As some of you will recall we bought one of these a few weeks before Christmas, one owner 80k miler with full Mitsi dealer history, LPG converted from new, gloss black over grey bumpers and side skirts.
Few teething troubles so not off to a great start, but to be fair to the dealer he has put things right with no quibbles despite the often chaotic but friendly scenes at the showroom, family business this.
Gave us a Laguna courtesy car insured on his fleet policy whilst the car was in for the following.
New battery and not a cheapy, several specs available and he's fitted the highest one which i recon was £70ish.
Lumpy petrol running sorted by dealer new spark plugs helped (Mitsi dealer as much use as a chocolate teapot as my mate found out previously, will go into this more if anyone interested), new drop link fitted, car now much better, slow tyre leak fixed, and he's restarted the 6 months full warranty from last Friday to make up for the problems, very fair, its not an aftermarket warranty only useful as emergency bog roll, he guarantees the cars himself and so far he's coming through, fair play to him.
Its no beauty but is very well put togther, feels solid.
Driving wise, enjoyable car to drive variable cam timing which gives the car surprising low down torque for a 2.4 4 pot petrol and it takes off fast, which can be used as its simple full time 4WD system is superb with not a slip detectable in the wet, can pick up her skirts and fly as its a high revving engine, but high revs needed for hard acceleration once up to speed.
Engine sweet enough for a 4 pot petrol, but noisy whe revved hard.
Not good on petrol so anyone looking at one should consider LPGing it, think 28/30 mpg on a run and 22ish local/urban..
£270 VED regd before March 06 then £470 regd after.
Very stable on the road, simply point it where you want to go regardless of road surface and it goes there, bumps and pot holes do not affect its progress in the slightest.
Quick steering from surprisingly small steering wheel, rest of controls typical Japanese, they work in that no nonsense simple fashion, no need to eat the handbook everything is that easy.
Steep snowy or icy roads do not faze it in the least, not a sign of slip despite Michelin Eco tyres, just accelerate and go.
Its slightly too hard sprung for my own taste, but that slightly stiffer stance comes in to its own nipping round corners with no roll and no drama, very chuckable.
SWMBO feels very confident in it.
Brakes weren't great despite good pads and discs rears of which look all original as do the front discs.
I replaced all 8 pads for the princely sum of £34 all in and bled the brakes and now the brakes are smooth and progressive and powerful enough.
Foot operated on/off parking brake, small shoes inside the rear disc/drums as per MB, BMW etc, work well now i've adjusted them up properly inside the drums...something else i feel has not been touched since the car left the factory, so much for main dealer servicing, i think this car has seen mechanics peering through the wheels and not enough proper dismantling cleaning lubricating etc so i am forced yet again to compare to my MB indy who does the things the old way.
Had to kick hell out of the wheels to get them off the hubs at all (supplying dealer mechanic obviously didn't), now cleaned and coppaslipped.
Sensible tyres sizes, 215/60 x 16 95H, Uniroyal Rain Experts at around £75 delivered each when needed is quite good for a medium sized 4x4, big enough to soak up the pot holes smoothly without damage and small enough to be a fair price.
Gearbox is smooth, silky changes and quick to kick down if you need 4 gears, cruises at 70 at about 2.5k revs, accurate speedo, slight creep on fast idle as you would expect.
Tiptronic option which neither of us has felt the need to use though i tried it to be sure it worked.
Comfortable leather seats, not heated optional when new, good all round vision and large rectangular well sited electric adjustable and heated mirrors (no electric fold) make manoeuvering and overtaking easy, commanding view from the height adustable front seats and adustable steering column means everyone can get comfy, manual adjusters that work as you would expect a Japanese design to, easily no frills.
40/60 rear seat backrest has several positions of recline, can help with the reasonable boot for awkward loads and be more comfortable for passengers when load carrying isn't needed.
Rear seat folds down flat easily for long loads, Isofix built in.
Nice touch with the seats, move front seats full forward remove headrests and recline backrests fully, recline rear seat backrests down to boot floor and you have an almost flat full length bed...ho ho, Christening when the weather picks up..:-)
Twin sunroofs (SE spec) the front one of which tilts and slides, simple aircon and heater controls as with all others, no auto lights or wipers.
Heater powerful and fast acting, good sensible and visible lights all round, headlights surprisngly good for normal H4's.
Auto gearlever set into dash as per Honda Civic meaning no centre tunnel and walk thru capability across the front, nice for alighting from the nearside door easily.
Roomy inside, huge storage box between front seats and lots of other cubbies, doors not 9" thick and close easily, simple locks, key lock in boot as well as both doors, remote locking and doors can be locked with engine running with spare key if reqd.
I like a keylock in boot, and proper mechanical opening handles not electric switches prone to expensive failure.
Do i like it, yes i do.
I'd have liked more power, but the handling and road manners mean it can be thrown around with abandon safely within reason, comfortable quiet and very easy to drive.
Mitsi did offer some UK spec 2.0 litre turbo 280 bhp versions of the 03 to 06 model Outlander, but as rare as hens teeth, parts apart from the usual suspects (brakes etc) are expensive enough if genuine OE for the 2.4 version so expect the even rarer 2.0 turbo parts situation to be dire.
Notes.
This model suffers from the plastic headlight lenses cracking up as is ours, part of our purchase agreement is the replacement of the present ones with those from a suitable donor car (nearly released), this is yet to be done but i have no qualms about the dealer not honouring that, lenses not replaceable and new lights circa £350 apiece so i don't expect or want brand new, Mitsi doing a German act here and have never accepted any responsibility or offered any help to affected owners from my research even in the US, and i'd be loath to encourage such an attitude by giving them £700 for something they.
MOT history shows one broken front drop link previously, i found the other to be broken too, obviously a weak point but cheap easy fix and i suspect easily modified if breakage continues.
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Mitsubishi Outlander - 04 Outlander running report - Runfer D'Hills
