The Mitsubishi Outlander mid-size crossover has always been popular with Russian buyers. Over three generations, a quarter of a million people have owned it in Russia. The current third generation was updated last year, and now the Russian representative office has prepared something new again. Now the Outlander has seven seats. The new model will definitely appeal to large families. “Yuzhny Avtomobil” went to Ryazan for a test drive of the seven-seater Mitsubishi Outlander.
In the best years, when the dollar cost 30 rubles, Outlander sales approached the 30,000 mark. However, after the 2014 crisis, car sales in our country fell almost in half, and Misubishi models were no exception. However, despite the low purchasing power of the population, the Outlander crossover has always maintained a top-10 position in the medium SUV segment, second only to the Toyota RAV4. Since the 2014 crisis, two more players have emerged in the mid-size SUV segment: the third-generation Volkswagen Tiguan and its closest relative, the Skoda Kodiaq. Incidentally, the latter, despite its relatively attractive price, is also available in the Russian market as a seven-seat version. In the first seven months of 2019, the Czech Kodiaq narrowly surpassed the Outlander, pushing it from third to fourth place. The difference in sales was only 122 vehicles. Mitsubishi hopes to regain its place in the top three with the launch of a seven-seat version of the Outlander. The third row will only cost you 50,000 rubles.
The differences are minimal
The seven-seat Outlander differs from the standard version only in the presence of a third row of seats, but the rest of the dimensions remain unchanged. Even the trunk space hasn’t changed. Two additional seats are hidden under the trunk floor and can be easily folded out in one movement. The additional seats have two positions.
For getting into the third row, engineers have provided a sliding middle row on skids. The extra seats were installed in the place where the standard five-seater Outlander has a niche for storing all sorts of small items.
With the third row up, the trunk volume is 128 liters – not much, but enough for a large family to go on a picnic. The last seat isn’t exactly comfortable to sit on, but it’s still possible to cover 100-200 km, unless you’re a two-meter-tall basketball player or a 150-kilogram sumo wrestler.
These seats are generally ideal for children, but if you decide to use a child seat, you’ll have to secure it with a seat belt — the middle seat has Isofix mounts, but the last seat doesn’t.
With the extra seats folded into the floor, the trunk volume is 477 liters.
If you fold the middle row, you can carry 1,607 liters, with the car loaded to the ceiling. Another innovation, clearly inspired by the Skoda Kodiaq’s competitor, is the beige interior color. Previously, the Outlander’s interior was exclusively black. Now, a beige interior is available for order in the Ultimate trim level with a 2.4-liter engine. However, its beauty will require careful handling and periodic dry cleaning of the interior.
No technical changes
Speaking of technical changes, there simply aren’t any. It’s still the same old, good Outlander, which has become beloved by a huge number of Russians for its simplicity and unpretentiousness. The engines in the seven-seat versions have not changed, the suspension remains the same, and the ground clearance of 215 mm allows you to easily drive off asphalt into the forest and onto a country road.
In principle, a car with a two-liter engine is sufficient for leisurely driving in the city and on the highway, but you still feel more confident behind the wheel of a car with a 2.4-liter engine. With it and a CVT, the car drives more dynamically. It’s just unclear why Mitsubishi doesn’t install a three-liter engine in the seven-seat versions. This would be an excellent option in terms of dynamics and equipment. But, perhaps, the marketers considered that such a configuration would be too expensive for a family budget.
How much does it cost
Mitsubishi, as a marketing ploy, claims that the surcharge for the seven-seat version is only 50,000 rubles. This is true, but seven seats are only available in two configurations. The first is Intense+ with a 2.0-liter engine producing 146 horsepower. The second is Ultimate with a 2.4-liter engine and a power of 167 horsepower. Both versions are all-wheel drive, and the engines are paired with a CVT. Thus, the minimum price of the seven-seat Mitsubishi Outlander is 2,073,000 rubles for the Intense+ trim. The most expensive seven-seater, the Ultimate trim, costs 2,369,000 rubles with a black interior. The same trim, but with a beige interior, is 39,000 rubles cheaper. The front-wheel-drive seven-seat version is currently unavailable. Perhaps the introduction of a seven-seat version will increase Mitsubishi’s customer base if it develops a smart sales and discounting policy. After all, if you look at the Outlander sales last year, 24.5 thousand of these crossovers were sold in our country, and this is practically the result of 2013, when the dollar was cheaper and the demand for cars was higher.
