At first glance we are a completely normal family: dad, mom, two adolescent boys, a small dog. We live in the country in Schleswig-Holstein and drive a spacious family carriage: the Fiat Doblo Maxi. There are only pragmatic reasons for this: the whole family, including BMX and other bicycles and cross machines, fits comfortably in this car, just like that, flap open, everything in, flap shut, and go. The Doblo is our little donkey, an honest from A-to-B car, reliable, unexcited pack animal with basic equipment, because it had just stood around in the dealership and we could take it with us right away.
At a second glance, the mom of this normal family drives a really crazy fully equipped state-of-the-art high-tech premium cart from time to time, because she writes about her as a journalist and blogger and takes pictures of her. And so she knows the best of two worlds.
Mama, that's me, Sandra Schink. And I haven't had Mitsubishi on the screen so far. Until this deer crossed my path.
Careful, game changes
Five days before I wanted to go on vacation with my girlfriend, boys and dog, there was this moment on the country road when this deer appeared in the light cone in front of me at dusk. And after this endless moment of shock with a dull "BONG" and a jerk disappeared from view. Do you know these endless seconds of fright? Those eternal moments when you know exactly what's going to happen. And this relentless certainty that there is nothing more they can do about it? These moments that take place in razor-sharp slow motion in 3D and HD and Oweh. But what has already happened in the outside world? I agree. It was such a moment of shock.
In the next few seconds you activate the hazard lights, turn right, check the son in the front passenger seat and the dog in the back seat for integrity. And then you open the driver's door - and hear the second audible “BONG.” And at that moment you know that at least nobody is injured. The car is scrap. Fenders moved backwards, driver's door wedged and hard to open. There was nothing more to be seen from the black car on the unlit country road.
Two hours later, after the deer deer had been properly disposed of by the unexcited hunters of the area ("Jo. We saved ammunition, nech. We had it in sight for a long time."), I stand in front of the family demolished car in front of our door and it becomes clear to us that we can only go to the workshop. But definitely not on vacation anymore. In addition to the fender and driver's door, on which the dying goat had left his solution in flight, the bonnet, headlights, grille and possibly the frame had been caught. An expert would have to clarify that. I put all my hope in a replacement car.
She died on a morning phone call. "Yes, we are happy to offer you a replacement car," explained the lady from the repair shop. "We just have a Smart there." And that was the end of the vacation. I thought so.
Power of Network: fight for a test car
But “With a little help from my friends” miracles are made. The well-connected car logger network, above all Robert Basic, activated his press contacts to find another test car of the right size - and to make the vacation possible. My heart felt very warm, I thought it was great. Even if I honestly had little hope. The test car planners of the car manufacturers usually need a lot more lead time and so spontaneously to provide a test car of the appropriate size AND a driver for the transfer within three days, that is almost impossible. In addition, for a blogger that the company may not yet know about.
But Robert knows Bjoern and Bjoern knows Stefan and Ulf from Mitsubishi and Stefan and Ulf from Mitsubishi have made it really possible: They provided me with an Outlander 2.2 Di-D 4WD Cleartec MT Top as a test car in a super short-term, uncomplicated and unbureaucratic way. In carmine red! And with that Mitsubishi wins the Sympathy Award 2017 for me.
Hey, you saved us! Our vacation, our adventure, our sunshine time! THANK YOU!
Tetris in the Outlander
The Outlander arrived in Hamburg on Thursday, I collected my friend Caro's luggage right after the handover, and then we went back to the country to stow the rest of the luggage for the next morning's journey.
As a reminder: My boys are used to the dimensions of the Fiat Doblo Maxi: 1050l trunk volume to stuff up to the roof. The Outlander has just 591l (with 5 seats), just over half. And so it happened as it had to come: The Monster Case from Sohn 2.0 was too big if three other people wanted to take some luggage with them. After a look into this monster case, the problem was easy to solve, because it was only half full and the stuff could be repacked into smaller and more easily stowable bags. Note: Space is pure luxury too, and those who have sufficient Tetris skills can save a lot of it 😉
In the end, the luggage and all the centimeters of available foot space were fully packed, but we didn't have to do without anything with four full-grown people and a small dog. Especially under the front seats, under a small flap in the front of the trunk and in the side pockets, there is still a lot of stowage space for soft, small and malleable luggage and has been used by us.
Retro look infotainment
Friday morning we started. South of Berlin, on the Krüpelsee in the Dahme-Spree area, waited Bungalow boat to us. We had a week on the water and an Indian summer feeling, and we started the day in a good mood. But wait, first enter the destination address in the navigation system. Uh, yes.
Presumably it is just a matter of getting used to, but the navigation system in the Mitsubishi that works on the Here service accesses uses so completely differently than the Google Maps on the smartphone or, for example, in Audi sat navs, that we first had to search and try a little until the address was finally entered. And the display was somehow confusing and if you want to zoom out, it is difficult to get back to the driving view.
In general, the entire Mitsubishi infotainment, which can be operated via touchscreen and buttons, has the appearance of Windows 98 and is a little confusing. But of course you also get used to it.
It would probably have been easier to familiarize yourself with the logbook before driving, but hey, I like cars that I can sit in and drive off without first completing an IT degree or reading a 2.000-page tome to have. This is becoming increasingly difficult for new vehicles thanks to the many newly introduced driver assistance systems, which are ultimately intended to make life easier and safer for us, and which are different for each manufacturer. But normally you also choose ONE vehicle and you quickly know what makes it tick.
The Outlander and the Snob
So I whine at a high level. But there is still one who can whine even higher. “Mom, does the massage seat have? Seat cooling? WLAN? ”Asks the 15-year-old expert from the back seat. For the first time the thought comes to mind that it may not be that educationally useful for your own breed to test premium vehicles again and again.
“Uh, no. But this one only costs around a third of what the last fully equipped Superduper luxury SUV hybrid test car cost ... ”“ Oh, really now? ”“ Yes, really! ”“ But this is really okay for that . "
How comforting.
Okay, it really is. When I drove the 1,6-ton truck, fully loaded with four people and luggage, past a tractor on our side road and had to maneuver through calf-deep modders with my two right wheels, the steering didn't even twitch. No spinning, no slipping, no unexpected dangling.
Okay, I switched the four-wheel drive from Eco to locked for safety's sake. This is done with a button behind the handbrake and has often helped me during the test period. Maybe it was just important for the feeling, this lure. I didn't even test whether he would have taken it for granted in the Eco4WD setting.
Then it went on the highway and with 150 HP in turbo diesel to Berlin. The A24 is a calm route with little speed limit, and up to 180km / h I felt comfortable at the wheel despite the load. Unfortunately I didn't check how to set the cruise control (and instead activated the limiter ...), and yes, I know, that's pretty stupid, and yes, I know: RTFM.
Change from thick ship to thick ship
After three hours we arrived relaxed on our houseboat, reloaded and started our adventure. And I was a little bit sorry that I would only have a few days to drive the Outlander after our trip.
Our houseboat tour was fantastic: we had the best possible weather, mild temperatures, sunshine, a cool crew, a crazy sea dog and experienced a week of Indian summer in the middle of Brandenburg.
When we returned after a week, the red thick ship was waiting for us and we used the autumn light for a little auto-posing on the water.
... story continues ...