It’s easy to kind of forget that Mitsubishi still has a major automotive presence in the U.S. Nothing they do is particularly flashy, they don’t do a ton of high-profile advertising, and their days of producing halo sporty cars like the Starion or Eclipse or 3000GT are long past.
But the truth is Mitsubishi still delivers solid product to the automotive marketplace and they were, perhaps more importantly, instrumental in me fulfilling a lifelong goal that I didn’t even realize I had until I was fulfilling it of operating the cryo cannon at a late-night electronic music show in beautiful downtown Orlando, Florida.
The Outlander has… a lot of design. The basic shape is handsome and functional, but there’s a lot of details, particularly on the front end. Still, it all works somehow, and the utility makes up for some of the try-hard visual impact.
Our story begins behind the heated steering wheel of the $34,000 SEL-trimmed Outlander fitted with the $2700 SEL Touring package. Apparently, Mitsubishi is so committed to efficiency they don’t even waste time coming up with new names for additional equipment packages.
Our full-optioned Outlander came in about $1500 shy of $40,000, which is fairly impressive in the class. Although the Outlander, in our eyes, sits a bit outside of existing classes of small SUVs.
Although it’s priced comparable to the more budget end of the small SUV spectrum, the Outlander comes hard with a classy but not overdone interior.
Its most direct competitor is probably something like the Mazda CX-5, although the Mitsubishi is larger and squarer than the Mazda. But it’s also smaller than full-sized SUVs, and occupies a very functional, plus-sized niche in the marketplace that puts a nice emphasis on the U in the SUV equation.
A legit third row of seats is also a nice touch, although deploying them cuts into cargo space considerably. But the hold is large, square, and easily accessed through a power liftgate and swallows whatever you can throw at it.
The ample cargo area of the Mitsubishi Outlander can hold one duck.
On my particular evening adventure, it was swallowing the entirety of the production equipment of an electronic music show I’d been invited to attend.
My friend Matthew Setzer, who you may know from his live performances with Canadian industrial music pioneers Skinny Puppy, or the more rock-centric SP side project Ohgr, or goth supergroup London After…
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