Larger and more powerful than the model it replaces,
Mitsubishi has aimed its Outlander at bigger game. Where last year's model had
Subaru dead in its sights, the 2007 model is taking on
Toyota's RAV-4 and Honda's
CR-V.
So what makes the Outlander shoppable against those two best-sellers? They're about equal on options and pricing, but the Toyota is less fun even with its V6 option, and the four-cylinder Honda doesn't even offer a third row seat, no matter how useless those extra seats are in these smallish CUVs.
The Outlander's looks have moved away from the "toughwagon" genre dominated by the aforementioned Subies towards the sporty mini-ute segment. Its side windows are tall, but the rear-leaning back window adds a look of speed. The standard roof rack, while practical, also improves the Outlander's looks with a bit of shine on top. A roof spoiler and 18" wheels help accentuate the car's sporty intentions.
So what makes the Outlander shoppable against those two best-sellers? They're about equal on options and pricing, but the Toyota is less fun even with its V6 option, and the four-cylinder Honda doesn't even offer a third row seat, no matter how useless those extra seats are in these smallish CUVs.
The Outlander's looks have moved away from the "toughwagon" genre dominated by the aforementioned Subies towards the sporty mini-ute segment. Its side windows are tall, but the rear-leaning back window adds a look of speed. The standard roof rack, while practical, also improves the Outlander's looks with a bit of shine on top. A roof spoiler and 18" wheels help accentuate the car's sporty intentions.








Back seat passengers get decent leg room, especially since front passengers may not need to push their chairs all the way back. Two up front and three in the back make five, but with the third-seat option, the Outlander could carry seven passengers. Just make sure you call dibs on the first five seats, because those two in the way back are best described as rudimentary. Through a six-step process, the mesh-covered metal frame springs from the rear cargo area ready to torture, uh, seat your most unlucky of passengers. It most closely resembles an Army surplus cot with headrests and seatbelts, but with less padding. It's not comfortable at all for adults and definitely not humane, but you have to admire the ingenuity. Get this option if you occasionally carry two extra small children, but skip it otherwise.


Satellite radio is standard on the XLS model and comes with six months of free service. Push a button and the touch-screen pivots up to reveal the CD slot. With the optional 30gb in-dash hard drive, just stick in a CD, and the car automatically adds all the tracks to your in-dash jukebox, complete with song titles. It's not a quick process, but it's usually done by the time the CD finishes playing. Use the touch screen to organize or delete tracks and leave your iPod in the house if you'd like. DVDs can also be played on the LCD screen. An auxiliary jack resides behind the touch screen next to the CD slot, but even if we had figured out how to get it to work, we're not sure how often we'd use it. Like we said, the only way to access the jack is to flip up the touch screen, which is also how you access the audio controls. With the jack exposed, the screen is facing straight up, and not visible to anyone – definitely not convenient.

Putting that toddler in the back requires little effort. The child safety seat installed very easily in the center position using the LATCH system. Getting him in and out was easy too, thanks to the Outlander's wide rear-passenger opening and tall doors.


Cargo room is plentiful, with plenty of space left after accepting a stroller. Without the Fosgate sound system, the rear loses the metal-grated subwoofer and gains a little more space. Accessing the cargo area is also improved with the car's novel tailgate. After opening the upper rear hatch, release a latch on the lower part and a small tailgate drops down, which is great for sliding cargo out or for football tailgating.
Rear seat cupholders are recessed into the center armrest, which means with a child seat installed there, rear seat passengers will have to hold their drinks. It's a minor inconvenience, but one to consider. A taller friend of ours also complained that rear headroom was not to his liking.




All Outlander models come with Mitsubishi's 3.0L V6 bolted to the automaker's Sportronic manumatic. Our tester also got the all-wheel-drive option, which made for a very sweet setup. In daily traffic, the SUV was smooth riding, smooth shifting, but ready to jump to immediate action if needed. Highway miles were nothing different. While many manumatics require the driver to first choose that mode with the center shifter before using, the the Sportronic only needs a bump of either paddle to drop from automatic to semi-manual. Holding the upshift paddle for a couple of seconds returns the car to fully automatic. At first we had only praise for this feature, as it really came in handy a couple of times when quick merges were called for. But then we discovered the downside. We know it's wrong, but occasionally, only for a second or two, we need both hands off the steering wheel. That means a moment of knee-driving, which, in the Outlander, kept triggering the manumatic mode. We admit, it could be what cures us of this bad habit, but it's pretty disconcerting to drop into fourth gear on the Interstate.


Mitsubishi's 5-year/60,000 mile bumper-to-bumper and 10-year/100,000 mile powertrain warranties should cover any worries you might have about initial quality problems. It's difficult for us to comment on the Outlander's long-term reliability since it was just re-designed.
When all is said and done, we really liked the Outlander. Its attractive design, comfortable if somewhat cheap interior, cool gadgets and smooth ride combined with a fairly powerful and relatively economical engine to make it a candidate for any young family. If we can trim some of those more expensive options ($1,800 for nav, $1,500 for the Rockford Fosgate package), we can take our tester's sticker down from $30,615 to somewhere in the $28k range and closer to our budget. This family is adding it to its semi-finalists, and we suggest other family-car shoppers at least give it a look.