It’s easy to kind of forget that Mitsubishi still has a major automotive presence in the U.S. Nothing they do is particularly flashy, they don’t do a ton of high-profile advertising, and their days of producing halo sporty cars like the Starion or Eclipse or 3000GT are long past.
But the truth is Mitsubishi still delivers solid product to the …
great article
In reply to malibuguy :
Yup, JG's very good at that.
Glad you enjoyed.
I gave a genuine audible chuckle at: "Knowing when, and for how long, to hit that button is what separates gifted artists like myself from your run-of-the-mill cryo cannon ham-n-egger."
I just picked up a 2018 Outlander PHEV for my daughter's commute to school. It is a very cool car. Two electric motors, 4 wheel drive, funny one-speed transmission (not a CVT). It rides great, much better than my wife's truck-like MDX. 11 gallon gas tank. My daughter can make almost the entire round trip commute on all electric. She's been averaging about 650+ miles between fill-ups.
I wish they would still bring in the PHEV into the US, but alas they only did for 2-3 years. Seems they get about $10K more in Europe than here for the car.
iplay2 said:I just picked up a 2018 Outlander PHEV for my daughter's commute to school. It is a very cool car. Two electric motors, 4 wheel drive, funny one-speed transmission (not a CVT). It rides great, much better than my wife's truck-like MDX. 11 gallon gas tank. My daughter can make almost the entire round trip commute on all electric. She's been averaging about 650+ miles between fill-ups.
I wish they would still bring in the PHEV into the US, but alas they only did for 2-3 years. Seems they get about $10K more in Europe than here for the car.
Funny you mention it. I just got a note from a friend at Mitsubishi about the story (he liked it), and he mentioned they'll be previewing the PHEV Outlander for media likely in December. So customer availability can't be far behind that.
Wait. It's 2022. You're going to try to convince me that Mitsubishi has been selling cars, in the U.S., even after the demise of the sixth-generation Galant in 1994??? You sir, have blown my mind!
I drove the Outlander this morning. JG's right: It feels good. It's also smaller than you'd think without feeling small from the inside. It's a good, usable size. And it looks cool in person.
Sadly, though, no cryo cannons for me. 
David S. Wallens said:I drove the Outlander this morning. JG's right: It feels good. It's also smaller than you'd think without feeling small from the inside. It's a good, usable size. And it looks cool in person.
Sadly, though, no cryo cannons for me.
No cryo cannons? Why are you even talking to us?
Great article, JG! Very entertaining :)
Wtf. You guys are making me want a Mitsubishi cuv, lol. The medium-small size with a little third row sounds a lot like our Mazda 5, albeit without the convenient sliding doors.
A hybrid or plug in version of that sounds like... well... something that we might actually shop for in a couple years.
Ps. That was a fun article. It reminded me of some of the stuff I grew up reading in Car and Driver back in the day.
BlueInGreen - Jon said:
Ps. That was a fun article. It reminded me of some of the stuff I grew up reading in Car and Driver back in the day.
It may not surprise you, then, to learn that I grew up reading that same stuff as well.
As for the Outlander, yeah, it's a sleeper. My wife's daily is a 2016 Mazda CX-5, which has always been one of my benchmarks when it comes to a CUV that actually has some level of driving engagement. The Outlander may not be quite as "present" as the CX-5, but much in the way the CX bridges the gap between SUVs and spot wagons, the Outlander bridges the gap between SUV's and premium sedans. The interior is legit nice, and if you told someone they were riding in a $60,000 vehicle they wouldn't quesion it for a minute. The third row isn't huge, but it's there, and the overall size and squareness of the car makes for a great package that drives smaller in tight spaces than it feels when you load gear into it.
One thing I didn't mention in the article is that Mitsubishi has one of the best warrantiess in the biz right now, and out local dealership shows eight Outlanders on the lot as we speak. Not sure how much they're marked up, but just having stock is something many dealers around here can't brag about.
Great article! Was I Still Can't Stop played before or after I Can't Stop?
Surprised there isn't any mention that it's a reskinned Nissan Rogue.
Great article JG. I'll be watching to see if the manufacturers start to adopt the duck-based standard for interior volume calculation. Will you be looking to patent that? 
eastpark said:Great article JG. I'll be watching to see if the manufacturers start to adopt the duck-based standard for interior volume calculation. Will you be looking to patent that?
It's a propreitary measuring system, but I'm willing to entertain licensing arrangements.
Run_Away said:Great article! Was I Still Can't Stop played before or after I Can't Stop?
Surprised there isn't any mention that it's a reskinned Nissan Rogue.
Honestly not familiar enough with his full catalog to answer correctly. I can tell you that when he plays Basscannon the stool that my cryo trigger box was sitting on skittered across the floor a good 10 inches.
As others have echoed, now you got me looking at outlanders. That's a lot of trucklet for the coin.
Always good to see a review that's based around how something would actually be used. I hope and pray Mitsubishi gets that 90s craze back soon, but they're truly making money and their lineup has evaded the "cheap" moniker that Nissan gets with the Altima despite the Mirage.
With hope, Mitsu will get the money needed soon to finally spread their legs and take risks again. They've got a large presence in the home technology field so it hurts to see them behind on electrics, but they've been more pressed into home energy storage and heat pumps than cars- and that likely makes a bigger difference anyway.
This is not at all what I expected.
I had a previous gen Outlander Sport (compact CUV) as a rental a few weeks ago and wow, it was bad. Clunky shifting, uninspired engine, weird chassis noises, and a very loud/obvious click every time the A/C engaged/disengaged, which was a lot considering it was Dallas, TX in early August.
JG, hilarious comedic prose with an SUV road test sprinkled in. So good to see you are staying young and partying with the kidz n rockers n ravers. Made me laugh. Over and over. And it's cargo area is roomy enough for a duck. Crack me up. Thank you!
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
It's a fun new driving game for me, see how far you can go in EV only mode. Taking a break for the summer from that game, as HVAC takes its toll on mileage. For the same reason I don't do track days here in FL in July and August, not playing the EV mileage game then either :-)
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