I get a lot of questions about the relationship between nissan and mitsubishi, so let me quickly address that. Mitsubishi is a member of the nissan renault mitsubishi alliance, which means that nissan owns about 34 percent of mitsubishi and that gives mitsubishi access to engineering talent, platforms, and other things from nissan whenever they need them, which is how the outlander and the rogue came to be Essentially, they were able to create an outlander based on the rogue’s platforms that shares a lot with the nissan rogue on the inside and under the hood, but on the outside, this is definitely mitsubishi styled as we see in a lot of modern cars we have a divorced headlight theme here with the turn signals and accent lights up top headlights below but this is an enormous headlight module there are six reflector beams on each headlight.
At 185.4 inches long, the outlander is a tweener, slotting in between the rav4 and the kia sorrento.
It’s a little closer to the sorrento, being just three inches shorter than that kia and five inches longer than the rav4 it also has headlight washers, which are something that’s generally reserved for luxury vehicles and you’ll find it on the upper end trims of outlander.
It’s paired to a standard continuously variable automatic gearbox that gets 27 mpg in front wheel drive and 26 mpg in all-wheel drive.
As you are undoubtedly aware, I am a huge fan of what I refer to as “emergency usage third rows.” The third row back here isn’t huge; it’s not going to be as big as an atlas, a telluride, or a sequoia, but it’s eminently practical because you can either fit seven people in here with a little bit of cargo space (11.7 cubic feet behind the third row) or you can fold the third row down, which I suspect many people will do most of the time, and then you have access to 33.5 cubic feet of cargo space, which is Another interesting feature is that the third row seats recline; you can put them in a more reclined or upright position, but you must remove the headrest yourself before flipping and folding that seat forward.
This is likely due to the cargo area dimensions; the roller cover will not cover the cargo if the third row is in place; there’s nowhere for that roller cover to dock.
Mitsubishi Outlander 2022
If you’re wondering about a spare tire, the spare is a casualty of having the third row in place.
There’s a little bit of webbing right here that I can pull to put the seat in a more comfortable upright position, but I noticed that if you get the sunroof, headroom is quite limited.
My hair is definitely brushing the ceiling, and it’s mainly because of the shape of this sunroof.
It may be difficult to see on camera, but this large sunroof causes perhaps a three inch loss in headroom.
If you don’t get the sunroof, Lots of pockets on the driver and front passenger seats, and thanks to the legroom and width, plenty of room for multiple child seats back here now it’s time to try out the third row.
It’s pretty simple, the seats tilt and slide forward, but you should know that you can’t leave a child seat latch in place and still get into the third row, and the door opening is going to be smaller than the average mid-sized c.
We find just over 100 inches of combined legroom back here if I squeeze my feet right there under that seat and put this back into position I could sit up front I could definitely sit in the second row and I could probably handle being in the third row and as you can see there’s not a lot of headroom I would have to crane my head to one side to sit back here but I could do this for a while we find just over 100 inches of combined legroom back here if I squeeze my Mitsubishi chose a horizontal concept for this car, with two alternative infotainment systems.
When you exit the standard smartphone integration mode, you’ll be greeted with an infotainment system that runs much the same software as the nissan rogue, which is a good thing since it’s snappy, easy to use, and quite intuitive.
There are some physical buttons right down there for access to things like the camera system, which has a 360-degree camera and is a pretty crisp model as well.
When you’re in forward, you’ll see that forward camera view, and when I put it in reverse, that main camera view will change.
Below the infotainment system, we have two very horizontal vents that definitely go with the horizontal theme in here.
seats that are heated steering wheel that is heated one usbc and one standard usb input We also have a qi wireless charging pad, a joystick type shifter with an unlock button on the side right here that we pull back for drive park, and a terrain management knob with multiple different driving modes right on top.
One interesting feature is that the sport mode is called tarmac.
Over here, we have an electric parking brake and two decently sized cup holders.
There’s no lid or anything like that on the center armrest, which opens to reveal a fairly small storage area under the center console.
There are some small storage cubbies on either side, but it’s not a completely open area right there under the console.
On the driver’s side, we have an available 10-inch color heads-up display and depending on the This has a very similar look to what we see in the Nissan Rogue, and if we change the meter view, you’ll notice the similarity here as well, where we have two roller dials on each side and the larger display section in the middle.
This display also gives us things like compass rose status, vehicle’s active safety systems readouts from the infotainment system including smartphone integration right there.
Obviously, each manufacturer has tuned this platform, the cvt, and the engine a little bit differently, and in this vehicle it seems a little bit more eager to imitate automatic transmission shifts, and of course, the fastest way to get from 0 to 60 is for the engine to just hang out at a high rpm and accelerate, and anytime you start imitating shifts like this transmission does, things will get a little bit slower.
Mitsubishi has done an excellent job blending handling ability with ride quality, but this is a touch stiffer than I anticipated and certainly firmer than the previous Outlander, so I’ll give it a minus for ride quality.
Back out on the paved road at 50 miles per hour, I measured 71 decibels in here, making this one of the quieter options in this segment.
I credit a lot of sound insulation for that because this does have wider tires than the average compact crossover out there you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll find you’ll larger wheels More road noise in general, but Mitsubishi has done an excellent job keeping the interior quiet.
They’ve also done a fair job with fuel efficiency, averaging 28 mpg despite the fact that this model is technically rated for 26 mpg.
You can credit the cvt for that bottom number.
The Outlander is a compact small crossover with a very useful third row in the back, but I wish it had a little more oomph.
I’m not talking a lot of oomph, but a turbocharged engine with say 220 horsepower would be a really good fit for this vehicle.
The handling is sharp and excellent, and the steering feel is decent.
The cabin is quiet, and the fuel economy is excellent, but the lack of power will likely turn off a significant number of buyers.
While some people believe that a 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds or 8.4 seconds is unsafe, remember that cars in the 1980s were lucky if they could do 0-60 in 11 seconds.
If you find yourself in a dangerous situation on the road, accelerating out of danger is not really a thing.
The reason for this is that if things go really bad, even a supercar is unlikely to accelerate quickly enough with your reaction time, downshift time for the transmission, and so on to truly get you out of a situation that you couldn’t also resolve by simply slamming on the brakes and stopping in 110 to 115 feet, which this vehicle is eminently capable of [Music] [Music] Now let’s look at the pricing for 2022.
The outlander will start at $26,995, which gets you the seven-seat version.
If you want all-wheel drive, it’ll cost you $27,895, and the third row seat will remain.
This is what really sets the outlander apart from the only other compact crossover with three rows, which is the Volkswagen tiguan.
For some strange reason, Volkswagen decided to shuffle things around.
It’s about 3 500 less than a kia sorento and 300 less than a toyota rav4 and if you get carried away with options it won’t be quite as expensive as some of the competition it tops out at around 37 695 plus a 1245 destination charge with that out of the way let’s get into the competition which has to start with the rav4.
The rav4 is the best-selling compact crossover in the United States and really the best-selling anything that It’ll cost at least $1500 more, and depending on the options you choose, it could cost anywhere from $2,000 to $2500 more.
Obviously, the rav4 has a well-deserved reputation for reliability, but it doesn’t come with a third row, and the second row isn’t as roomy as it was in previous generations for some reason the rav4 has actuated.
The mitsubishi litter should be selling below msrp, while the rav4 tends to sell right at msrp.
Right now, both of them are probably selling over msrp, but you’ll still get a better deal on the outlander than you would on the rav4.
Moving on, we have the nissan rogue, which is interestingly related to the outlander.
Of course, if you test drive them side by side, you’ll notice Many people I know think Volkswagen’s recent interior styling is a little too austere, but I think it’s handsome in a restrained way.
However, I think the outlander is a little bit more visually interesting on the inside.
One really nice touch in the tiguan is that it comes standard with a standard lcd instrument cluster for 2022.
That’s a very nice touch.
The kia sorento comes next, which is likewise a compact three-row crossover, but it’s one of those peculiar in-between sized cars.
On the exterior, it’s halfway between a small crossover and a mid-size crossover in terms of vehicle width, but on the interior, it’s more like a Toyota Highlander than a Rav4.
The sorrento has roughly 12 inches greater total legroom than the outlander, while the third row is essentially identical to the outlander’s.
The third row in the sorento gives you more legroom than the third row in the volkswagen or the mitsubishi, but it’s not a three-passenger third row, so the sorento is a seven- or six-passenger vehicle depending on the version you get; there’s no eight-passenger version like the honda and toyota have.
The last thing to know about the sorrento is that its price tag falls between segments.
It will be more expensive than the mitsubishi outlander because it will provide you with more space, an optional turbo engine, and so on, but it will be less expensive than a toyota highlander because it will provide you with things like a standard v6 engine.
I suppose the same could be said of the mitsubishi in a way because there are certainly smaller and less expensive two-row SUVs If you intend on utilizing the third row on a frequent basis, particularly for bigger adolescents or adults, it should only be used in an emergency.
You should look at a larger crossover unless you can’t afford one, in which case you could make do with the outlander.
Just keep in mind that there isn’t much legroom back there.
It’s more than a lexus rxl with the optional third row in that lexus rx, but that’s not saying much.
On the other hand, if you need the third row on occasion and you can stuff the kids back there, I would absolutely buy a vehicle like this I suppose I’m going to go with Outlander.
The front den design isn’t my style, but I like the inside, and you’ll probably get a better bargain on it on the Mitsubishi dealer lot right now, and I love a good deal, so let me know what you think and find me on Facebook.com.
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