Mitsubishi Outlander (2012 – 2021) Review

The Mitsubishi Outlander is often overshadowed by its plug-in hybrid sister model, but if you’re in the market for a used mid-size SUV, it’s a good call. A rival for the Land Rover Freelander, dependable Honda CR-V and popular Toyota RAV4, the Mitsubishi Outlander offers four-wheel drive and an economical diesel engine. It’s not as upmarket inside as its competitors, but it’s solidly made and decent value. Read on for our Mitsubishi Outlander review.

With a practical cabin offering space for up to seven and real 4x4 ability, the Mitsubishi Outlander is a smart choice of rural workhorse in 2.2-litre diesel form.

Official economy is 55.3mpg for the GX2 manual and – rather unusually – it’s actually almost achievable in real world driving.

The Mitsubishi Outlander is also comfortable and spacious compared to some SUV rivals. The cabin may lack style and sophistication, but it is durable and offers plenty of room in both the front and rear.

There’s a large boot and all but the entry-level model come with seven seats, the back two of which are surprisingly roomy. Folding all of the seats flat frees up a huge 1680 litres of space.

All models feature all-wheel drive as standard, and the system is aimed at genuine off-road driving rather than just helping out on a patch of on-road slush.

The differential can be locked and the gearbox set to low range, so on undulating, muddy or gravel-covered surfaces there is plenty of traction. Paired with a braked tow weight of 2000kg, the Mitsubishi Outlander is an ideal car for towing horseboxes or caravans.

It drives decently – the controls are nicely weighted, although the steering could be a little more precise. But the suspension does a good job of absorbing the worst lumps and bumps, even if body roll is a problem at higher speeds on particularly twisty roads.

That said, the Mitsubishi Outlander has plenty of grip and always feels safe, stable and secure.

The Mitsubishi Outlander offers a worthwhile used 4x4 package. It’s large, practical and capable, yet it has real off-road and poor weather capability, plus it manages reasonable fuel economy.

Inside it may lack the the polish and upmarket ‘feel’ of some rival cars, but if rugged durability is what you value above all else, then the Mitsubishi Outlander is worth a look.

Fancy a second opinion? Read heycar’s Mitsubishi Outlander review.

The Mitsubishi Outlander feels quite heavy, despite its light power steering. Indeed there is a noticeable amount of body roll, although that doesn’t translate to a lack of grip.

The Mitsubishi Outlander is safe, planted and secure, and all models come with all-wheel drive, which helps in wet weather or snow.

It’s also capable in tougher off-road situations, thanks to a low-range gearbox setting and selectable differential lock. Paired with a braked tow-weight rating of 2000kg, that makes the Mitsubishi Outlander a good choice of tow car, whether for horse boxes, caravans or trailers.

Rough roads are taken care of with fairly comfortable suspension. It’s not the last word in smooth serenity, but it’s not bad at all over potholes or speed bumps.

The Mitsubishi Outlander is big, so town drivers might struggle with it, but a high-up driving position makes visibility good and a reversing camera helps out with tight parking spaces if you choose a GX4 or GX5 model.

The Mitsubishi Outlander is available with a 2.2-litre diesel with 149PS. Peak torque is 380Nm and it comes in nice and low down the rev range at 1750rpm, making the Mitsubishi Outlander a flexible and easy-to-drive car.

The power is delivered smoothly and the gear change is slick and precise. The automatic option is reasonably smooth, although it can hang on to gears a little when accelerating hard.

But it’s a smart transmission, adapting to your driving style over time and changing shift patterns to suit. Once up to speed, it’s easy to amble along without too much effort, thanks to the torque output, so for A-roads and motorways the Mitsubishi Outlander is ideal.

The 2.0-litre petrol arrived in late 2018 with 150PS and 195Nm of low-rev pull. This engine is fine in itself, but it was only available with a CVT (continuously variable transmission) auto that hampers its performance and refinement when trying to accelerate with any urgency.

For this reason alone, we’d choose the diesel or hybrid models.

The Mitsubishi Outlander earned a five-star score in Euro NCAP tests when it was assessed new.

That score has since expired through improvements in test methods, but the Mitsubishi Outlander still comes with seven airbags, including one for the driver’s knees.

You also get a speed limiter, Isofix child seat mounts, ABS brakes and ESP traction control.

The 2018 facelift brought upgrades to safety that included lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking. But all this was only standard for the top-spec model.

Both petrol and diesel versions of the Mitsubishi Outlander are good to tow a braked trailer with a weight of up to 2000kg.

This make the Mitsubishi Outlander one of the most able choices in its class and a sound bet for anyone towing a caravan or smaller horsebox.

With an unbraked trailer, you can haul up to 750kg.

The cabin of the Mitsubishi Outlander is neatly laid out and feels very well screwed together, but it lacks panache.

Spartan though it may be, it’s certainly comfortable, with plenty of legroom and headroom for front and rear-seat passengers.

The seating position is high up and commanding, while huge door mirrors give a good view back, making the Mitsubishi Outlander confidence-inspiring to drive despite its size.

All models, with the exception of the entry-level GX2, come with seven seats as standard and the rearmost pair are surprisingly useful and very easy to fold up and down.

They are easily capable of seating a child, even when the middle row is occupied with adults. When the back two seats aren’t in use, they fold flat into the boot floor, giving a sizeable 591 litres of load space. The load deck is flat, but it is quite high for loading heavy items.

Mitsubishi supplies a flimsy, annoyingly tricky-to-use load cover but when not in use, it does stow neatly under the boot floor.

For those who carry large items, the middle row folds completely flat, giving a usefully large 913 litres in seven-seater models or 1022 litres in five-seat GX2 versions. It’s a bit of a fiddle to drop the seats flat first time around, but once you figure it out, it’s not a problem.

Look and feel your way around the interior of the Mitsubishi Outlander and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was all a bit, well, low-end.

It’s true that the plastics and materials generally miss the soft-touch class of an Audi Q3 of the same era, or Range Rover Evoque, but there is also a hardiness to the Mitsubishi Outlander’s build that is entirely in keeping with its role as a rugged, capable 4x4, rather than a lifestyle SUV.

Like many Japanese cars of the period, the Mitsubishi Outlander’s infotainment system looks a bit like an afterthought in the centre of the dash.

The system fitted to earlier cars works well enough with DAB radio and Bluetooth, but it does feel very dated.

A facelift in 2018 improved matters greatly with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto included, but the graphics and response felt slow even by the standards of the time.

The majority of Mitsubishi Outlanders available on the used market are of the plug-in hybrid variety, but we’re looking at the non-hybrid models here.

These are split equally between petrol and diesel, and you should be able to pick up an early example with either engine from around £9500 in good condition, with about 80,000 miles on the clock.

A facelifted car that is five years old with 40,000 miles under its wheels will cost from around £18,000 for a petrol version and £16,500 for a diesel. However, the diesel is much rarer in these later Mitsubishi Outlanders.

Combined economy of 52.3mpg was claimed for the 2.2-litre diesel version of the Mitsubishi Outlander.

Unlike so many cars of its era, the Mitsubishi Outlander delivered real-world consumption that matched the figures, as witnessed by our Real MPG data in many cases.

This engine also emits 140g/km, so a pre-1 April 2017 version pays the same £180 in road tax as a Mitsubishi Outlander registered after that date.

With the petrol engine, you can expect a genuine 36mpg against a claimed 37.7mpg, so again the factory figure is backed up by drivers’ experiences.

Carbon dioxide emissions for the petrol are 171g/km, but this engine arrived post-1 April 2017 so the current flat £180 rate applies at the time of writing.

Insurance shouldn’t put off many buyers, with the Mitsubishi Outlander sitting in groups 22 to 27. Reliability is a Mitsubishi Outlander strong point, and servicing will be no more costly than for other similar SUVs.

The Mitsubishi Outlander GX2 models come with lockable all-wheel drive, five seats, 16-inch steel wheels, daytime running lights, keyless entry, iPod/USB/AUX connection, six-speaker audio system, climate control and electric windows.

Choose the Mitsubishi Outlander GX3 trim and it adds an additional row of two, fold-out seats, plus 18-inch alloy wheels, rear privacy glass, folding, heated door mirrors, auto wipers, Bluetooth, leather gearknob and steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, underfloor storage in boot and parking sensors.

A Mitsubishi Outlander GX5 adds a sunroof, reversing camera, electrically operated tailgate, keyless start, HiD lights with washers, DAB radio, satellite navigation, leather seat trim, electrically adjustable driver’s seat and heated front seats.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Juro version arrived in late 2018 as a range-topper with leather seats with electric driver’s seat adjustment, a 360-degree camera, heated steering wheel, power tailgate, blind-spot warning with rear cross traffic alert, LED headlamps with LED high beam and LED front foglamps.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Black Edition was based on the top Mitsubishi Outlander 4 petrol variant from late 2019-on with black 18-inch alloy wheels, a black radiator grille, black front skid plate and black door mirror covers. Along the flanks the door rubbing strips are also finished in black along with the roof rails and black rear skid plate.

The interior is finished with a black roof lining and sporty “C-TEC” upholstery.