Mitsubishi Outlander 2WD petrol 2018 off-road review

This isn’t a huge SUV, especially one trying to seat up to seven people, but for all that, the space is used incredibly well. When the second- and third-row seats are folded forward, the floor space is flat from front to back, which makes packing a lot of gear in easy and convenient. What I really like is that the second-row seats can slide forwards, so if you are travelling with a couple of kids and a boot-full of camping gear, you can reduce the amount of leg-room you give them (the only thing kids do with leg-room is drop toys and food crumbs into it, so they don’t need it anyway), to maximise the amount of space you’ve got in the rear load area. And if you’re camping with kids, every skerrick of space counts.

Interestingly, there’s not a lot of benefit in the five-seater when it comes to space. Both it and the seven-seater have the same volume of load-space with all seating rows folded down, while the seven-seater’s only sacrifice to the space is the pair of cup holders for the third-row passengers. However, the seven seater is about 40kg heavier, so those two extra seats do technically affect load capacity. 

There are three engines offered across the Outlander range, although automatic 2WDs are only available with a 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol. It’s capable of 124kW at 6000 rpm and 220Nm of torque at 4200rpm. The only transmission option with this engine is a CVT.

The 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol produces 124kW /220Nm.

Loaded up with camping gear and following the winding and unsealed backroads of the Southern Highlands, the Outlander used 29.2 litres of fuel over 376 kilometres, which is just shy of 7.8L/100km. Mitsubishi claims a combined consumption of 7.2L/100km under more controlled circumstances, so that’s a good figure. The tank can hold 63 litres of fuel, so expect the range to be around 750km to a tank. 

With a family of seven, there’s no way you could tour in this – buy a bus. But for just two or three people, there’s a lot to be said for this medium SUV. As a comfortable daily driver fitted with cruise control and climate control, it’s good for long days in the saddle, while the modulation of the seats and storage areas helps make the most of what space it does have.

Given the nature of travel most likely to be undertaken by the Outlander, you’d struggle to convince me of the need to part with the extra cash for the AWD version, though. Unless I was regularly travelling to the snow fields (and didn’t want to have to worry about chains all the time) or lived near an easily accessible beach, there’s not much the 2WD can’t do.

The Outlander did struggle for traction a little on unsealed corners.

It did struggle for traction a little on unsealed corners, or if ever I need to do a hill start on gravel, plus was prone to some bump steer on rougher roads. It was otherwise well behaved off the bitumen, but I’d hesitate to tackle a really rough road in it. 

It’s capable of towing up to 1600kg, which puts it in the range of many camper trailers, and even some small caravans, but in real terms, 1600kg of weight hanging off the back is going to be hard work for the capacity of the engine and CVT transmission. 

The Outlander is covered by Mitsubishi’s capped price servicing scheme. The cost of a service is only $280 for and you’ll only need one every 15,000km or 12 months, whichever comes first. That’s a slight increase on the 2017 models, though, which will be serviced for just $230 for the first three years. 

Major pain points will come at 90,000km when the iridium or platinum tipped spark plugs need to be replaced along with all the engine and transmission fluids, but otherwise service intervals are generally long and well-spaced. 

Mitsubishi offers a 5 year/100,000km warranty, plus 5 year Perforation Corrosion Warranty on the Outlander.