Mitsubishi Outlander (07 on) - Review

The 2.0-litre diesel engine available in the Outlander from launch is a 140bhp engine also used in the Mitsubishi Grandis people carrier and supplied by Volkswagen. It can be found in various Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and Skoda models and has proved extremely reliable. For the most part it performs very well, with plenty of low down pulling power. However, there are a few scenarios that seem to catch it out, such as a sudden long incline during a steady motorway cruise hindering its ability to maintain speed, and resulting in having to change down to fifth gear. It's also quite noisy and can be coarse, especially at higher revs. Otherwise the engine is responsive and pulls keenly from low revs. Alternatively there's a more powerful 154bhp 2.2-litre diesel that's far more refined and offers impressive performance with a 0-62mph time of 9.9 seconds. Fuel economy is a respectable 39mpg. The petrol choice is a 2.4-litre with 170bhp but there seems little point in choosing it. It's no faster than the diesel, is harder work to drive and returns a lowly 30mpg compared to 41mpg in the 2.0-litre diesel.

Most compact 4x4s have evolved into vehicles that are designed more for on-road performance than driving off road. The Outlander is exactly that and is similar to cars like the Toyota RAV4. It has responsive steering, turns in neatly and resists body roll very well. Despite its composure in most situations the ride comfort doesn't seem to suffer. The Outlander has a dial on the centre console to switch between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. In four-wheel drive mode the front-wheels do most of the work, with the rear wheels only called upon to help when slippage is detected at the front. The dial also has a 4WD lock setting, which is intended to keep the Outlander moving in particularly slippery conditions.