2015 Mitsubishi Outlander

2015 Outlander Photos
Outlander was all new and well received in 2014. For 2015, Outlander carries over unchanged.

Outlander seats seven, having a standard third-row seat, which thins out the mid-size competition to mostly the Kia Sorento, Nissan Rogue, whose third row is cramped, and Hyundai Santa Fe, which stretches its wheelbase for the optional third row.

If you need a 7-passenger crossover because you've got 5 kids and/or carry sports teams everywhere, and you need good fuel mileage, Outlander is the call. It gets five miles per gallon more than the Sorento, 27 mpg combined versus 22 mpg combined, in 2wd. What's more, it has received the Top Safety Pick designation from the IIHS, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Its smooth lines bring a good 0.33 coefficient of drag, without roofrails which aren't standard. The headlights are tidy, and the front fascia isn't big and bland. The styling is smooth and clean but not exciting. It looks substantial for families.

The interior has a soft-touch instrument panel whose gauges are uncommonly simple, clean, and easy to read. The air conditioning is outstanding, with a quiet fan even on full blast. The whole cabin is exceptionally quiet. For the 2014 redesign, Mitsubishi said they spent thousands of hours on reducing wind noise.

There is a fold-flat 60/40 second row and 50/50 third row. Access to the thin third row of seats is okay but not magic. There's more knee room in the Outlander third row than the Nissan Rogue we tested.

The new 2.4-liter engine is single overhead-cam. It used to be double overhead cam, for higher performance; but today it's all about efficiency. It uses electronic valve timing which Mitsubishi calls MIVEC (the i is for innovative, not intelligent like the others). It makes 166 horsepower and 162 foot-pounds of torque at 4200 rpm. The numbers aren't big, but the power is good.

It's smooth enough to maybe make you forget about needing a V6, on the freeway at 80 mph. For one week in Southern California it ran the freeway fast lane just fine. Later, on a short road trip, it was smooth plus effortless. Its CVT kicked down for the long gradual uphills, invisibly. This CVT feels like an automatic transmission. Mitsubishi raises the bar a notch in continuously variable transaxle technology, after seven years of development.

The base Outlander ES comes with front-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive is available. The Mitsubishi system is ironclad, with many world rally victories to prove it. We're pretty damn good at all-wheel-drive systems, a Mitsubishi engineer said at the Outlander launch. We've been doing it for 30 or 40 years.

They call it Super All-Wheel Control, or S-AWC, with the Super meaning torque vectoring (shifting the power between the front wheels as needed for grip) to further improve control during cornering. S-AWC is available down to the four-cylinder SE model. It has four driving modes: ECO, Normal, Snow and Lock, which gives the most drive to the rear wheels.

Mitsubishi calls its body …
Full Review

Outlander was all new and well received in 2014. For 2015, Outlander carries over unchanged.

Outlander seats seven, having a standard third-row seat, which thins out the mid-size competition to mostly the Kia Sorento, Nissan Rogue, whose third row is cramped, and Hyundai Santa Fe, which stretches its wheelbase for the optional third row.

If you need a 7-passenger crossover because you've got 5 kids and/or carry sports teams everywhere, and you need good fuel mileage, Outlander is the call. It gets five miles per gallon more than the Sorento, 27 mpg combined versus 22 mpg combined, in 2wd. What's more, it has received the Top Safety Pick designation from the IIHS, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Its smooth lines bring a good 0.33 coefficient of drag, without roofrails which aren't standard. The headlights are tidy, and the front fascia isn't big and bland. The styling is smooth and clean but not exciting. It looks substantial for families.

The interior has a soft-touch instrument panel whose gauges are uncommonly simple, clean, and easy to read. The air conditioning is outstanding, with a quiet fan even on full blast. The whole cabin is exceptionally quiet. For the 2014 redesign, Mitsubishi said they spent thousands of hours on reducing wind noise.

There is a fold-flat 60/40 second row and 50/50 third row. Access to the thin third row of seats is okay but not magic. There's more knee room in the Outlander third row than the Nissan Rogue we tested.

The new 2.4-liter engine is single overhead-cam. It used to be double overhead cam, for higher performance; but today it's all about efficiency. It uses electronic valve timing which Mitsubishi calls MIVEC (the i is for innovative, not intelligent like the others). It makes 166 horsepower and 162 foot-pounds of torque at 4200 rpm. The numbers aren't big, but the power is good.

It's smooth enough to maybe make you forget about needing a V6, on the freeway at 80 mph. For one week in Southern California it ran the freeway fast lane just fine. Later, on a short road trip, it was smooth plus effortless. Its CVT kicked down for the long gradual uphills, invisibly. This CVT feels like an automatic transmission. Mitsubishi raises the bar a notch in continuously variable transaxle technology, after seven years of development.

The base Outlander ES comes with front-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive is available. The Mitsubishi system is ironclad, with many world rally victories to prove it. We're pretty damn good at all-wheel-drive systems, a Mitsubishi engineer said at the Outlander launch. We've been doing it for 30 or 40 years.

They call it Super All-Wheel Control, or S-AWC, with the Super meaning torque vectoring (shifting the power between the front wheels as needed for grip) to further improve control during cornering. S-AWC is available down to the four-cylinder SE model. It has four driving modes: ECO, Normal, Snow and Lock, which gives the most drive to the rear wheels.

Mitsubishi calls its body …
Hide Full Review

Retail Price

$23,195 - $28,195 MSRP / Window Sticker Price
Engine 2.4L I-4, 3.0L V-6
MPG Up to 25 city / 31 highway
Seating 7 Passengers
Transmission 2-spd CVT w/OD, 6-spd w/OD
Power 166 - 224 hp
Drivetrain four-wheel, front-wheel
Curb Weight 3,285 - 3,571 lbs
Smart Buy Program is powered by powered by TrueCar®
Autoblog Advertisement