Great Value, Exceptional Ride Quality/Comfort, Underrated SUV

I've just recently purchased the 2006 Outlander GLS with leather interior. This is the equivalent of the Limited AWD model in North America. I have only had it for a short while, but did some solid research months before purchasing, here is my review;

INTERIOR: The Outlander GLS has nice array of comfort features like, auto/steptronic transmission (automatic transmission w/clutchless shifting) leather seating and trim, two sunroofs, 6 CD changer and cassette, a/c, power windows, power and remote locks, halogen fog lights, intermittent front and rear wipers. The front wipers change speed according to your road speed while set on intermittent, which is a nice feature while it's raining and you'd rather be concentrating on the road. The seats in particular are adjustable many ways which include lumbar support and are very comfortable for long journeys. The console is basic, but very funtional and all the buttons are where they should be allowing for easy access while driving. The dash lights up in a soft orange color at night, while the console lights up in a light blue.

EXTERIOR: The exterior of this SUV is what sold me. I like cars that are a little different then everyone else (my previous car was a rotary RX-7 turbo). The front end is very aggressively designed and could easily be put on a sports car and look great. The side profile and rear end look very similar to an Lexus RX300 (which is a good thing in my opinion). The mitsu has nicely designed 16 inch alloys and comes standard with Yokohama Geolander H/T GO35 tires.

DRIVING IMPRESSION: If you are new to SUV's or the crossover type vehicles, the thing to remember is that they are not sports cars and shouldn't be expected to perform as such. That in mind, the Outlander handles very nicely for day to day activities and commuting. There is some body lean while doing fast cornering, but the tires and suspension do their job adequately (I'm planning to buy an aftermarket strut bar to give more stability while cornering). In the city it can coast for what seems forever once at a certain speed, say 60km with your foot off the accelerator. I would rate braking as very good, but not excellent, the brake pedal feels a little soft for a car of this weight. That being said, I've never had any problems doing fast braking this car comes standard with ABS. On the highway, road noise is only slight from the tires at speeds 110-120 Kph with virtually no wind noise. I have taken it up to 160Kph and felt secure and the handling/steering was still tight and responded like it should with it's full time AWD. Again it's no sports car, but I felt the performance of this car was as good or better then it's competitors. Smooth! This car drives comparable to the older Lexus RX300 series, I driven an RX300 several times and the ride quality is very similar! If you have a chance to test drive the Outlander, you'll 'feel' what I'm talking about.

COMPARISON: When shopping for a new SUV crossover, I compared this to the toyota rav4, honda cr-v and nissan's xtrail. I test drove each of the vehicles on the same course to get a true comparison. The Outlander AWD just beats every one of them hands down for overall comfort/handling and value. The Rav4 has a very nice refined ride for the new 06 model, but the fully loaded Rav is priced about $7000 US$ more than the fully loaded GLS. The Xtrail has a very sporty motor and feels a little more like a sports car then the outlander and is similarly priced, but in my opinion the overall ride quality is lower, the exterior of the car looks very generic and lacks character. The interior is absolutely terrible, with the odometer put in the center of the dash and the plastics just look/feel very cheaply made. The only plus the xtrail's interior has is the amount of storage compartments. The xtrail seemed to much like a college kids car more so then a working adults car who wants something a more elegant and refined.

The CR-V from Honda is a nice pick and you can't go wrong with quality/pricing (it was actually my second pick after the Outlander). I tested the EX with leather/sunroof/auto transmission. The ride quality is smooth, but imperfections in the pavement can be heard and felt throughout the cabin with a 'thud' sound every time you drive over one, that was unimpressive from a car company like Honda. Driving was nice and it had very smooth acceleration, but the outlander handled better and soaked up imperfections in the road without any fuss.

One reason I decided to go with the outlander is that it handles more like a car better then any of the aforementioned competitors. It is a few inches shorter then all the rest and that translates into more secure handling that you can actually feel when cornering or while driving at high speeds. The others, even the newly designed Rav4 still have that high, unsafe, tippy feeling.


THINGS I'D CHANGE: Just by looking at the fit and finish you can tell this car was engineered by the finest available. The feel of materials is of very high quality for this market segment, when your driving the car and viewing the interior you feel like you are in an entry level luxury SUV that should be costing about $10,000 more.

Of the few things I would change for the GLS is;
- my car did NOT come with cruise control, I was a little disappointed it did not have it as an available option even after I checked with the dealer, as I will be using it for highway driving. Note: North American (and European?) models include cruise even on the most basic models.
- the year is 2006 not 1986 therefore lose the cassette player.
- no mp3 player, again the American models have it, but the GLS models to Central America do not.
- the last thing I would like to see would be a 5 speed auto transmission. This would be a plus for both manual shifting and increase gas mileage on the highway. Although the newly designed 07's have a new 5 (or 6?) speed CVT transmission.

SUMMARY: The styling of the Outlander is something that grew on me. At first I really like the front end and was on the fence for the side/rear end and couldn't decide if I liked it enough to buy it. After viewing the generic looking competition I knew what the marketing/designers at Mitsubishi were trying to do. This crossover suv is designed for someone who wants something a little more bold and different then everyone else is driving. I for one am happy that I am not part of the blend in with all the millions of cr-v's and rav4's on the road. The reason you don't see more of them is that, in my opinion, Mitsubishi missed the boat on this wonderful vehicle in terms of advertising and marketing. I studied marketing in college and know enough to say that they have failed in that department, they just didn't put the dollars into marketing and it was just not 'sold' properly. That being said, I would highly recommend you give the 06 Outlander a test drive if you are in the market. It has aggressive and modern styling, good performance, a beautiful interior (especially with leather) and an exceptional ride comfort.
Finally, I should say this my first Mitsubishi and I researched the reliability ratings of both Mitsu and the 2.4l MIVEC engine and found nothing but positive remarks for both.