolled out a 2016 model with the longestlon list of upgrades and improvements ever seen in a mid-cycle refresh. In fact, Mitsubishi says the 2016 is not a refresh, but a redesign, which it is not since the same chassis, albeit reinforced, and power trains are employed.
Still, the new Outlander addresses most of the gig marks we gave it: Cheap cabin materials (“rat fur” roof lining, really?), excessive wind noise from door seals, a hollow sound system, poor management of noise, vibration and harshness. Not addressed, however, is a lack of cargo space, which ranks near the bottom of the segment.
Addressed with limited success is the Outlander’s bland exterior. Designers added some character lines, but the seven-seat model still is as exciting as glass of milk. The smaller Sport version is attractive, but big brother is, uhm, a really nice guy who knows how to cook? No, wait, I’m that. Hmmmm.
In the meantime, Mitsubishi dealers are stocked with competent CUVs that are less expensive, have better warranties (7 years, 100,000 miles on the power train) and have better safety ratings than most competitors.
Outlander was designated a “Top Safety Pick+” rated vehicle by the International Institute for Highway Safety—its highest safety award designation—because of hightech safety body construction and the availability of forward collision mitigation technology that alerts drivers to a potential frontal collision with visual and audio alerts and automatically applies emergency braking to reduce the severity of the collision or to help avoid it altogether.
Additional standard safety features found on the Mitsubishi Lancer, Outlander and Outlander Sport include seven air bags, active stability control, traction control logic, tire pressure monitoring system, and antilock braking system with electronic brakeforce distribution and brake assist.
Our tester came with the optional 3.0liter V6 engine, which provides adequate but not head-snapping power from 224 hp and 215 lb-ft of torque. Combined with a
6-speed automatic, the drive train offers smooth shifts and enough power to keep up with Texas' 80-mph interstate traffic.
That output is on the low end of what's available in the class and one wonders if we might not have been better served with standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that generates 166 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque, paired with a continuously variable automatic transmission. With that setup, the Outlander is among class leaders with an EPA estimated 31 mpg on the highway, and 27 combined.
The V6 gets 27 mpg on the highly and a combined 23, which is exactly what our tester achieved on the recommended premium unleaded fuel.
The front and middle row seats were acceptably comfortable, and braking and steering offered decent response and feedback. Third-row seating would be acceptable to younger children, or downright useful to troupe of traveling acrobats. Small ones.
Bottom Line: Competent, safe useful and durable, the Outlander is not among our first 10 picks in the CUV niche.