Is the Mitzubishi Outlander any Good?

[900ssduke]

Wife needs a 7 seater for the school run to replace her Rav4. Is the outlander any good? I see it is only 30cm longer than the Rav4. She doesnt want anything as big as a disco or Volvo, and needs 4 wheel drive option for winter. Prefer diesel and 40 mpg. Any comments appreciated

[HellDiver]

Well, I've no input on the Outlander other than it shares the engine with my Lancer. Despite being the VAG 2.0 TDI, Mitsubishi have heavily modified it, so it not only drives better, it's a lot quiter and more refined than VAG's version of the same lump. Mine goes very well, and I'm hitting just shy of 50mpg on a 25 mile commute of 5 mile city and 20 mile motorway.

Build quality is as you'd expect from a Japanese car, everything does what it should, when it should. Even the dash plastics compare favourably to the Vauxhalls I'm used to.

[Bluebarge]

900ssduke said:

Wife needs a 7 seater for the school run to replace her Rav4. Is the outlander any good? I see it is only 30cm longer than the Rav4. She doesnt want anything as big as a disco or Volvo, and needs 4 wheel drive option for winter. Prefer diesel and 40 mpg. Any comments appreciated

Those back seats are pretty cramped so not a true 7 seater unless the kids are still small. Bit hard to reconcile "not big" with "7 seats" partic if you're looking for 4wd. Are you sure you need 4wd? Winter tyres will get you further than 4wd on snow/ice unless the snow is particularly deep.

You could also look at the Dodge Journey or Nissan Qashqai + 2 which will give you a higher ride height but without the weight and complexity of 4wd.

[900ssduke]

Those back seats are pretty cramped so not a true 7 seater unless the kids are still small. Bit hard to reconcile "not big" with "7 seats" partic if you're looking for 4wd. Are you sure you need 4wd? Winter tyres will get you further than 4wd on snow/ice unless the snow is particularly deep.

You could also look at the Dodge Journey or Nissan Qashqai + 2 which will give you a higher ride height but without the weight and complexity of 4wd.
[/quote]

Yes, fraid its 4 wd and winter tyres to get up our track in worst of winter. Think we'll go and try one out, the kids are quite small. So long as there are no known issues like the freelander diffs etc.