Mitsubishi Outlander 2020 review

It's very cheap for what you get. Part of the reason for that is Mitsubishi hasn't spent much money on developing the car over the years because customers keep buying them and there's little need to go bananas with the stuff its pricier competitors have.

And with the departure of Holden (run-out specials aside), the Outlander cements itself as the cheapest seven-seater of this size on the market.

The Outlander also scores well on paper for things like Apple CarPlay, LED headlights, big wheels and other niceties that make it look a bit more compelling than the price tag suggests.

And, of course, there's the absurdly cheap plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions, starting at $47,390 and offering real electric-only driving.

The Outlander is a bit more city-friendly than most large SUVs.

Another thing we quite like about it is that it's a bit more city-friendly than most large SUVs. With a fairly narrow footprint, it's easier to deal with narrow streets and it's far less imposing than a Kluger or even a CX-9. There are, of course, trade-offs for this, but we'll touch on those shortly.

It also has some of the nicest paddle-shifters of any car on the market today. You have to be in some serious machinery from Italy before the lovely aluminium shifters are matched, let alone exceeded.

The Outlander's luggage capacity starts at 128 litres if you have the third row of seats in place. The boot space dimensions are good, with little intrusion from the wheelarches and a wide loading lip. There aren't any rails for attaching luggage systems, though, which is a shame.

A cargo cover is standard and leaves a decent-sized space when in place. If you want further capacity, the boot space with just the middle row in place is a mid-size SUV-sized 477 litres. With all seats down, you have a reasonable 1608 litres. For yet more volume, grab yourself a roof rack set from Mitsubishi or numerous aftermarket catalogues, and get yourself a boot liner if things are going to get muddy.

Towing capacity obviously depends on the fitment of a tow bar, which Mitsubishi will do for you. Having reviewed my notes for past stories, it's a complicated story.

Towing capacity depends on the fitment of a tow bar.

The base model manual ES will tow 1600kg braked and 735kg unbraked with a maximum towball load of 160kg. The CVT-equipped 2.4-litre engined cars will tow the same 1600kg braked but 750kg unbraked.

Moving to the diesel, you can drag 2000kg braked and 750kg unbraked, with a higher towball load of 200kg.

If you go for the PHEV, ratings drop to 1500kg braked and 750kg unbraked, with a towball load of 150kg.

Most of the range is available in black, Titanium (grey), Ironbark (okay, brown), Red Diamond, Sterling Silver, Starlight (pearlescent white) and a solid white.

2020 Mitsubishi Outlander LS in Titanium.

The Black Edition is available only in Starlight, Diamond Red, Titanium and black.

Weirdly, there is no blue or green option. You'll not find orange, gold, yellow or, uh, purple on the colour list either.

Extremely annoying is the $740 charge Mitsubishi tries to stick you for any colour other than white. Every other hue is $740 except for the lurid red, which is $940. If your dealer insists on charging you for this, they're making a mug of you.

As with the exterior, the Outlander's cabin has had plenty of upgrades over the years, some more successful than others. The basic cloth interior is hardy and absolutely spot-on for the kind of knockabout family car duties I reckon the Outlander does best. Trimmed in hard, sometimes scratchy plastics, it all fits together a bit better than other Mitsubishis and probably should after all this time. 

There is no rhyme or reason to the switchgear, though - if it works, it stays and so it's a bit of a jumble of old and new, something even Toyota has stopped doing.

The older cars' leather interior was a bit iffy because the leather may as well have been vinyl, but Mitsubishi has discovered a rather nice artifical suede which it uses on the upper models and it's far more agreeable.

A new touch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto arrived a couple of updates ago and looks quite well-integrated with the cabin's ageing architecture.

You get cup holders in the front and middle rows, but rear seat dwellers have to hold their own drinks. To be fair, there just isn't the room, the car is too narrow for Mazda or Toyota-style mouldings.

You're out of luck if you want a panoramic sunroof, too - the Outlander's head-burner is a fairly traditional rectangle over the front row.

Fuel mileage varies wildly across the range, and from the official figures too. The cars equipped with Eco mode aren't improved by it and it's so frustrating for all but the slowest driveres, it's not worthwhile.

Petrol consumption in the 2.0-litre ES is pegged at 7.0L/100km for the manual I have never driven so can't give you a real world figure. I can give you one for the 2.4-litre, with an official figure of 7.2L/100km in AWD or 2WD guise. But I've never seen better than 11.2L/100km in a mix of highway and suburban running.

The 2.2 diesel fuel consumption figure is listed at 6.2L/100km. The last time I had a diesel, I saw almost double that figure in a mix of highway and suburban running, with and indicated 12.3L/100km. That's genuinely poor when much larger turbo-diesels from other manufacturers do far better.

If you count fuel consumption km l, the hybrid is for you. The official figure of 1.7L/100km is a fairytale borne of the testing regime. Reality is closer to 5.0L/100km, or 20km/l.

There are a number of things you can add to your Outlander. Things like a bull bar, nudge bar, snorkel, rear seat entertainment system, winch, side steps, a body kit and bigger rear spoiler are the preserve of aftermarket offerings.

An automatic door lock is already part of the package, the car locking itself as you get moving. The onboard trip computer is perfectly fine, but an OBD port-based add-on is also an aftermarket option for you.

Best of British luck getting a heated steering wheel, that sort of thing requires a lot of work and would mean replacing the steering wheel with one from a car not sold in this market.

All Outlanders have 18 inch alloy wheels and it's possible your dealer will offer different designs. You might even get underbody protection and side skirts from enterprising dealers.

The Exceed trim level is the closest thing to a luxury pack.

The Outlander's unladen ground clearance is also modest, at 190mm. If you need more, plenty of lift kit mods are available at your local off-road specialist.

The Outlander comes with a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel to go with the 2.0-litre and 2.4-litre petrol engines. 

The diesel engine, with its six-speed automatic gearbox, is available in LS and Exceed trim levels for $40,690 and $47,190 respectively.

The diesel Exceed is $47,190.

There is no LPG version, but the PHEV is a much better idea anyway.

Well, obviously that's a tricky question. There are 15 distinct models in the 2020 range, which is a lot. There's an obvious choice when you look at the 2.0-litre vs 2.4-litre engines, the former can safely be ignored.

After that, the best one for you is the one that fits your requirements. Long range and towing capacity goes to the diesel. Cheap and cheerful seven-seat transport goes to the ES ADAS with its extra safety gear.

For silent, zero-tailpipe emissions for the short daily commute, the PHEV is the one to go for.

CarsGuide regularly does a full model comparison for the Outlander, the last one was from me late last year.

As the Outlander is quite old, that means we have plenty of data to go through. A swing through the usual internet forums suggests few common problems or defects. It's a fairly reliable machine. Mitsubishi covers you for rust under a separate body warranty.

Any engine you choose, even the PHEV, has been around for a while, so any dramas have been largely ironed out. Turbo-diesel problems or automatic transmission problems seem rare and the only suspension problem I ever heard of was a botched aftermarket application.

So few Outlanders sold in Australia even have a clutch, so there aren't many mentions of the clutch apart from the overly-light pedal action.

You can read about any known problems on our Mitsubishi problems page here.

It would appear that the Outlander's reliability rating is pretty good. I'm yet to hear of or see any particular problems that Mitsubishi needs to address, and that includes the PHEV battery pack.

Being around for a long time means the bugs have been ironed out, generally speaking, the exception that proves the rule being Holden's thankfully deceased Captiva.

One of the great things about the Outlander is that each model has Android Auto and, for iPhone users, Apple CarPlay. They all have bluetooth connectivity as well if you've lost your USB cable, but you have to use the media software.

Each model has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Fuel capacity is 63 litres for front-wheel-drive cars, 60 litres for most AWDs and 45 litres for the PHEV. The PHEV's smaller fuel tank size is due to the batteries, but isn't a big deal when you're driving around, even if there's not enough juice for full EV running, the electric motors are doing the driving to keep fuel use to a minimum.

The Outlander's safety rating of five ANCAP stars dates back to 2014 and you should consider that in the light of the many rule changes since then.

Standard safety features across the range include seven airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls and a reversing camera.

Optional on the ES and standard on LS and Excceed is the ADAS package, which adds reverse parking sensors, forward AEB, lane departure warning, active cruise and auto high-beam.

The top-spec Exceed also has lane change warning, lane change assist, around-view camera, reverse cross-traffic alert and blind spot warning.

Mitsubishi's new car warranty extends for five years/100,000km which is competitive, but not the best. 

The Outlander is made in Japan.

The Outlander is not a bad car, but it's also not a particularly good one. Almost nobody buys the worst one, the manual ES, and that's largely because a stern look at a Mitsubishi dealer earns you a huge price cut on the CVT ES with the larger engine.

Even if you can't stretch to the diesel, or even better, the PHEV, there are good reasons to buy an Outlander - it's cheap, is reasonably well-equipped, doesn't look cheap anymore and is a damn sight roomier than mid-size SUVs of the same price. It's just a pity it's so thirsty.

And as my wife shrewdly pointed out, it's not a car you will ever feel bad about bashing around in. The honesty of its presentation means you've bought it with your head. The ownership proposition is solid, things tend not to fall off and there's a ton of them around, which suggests they do what it says on the tin.