Test Drive – Mitsubishi Outlander Diesel
How many miles is a typical test drive? A quick run round the block? Half an hour, perhaps? At UK Carline we prefer to give our cars a decent run. Since have kindly loaned us an Outlander diesel to test-drive, I used it for a long run, covering 500 miles in one day.
The car was used in a mix of driving on the motorway, in town, on A-roads and B-roads, with just myself in the car and also full of passengers and luggage. How did it cope? Pretty well actually!
The Outlander surprised me most with the way it cruised so comfortably on the motorway. With a high driving position and torquey diesel engine, the car settled in to motorway cruise with ease. A four wheel drive SUV is never going to be as aerodynamic as a family saloon but wind noise was insignificant and tyre and engine noise was also muted. The elevated drive and great visibility were also a boon off the motorway. For an SUV the Outlander handled reasonably well considering its size and soft suspension off the motorway although the leather seats in our GX-3 version didn’t offer much support when cornering compared to some similar models.
Our mid-range GX-3 version had dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth, 18” alloy wheels and privacy glass. All diesel models have seven seats as standard. The cabin is practical and spacious and the load area was excellent. The car was perfect for the airport run that I squeezed in during the day with plenty of space for all passengers and their luggage.
The car returned an average of 39.8mpg which was really impressive since it carried some heavy loads
and at speed. During the day it was achieving well over 40mpg which was excellent for a car of this size.
The range starts at £24,599 for the GX2 diesel and can be leased from as little as £209+VAT on a four
year contract hire. All new Mitsubishis have a great reputation for reliability and are supplied with
a five year warranty as standard.
So after 500 miles in one day the Outlander showed it was a great all-rounder and easily coped
with everything I needed it to do. It’s certainly a car I’ll be using again for another busy day.