Specifications
Would suit:
People sick of their Freelanders breaking down.
Price on the road:
£24 749 (about R353 000), SA model R299 900.
Performance:
185km/h, 0-100km/h in 10.6sec.
General fuel consumption:
6.9 litres/100km.
It is with a weary heart indeed that I have been driving the new Mitsubishi Outlander (it's SA media launch will be this week).
I know, I know, one more wretched SUV. Does the world really need it? Trust me, no one is as tired as I am of Chelsea Tractors, Toff Roaders, Tonbridge Tanks and all those other tired English euphemisms for what are essentially jacked-up, all-wheel-drive station wagons.
That's why I've been at least trying to cut back on my consumption this year.
This will, I am sure, have prompted countless puzzled frowns as readers ponder the continued absence of a review of, for instance, the new Honda CR-V.
"When's Boothie going to try that new Nissan Qashqai?" must be one of the questions most frequently asked by casual readers here in London right now.
I will have a go in the Nissan soon but unless they break down spectacularly - as did the Freelander I tested a while back - it remains one of the greatest challenges in automotive journalism to say anything of interest about these kinds of cars.
And any rational appraisal of their qualities or deficiencies is rendered redundant by the public's apparently endless appetite for the things, regardless of their faults, which include poor handling, performance and braking; poor fuel economy; offensive girth; ugliness; and impracticality.
The automotive arms race that has transformed roads over the past 10 years suggests that many people covet these kinds of cars and, if that is the case, I am sure you will like the Outlander.
(That's taking it as read that you are so wracked with insecurity, so emotionally stunted, that you need to have a car with quasi-military styling; and must always sit a few centimetres above the rest of humanity.)
I am not necessarily opposed to SUV's on environmental grounds - the Outlander manages a respectable 6.9 litres/100km, takes up no more space on the road than an Audi A4 Avant estate and chugs out less black stuff than a Zafira - it is just that, to me, they seem like a quantum step backwards in the evolution of the car.
For almost 100 years cars have become lighter with better handling and performance, while using less and less fuel. Then along came the Land Rover Freelander, Toyota RAV4 and their ilk, and suddenly it was as if evolution had suffered a setback.
Proper 4x4's
As SUV's go, the Outlander isn't bad. The interior has baggy leather and video-box plastics and the VW-sourced diesel engine is a bit rough but at least Mitsubishi has been building proper 4x4's for some years and does so with some authority.
Mine also had a wireless made by someone called Rockford Fosgate - which I am sure means something to hi-fi enthusiasts but sounds more like a character in an F Scott Fitzgerald story to me - and it seats seven (although the last row of seats appears to have been taken from a 1937 Fiat Topolino).
But every cloud has silver coach-lines: due to a platform-sharing deal, the Outlander is essentially the same car as the upcoming Citroen C-Crosser and Peugeot 4007.
This means I can look upon this as a three-in-one test and won't need to bother with either of them. - The Independent, London