Largely in the green area
Spacious, safe, affordable: The Outlander III is a used car of many interests. There are now copy copies for around 8.000 Euro. Some even drive electrically.
At the end of 2012, Mitsubishi sent the third edition of the Outlander into the race. His design, according to the PR officials, follows the message "solid, safe, unambiguous". But is the Japanese basically as solid as its appearance promises? Not in all points, as the TÜV report shows.
Body and interior: Depending on the year of construction 4,66 to 4,70 meter long SUV model with its quite cubic-looking body is a stately appearance with a correspondingly generous amount of space. In the first two rows, passengers travel comfortably, while the optional third row can only be used by children on shorter journeys. The very versatile rear end offers a spacious, 591 to 1.742 liter luggage compartment. In the case of the seven-seat variant, it is 141 to 1.613 liters. The quality of the materials is not always premium, the equipment, if you get hold of a higher-quality version, modern. The first years of construction are considered relatively loud inside, with the model care 2015 noise reduction was improved.
Engine and chassis: The selection is quite manageable in the drives: In addition to a two-liter gasoline engine and a 2,2-liter diesel with 110 each kW / 150 PS there is alternatively a plug-in hybrid version, even longer distances pure electric driving allowed. By far the most commonly encountered on the second hand market is the gasoline engine, which, however, is only available in combination with an 5 manual transmission or a CVT automatic transmission. While the manual transmission lacks a sixth stage, the CVT may annoy with inharmonic acoustics. From much more efficient diesel, which is offered with 6-gearbox or the quite common, recommended 6-gear-converter automatic, are also found in larger numbers used copies. Exclusively with automatic, there is the comparatively rare offered in Germany hybrid version called PHEV, the price, by the way, significantly above the diesel and gasoline moves. But you can drive with this purely electric and emission-free. If you are looking for a PHEV and are not afraid to buy abroad, you should look around in Holland, where the supply of hybrids is significantly larger than in Germany. Whilst the part-time electricity generator is always combined with all-wheel drive, there is an option for diesel and gasoline engines to transfer power to all four wheels.
The suspension should rather put off friends of the brisk curve, who is more relaxed, will be pleased about an otherwise quite comfortable vote.
Equipment and Safety: Sovereign five stars EuroNCAP has awarded the Outlander in the crash test. The list of assistance systems is also impressive. So there is Abstandstempomat, accident warning, collision avoidance and lane departure warning. However, due to an idiosyncratic equipment policy of Mitsubishi, these helpers are rarely found in older utility copies, because the driver assistance package was optionally available alone in combination with the Topausstattung Instyle. By the way, the attractive equipment versions are called Plus or Top for younger models. In the better variants, the Outlander also offers amenities such as an infotainment system, climate control, light sensor, keyless locking and starting system, Bluetooth hands-free system, control buttons on the steering wheel, rain sensor, reversing camera or automatic start-stop.
Quality: As far as the deficiency ratio is concerned, the Outlander III is just above the segment average. Increased oil losses to the engine / transmission. Older specimens stand out due to increased brake disc wear and steering problems. A defect giant is the Outlander but definitely not.
Conclusion: If you want a generously sized SUV at manageable prices, with the used already from around 8.000 Euro offered Outlander III hardly do anything wrong. For higher mileage specimens, the likelihood that brakes and steering will require technical improvement increases. But otherwise the Japanese shows a rather robust nature.
Mario Hommen / SP-X