Mitsubishi Triton 2006 Review

But putting the Triton through its paces over 3500km of harsh desert tracks and long, winding roads in outback South Australia proved that while this SUV may not have the best "face" for the bush, it does have the grunt and performance it takes to get the job done. It also has the space and the comfort to make such a long trip a breeze.

The Triton has grown ... significantly. Mitsubishi boasts it has more space than ever before, easy to see with its dimensions of 1780mm in height, 5174mm in length and 1800mm in width. This new beast from Mitsubishi -- built in Thailand -- is now more in line with the undisputed king of country motorists, Toyota's HiLux.

The new dual-cab Triton is available in basic GLX, sporty GLX-R and the luxury GLS, all with very good four-wheel-drive credentials built around a strong chassis.

The engine choice is the V6 3.5-litre petrol or the 3.2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel. For our bush trek, the diesel GLX-R was the weapon of choice. The 3.2-litre, double overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine has turbocharger and intercooler, and common-rail injection. It delivers 118kW of power at 3800rpm and 347Nm of torque at 2000rpm.

It has a tonneau and a sports bar, and costs $41,990 petrol (auto $43,990 and diesel $44,990).

Among its few downfalls is its lack of cruise control, something Mitsubishi Motors Australia pleaded for and now believes will get some action on in the near future. While we're on the grumbles -- and there are so few that this one has to be somewhat manufactured -- the hard tonneau cover failed to adequately seal, letting dust into the tray. Mind you, the bulldust on Mount Eba Station was so fine it even managed to penetrate the zipper of a suitcase stowed in the back, so it was a big ask that the hard tonneau cover keep every fine particle out.

The smooth styling of the skin of the new Triton was definitely hiding a beast of a powerplant, which threw out all the grunt and power required for our challenging trip.

And the fuel-use, despite Mitsubishi expecting slightly better than the Triton returned on our 3500km trip, impressed us no end

The Triton returned figures of 11L/100km. And it never climbed above 11.9L/100km, even when we were clicking along at reasonable speed, in 4WD, on outback station tracks.