I recently test drove the new Mitsubishi 2015 Outlander 3.0 GT S-AWC for a week, after all our crazy New York snow storms were over but while days were still drizzly and chilly. It was a pleasure to drive a car with heated seats that would be able to traverse through any surprise snow storms (though we got it the day after the last snow storm hit, so I wasn’t able to test that out during our test drive week).
In a nutshell, our experience with the Mitsubishi 2015 Outlander GT:
I’ll start with what I loved (there was lots)…
The Pros
1. Love the color! This is a gorgeous car and I loved the overall look and sleekness…it looked great on our driveway and I was proud to drive it around. The chrome trim outside and wood grain trim inside all added to its beauty.
2. Comfortable ride…filled with little luxuries that made the ride smoother and more enjoyable, I appreciated a daily commute that made me really comfortable and relaxed. Getting the seat to be comfortable, the option to heat both front seats and choose how much, and the convenient placement of the stick shift all made driving this vehicle a fun way to spend several hours a day.
3. Intuitive dashboard, everything was where you’d expect, no surprises or hunts, and everything was easy to read. There was actually much more information on the dashboard available to me than I expected, and I loved it! It was easy to toggle options, see status updates, etc. All cars should be so user friendly.
4. Safety features such as the Rearview Camera System and Lane Departure Warnings are always a good thing, because the roads can be hazardous (and I surely don’t want to be one of the hazards). I also appreciated an easy to view navigation screen, it was sufficiently large to make navigating easier, and the All Wheel Drive means it can handle icy New York winter roads better and more safely.
5. Great price point for a lot of features, and the fuel efficiency makes it even more of a great value.
The Cons
1. The third row seating was sort of squished in back there as though it were an after-thought, it didn’t really fit and was hard to get into… leaving it as cargo space would have worked better
2. Our model didn’t have any sensors alerting me when I was close to another car, making backing up difficult even with the Rearview Camera System. It offers forward collision mitigation but not rear.
3. I couldn’t get the tailgate to open if the car wasn’t running (annoying when I want to load the car before getting in and starting it). It’s remote controlled and supposed to work so this may have just been a quirk during my test-drive week.
Overall, we enjoyed the Mitsubishi 2015 Outlander GT and found it to be a beautiful car that is comfortable and seemed pretty economical. For our own purposes and lifestyle, this specific model with the features we reviewed isn’t really the right car. We’d need to add on rear collision mitigation for it to be perfect for us. We currently drive our sons to school daily and I drive in and out of a very busy school parking lot with lots of little children running around. I need to be able to safely back up so need an unobstructed rear view (not possible with an SUV) or sensors and alerts all over, because safety in a school parking lot is paramount. With rear collision mitigation, that problem would be solved.
We plan to be the parents that drive the kid crew everywhere, friends always welcome, so we would love a roomier and more easily accessible third row in order for the car to take us through the next ten years. This isn’t a deal breaker for us, but it would be awesome. It’s a great vehicle for a family that doesn’t necessarily need a third row and would be happy to keep it as cargo space, and with the rear sensor system for collision mitigation, it would be great for practically anyone. The price point certainly makes it even more worthwhile and easier to add on additional necessary safety features without making it unaffordable.
The Mitsubishi 2015 Outlander 3.0 GT S-AWC vehicle we drove is a four door SUV in Rally Red and Black valued at about $35,000 when purchased with the GT Touring Package.
It looks like it would be a nice vehicle option for smaller families. I really appreciate when the dashboard is intuitive like that!
This looks like a really cute vehicle. I love the color and all of the features inside!
We drove an earlier model last year and it was great for our needs with having to haul 7 people around town. The 3rd row was squishy for the teens 😉 but in a pinch it worked. I was impressed with the gas mileage too, considering the size of the vehicle. We drove a black one, but I really like this red paint job, much cheerier and would probably do better with heat control down here in the South.