We’ve got not one but TWO new Mitsubishi vehicles for you today; the 2022 Outlander and the 2022 Eclipse Cross. The Outlander is all-new while the Eclipse Cross has been updated for the new model year. Both surprise me, and I’m curious if either one will surprise you too… click play and let’s find out!
[Disclaimer: Mitsubishi invited us out to drive the new Outlander and Eclipse Cross, and provided lunch.]
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Jeff your disclaimer also forgot that they provided nametags. Swag is important. Did they also pay to get your hair done?
So my wife is likely to move from her 2016 Outlander SE to a Mazda CX-9 in another year or so. Which was what she had before it. We moved to the Outlander to cut the payments. It’s just that the Outlander is lacking in a lot of ways. You get what you pay for after all. Heck if we had even gone up one level there would have been heated seated and keyless entry. The true base Outlander still has a key.
I was watching the video in hopes that they would address one of the major issues with the Outlander and I kind of thought they wouldn’t. Since it is, at heart, a stretched Rogue then there was going to be little chance of a six cylinder engine. So maybe go with a turbo 4 instead. Which Mazda oddly did with the CX-9 to gain only a couple MPG. Instead they added thirty horsepower and I haven’t seen the difference in weight between the two models.
The current four makes do in power even getting onto the highway but you do miss it. Of course when you go the gas pump then you really don’t miss it. Since it gets great gas mileage for an AWD vehicle it’s size.
When you got to the interior there was change of mind over the CX-9 which is really aging. The new Outlander looks really nice. Since it shares no body panels with the outgoing model (minus the hybrid which you forgot to mention since it’s a carryover) there was a good chance to make it stand out. They did a nice job of it.
Now to give it some time until the usual massive Mitsubishi rebates hit and go take a look at it.
Jeff, it’s interesting that you expressed relief that Mitsubishi didn’t try to call the Eclipse Cross a “Montero”. 2021 is, in fact, the year that fewer people will associate the name with a Mitsubishi than they will with an entertainer named for a Mitsubishi.
True. Lil Nas X and I need to do a collab… I will even wear the blood-filled Nikes.
Mitsubishi just pulled out of the UK (and by extension, Irish) market, so I’ve been mainly drooling over their heritage fleet auction.
Mitsubishi Is Auctioning Off Their UK Heritage Fleet, 14 Models Up For Grabs
yes that auction is amazing
Wow, this is astonishing. Some of the cars have achieved sizable values: https://www.autoauction.co.uk/
It’s a shame though how a household name like that drops parts of/all of Europe. I’m not fond of their current lineup, even though I almost bought a Lancer wagon a few years ago as a stopgap daily driver. While Mitsubishi is leaving, we’re about to get flooded with new Chinese EV brands. Changing times!
My In-Laws were looking for a new car to replace their surprisingly unreliable 3rd gen Honda Odyssey. They asked for a small CUV (father -in-law wasn’t driving anymore) that was reliable and easy to use. I recommended a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. For reference, they could buy anything they wanted in cash (years of frugal living and planning properly for retirement paid in droves for them). The bought a 2019 Outlander Sport and couldn’t be happier. They have a top spec model and got a raging deal with a lot of cash on the hood.
I had an opportunity to drive it for a 3 week stretch (February into March) and about 1000 miles and rather enjoyed it. Engine/trans were inoffensive, the infotainment was easy to use , the panoramic sunroof really provides an airy cabin. More importantly, the cabin was laid out intrinsically. There are hard buttons where you think hard buttons should be (credit on the seat heaters that can be permanently switched on in the winter). AWD could be switched off to save fuel (I averaged 31mpg during my typical 40 mile round trip commute). It is also refreshing to just get into a vehicle and figure the car’s controls within a minute.
Mitsubishi often is met with derision from auto-journalists. However, they tend to make vehicles that are reliable and offer a lot of features for the money. They trade today of value for money and suffer from being merely good in a sea of great options. It takes only a cursory glance at several car review sites to see the gulf between the profession reviewers and actual owners.