The rules of being fashionably late to a party are undefined but absolute. There's no question at this point that Mitsubishi is late to the compact crossover party. It's had the three-row Outlander for the correct amount of time, but the Outlander has never been a mainstream contender in the market segment. And so with the introduction of the 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Mitsubishi has to crash this party right.
There are two parts to being late and still making the right kind of entrance. First, you've got to look the part. And with an Evo-style trapezoidal grille, sport bodywork and an aircraft-style fuel door, there's something definitely cool here. Second, you've got to be interesting enough to carry the momentum from the front door through the rest of the night. And that's where we come in. The smaller, cheaper and slightly cooler 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport is late to the party and we've got 12 months and 20,000 miles with the new compact crossover to see if it can hang with the established partygoers.
What We Got
Like every Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, our new 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE AWC is equipped with a 2.0-liter inline-4 that makes 148 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque. In the ES, the lowest trim level which retails for $18,495, the power gets routed to the ground via either a continuously variable transmission (CVT) or an enthusiast-friendly five-speed manual and only through the front wheels in both cases. In our fancy AWD (AWC, but we'll get there) SE model, the only available transmission is a CVT with magnesium shift paddles. This reduces the fuel economy to 29 mpg highway from the 31 mpg highway offered by the five-speed.
At the ES end of the spectrum, the Outlander Sport comes acceptably equipped with seven airbags, Mitsubishi's Fuse hands-free communication system with Bluetooth streaming audio and USB input and the same mechanics we see throughout the line. Up the ante to the SE 2WD and you shell out $21,695 but end up with FAST-key passive entry and one-touch start/stop, 18-inch wheels and auto on/off HID headlights. The final step in the Outlander Sport family is the SE AWC (there it is again), which adds heated front seats, an available (and giant) transparent panorama roof and Mitsubishi's All Wheel Control all-wheel-drive system.
The AWC system is Mitsubishi's driver-adjustable electronically controlled four-wheel-drive system. Spin the console-mounted knob to 2WD mode and the Outlander Sport is set for best fuel economy and easiest driving. Twist the knob to 4WD and you get all-wheel drive with limited power sent to the rear wheels. Flick it one notch over and you're in LOCK and there you get as much as 60 percent of power sent to the rear wheels. (This setting is for fun.)
But that's all standard stuff. When our 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport showed up it had some $6,000 in extras. The Premium package was $1,800 and came with the panoramic glass roof, black roof rails, a 710-watt Rockford Fosgate stereo and Sirius Satellite Radio. The navigation system and rearview camera package is $2,000 and comes with navigation, a rearview camera and an aux video input. Finally there are the Cargo package and the wheel locks for $185 and $55, respectively.
All said and done, this 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE AWC stickers for $28,810. We didn't pay that, however, since Mitsubishi provided the vehicle for the purpose of this test.
Why We Got It
The Mitsubishi Outlander has always been a staff favorite. Sure, the third row is a bit of a disaster, but it's there if you need it. But the real secret of the Outlander is (especially with the AWC turned to LOCK and taking full advantage of the magnesium paddle shifters) that you can really drive it. In fact, the Outlander makes us think that Mitsubishi might even know what it's doing with sporty, all-wheel-drive vehicles. (Shock.)
But the Outlander Sport is a different beast. It doesn't have the V6 power of the Outlander GT V6 in the long-term test fleet. But can a smaller, lighter package make up for that?
20,000 Miles To Go
In our full test of a front-wheel-drive 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport ES, we wrote, "It's cheap, though. And big enough for gear, small enough to park, easy on gas and comes with an iPod adapter standard. What more do kids want from a car these days, anyway?"
And the short answer is "Everything." We've already noted that Mitsubishi's late to the party, so it's tried to make up for lost time by equipping the Outlander Sport with virtually everything a driver could want in a small crossover, including an electronically activated all-wheel-drive system. But can this new Mitsubishi hang in the quality and reliability departments? Is the small 2.0-liter four-cylinder hooked to a CVT going to be enough power for reasonable driving? When the Mitsubishi product planners shrunk the Outlander, did they shrink its fun, too?
Stick around for our Long-Term Road Test blog, where we'll put 20,000 miles on our new 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport over the course of 12 months. We'll see if showing up late was better than not showing up at all.
Current Odometer: 1,679
Best Fuel Economy: 26.8 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 18.6 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 22.1 mpg
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
Follow the long-term road test blog for updates about our 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport.
Add A Comment »
rt_hat says:
07:59 PM, 12/27/2011
AWD doesn't help your car stop faster. Winter tires helps your car stop faster, Traction Control helps your car stop faster.
AWD helps your car accelerate when there is loss of grip on one, two or three tires. If your car is in a stuck in a snowbank, AWD will give you an upper hand over FWD. But importantly every car is at the mercy of the ice, its tires and its traction control leading up to that.
orbit9090 says:
10:12 AM, 01/11/2011
Average Fuel Economy is only 22.1 mpg ?
Oh my. May as well be driving an AWD RAV4 V6.
gavas says:
06:20 AM, 01/03/2011
Holy cow! So much hate for the Outlander Sport! Have you guys even sat/driven one in person? My wife and I bought one a couple of weeks ago. Let me start by saying that the $28K price tag is nonsense and only suckers would pay that. We got an AWD SE with everything minus leather seats/glass roof/upgraded sound system for about $22K. At this point the engine only has about 500 miles and we are observing about 25.5 mpg (actual calculated, NOT what the computer says, which surprisingly underestimates the mileage) in mixed driving and the engine isn't even broken in yet. The accelaration is comparable to the CRV etc. Sure, it's not a rocket, but none of the vehicles in that class is. The CRV was the main competitor when we were shopping and the Outlander Sport is hands down a better overall vehicle. Interior quality is excellent, the dash is nice and soft plastic (unlike the all-hard-plastic CRV), the heated seats (standard) are very comfortable (much better than the CRV which feel like airline seats) and the cabin is much quieter (no sqeaks, far less outside noise than the CRV). The warranty is outstanding (5 year/60K miles bumper to bumper, 10 year/100K mechanical). The Outlander Sport is a VERY different (and much better) vehicle from the plain Outlander (which we test drove and immediately rejected). I don't even know why they named them similarly. BTW, the AWD system is OUTSTANDING. We test drove the car in terrible blizzard conditions (remember the blizzards in the midwest a couple of weeks ago? That was fun!) and the car drove as if there was nothing on the ground. We even took it to an empty parking lot with several inches of snow, tried to get it to slide (slammed brakes etc) and couldn't. The only advantage the CRV really had over the Outlander Sport is far superior cargo space, but we decided we didn't care too much about that.
mirde98 says:
10:11 PM, 12/28/2010
I like this O-Sport. Interior looks nice. Decent packaging. I think $28k fully loaded is a bit too steep. Other than the price I belive is a nice car that will suit well for most peoples daily duties.
jscion says:
09:56 AM, 12/18/2010
OK, so who in their right mind would choose to spend $28K on a compact Mitsu with an ancient 148hp 4-cylinder engine??? Almost everything else competes better than this!!!....The Outlander Sport should be an entry-level AWD crossover with a much smaller price tag. And what is with only being able to get AWD with the top of the line model??? If it was packaged better, this would be an awesome product but it just misses the mark totally!
audisport says:
12:51 PM, 12/17/2010
Does anyone really need to look past 148hp? Seriously? Brand new entry. Cant weigh less than 3500lb's. No thank you.
As someone else mentioned, I'll take the Mazda with an extra 100hp.
Mistubishi doesn't have a clue.
v8vader says:
05:23 PM, 12/16/2010
everything that could have made this an awesome car makes the Juke an awesome car. Juke FTW.
hotrodw says:
04:56 PM, 12/16/2010
"We've already noted that Mitsubishi's late to the party, so it's tried to make up for lost time by equipping the Outlander Sport with virtually everything a driver could want in a small crossover, including an electronically activated all-wheel-drive system."
Not quite everything. For instance: I want some power . . . there is not much to be had here. How about a DSG? Sorry, no. Well it must get great gas mileage then, right? Uh, not really. Just 22 mpg observed! I bet the Outlander's V6 would return that in real world driving since you wouldn't have to flog it. Mitsu got the look right, but the name is all wrong. There is no Sport to be found here. And while I'm ranting, the aluminum gas cap cover is tired. Time to give it up.
blueprint1 says:
01:02 PM, 12/16/2010
I really, really don't understand why IL got one of the least-interesting CUV on the market for its long-term fleet. Heck, a Jeep Compass would make more sense than this (ooops ... IL already had that).
Is is too late to return it and get a Juke? The Nissan has polarizing looks, a modern turbo engine and zippy handling, features that the small Mitsu misses.
This is easily the most deceiving lt car choice since I began reading IL.
GET A JUKE!!!!
grfa says:
12:30 PM, 12/16/2010
I can see the summary of this test next year:
1. Equipped this way it is underpowered and way too expensive. $28k for cloth seats and 148hp through a CVT?
2. Buy a less equipped Outlander Sport in the low $20s. It would be a good commuter car etc. OR just buy a Nissan Juke.
3. If you are going to spend $28k buy a Mazda CX-7. You get leather and an ADDITIONAL 110hp for your money.
I cannot wait to see the performance tests on this Outlander Sport. I think it makes sense as a stick shift FWD sporty crossover for $18k, but not as a $28k player. There are just way too many alternatives.