My husband and I both have small cars. I’ve had mine since college and his car is fairly recent. We’ve said that our next car has GOT to be a bit bigger. We need something for all of our camping adventures and our many road trips! While a SUV is probably a bit much for just the two of us, a crossover would be just right! And with the gas mileage that some of them get – why would we not?
In fact, we just got finished test driving the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport – a compact crossover SUV – and it got better highway mileage than my husband’s mid-size car! We were quite impressed! We got to test the Outlander on our road trip from Denver to Yellowstone!
**By the way, a crossover vehicle is a vehicle built on a car platform with features of a sport utility vehicle (SUV).
SIZE/SPACE
First of all, thank goodness we got to test drive this car for our trip! We would have never been able to fit all of our stuff in just one of our cars! It was a blessing that we had the Mitsubishi to fit all of our gear! We folded down the rear seats and packed in tents, sleeping bags, camping chairs, propane tank, cooler, grill, stove and more. With a little skill and some maneuvering we fit it all in! The awesome part was that we had room to spare! Our seats didn’t have to be cranked to the last position to fit everything – we had plenty of leg room! Even with all of our stuff (and believe me we are not light camping packers) we could still see out some of the windows thanks to the tall interior design of this vehicle. It is never fun to be cramped for a car ride, especially not a 9 hour one! So luckily we weren’t!
** The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport features up to 49.5 cubic feet of cargo room and has 60/40 split fold-down rear seats.
LOOK/EXTERIOR
I don’t know about you, but this is a very important feature of a car to me. In fact, I chose my last car pretty much just based on this. I like a good looking car, and I am a little picky too. I’ve got to say that Mitsubishi has come a long way with its design of the Outlander. The first few models were not my favorite, but they have done well on these last generations. The look is sleek and has become a lot more eye-appealing. I like the two tone design – this was the first red car I’d ever driven! And I really liked the smooth dimensions and sculpted curves to this car.
**The vehicle has some outstanding exterior features like: 18" alloy wheels, super wide range headlamps, chrome front grill and moldings and a rear spoiler.
INTERIOR
Beyond the great space this car offered, we also found there was a lot to love in the cabin itself. There were two 12-volt outlets, USB plug ins and our model came with an impressive navigation package that included a 40-gig hard drive storage for music! I’ve never had a music server in my vehicles, but based on how much I love a variety of music, this is perfect for me! We also had some upgrades like subwoofer, rear camera system (to help when backing up) and a panoramic sunroof that went almost the length of the car top! I tried to get a good picture of how extensive the view is when the rooftop is all the way extended open, but the pictures don’t do justice. Here’s to give you an idea, but to get the full concept, you’ll have to check out the professional pictures online!
**Lots of comforts and conveniences that come standard or you can add on many features as optional equipment. The HUGE panoramic roof so we could enjoy the views was a major plus for us.
SPEED/PERFORMANCE
If there was one thing we didn’t love about this car it was the fact it was a little pokey. There was no urgency to it at all. It is only a four cylinder, so this is mainly why there was no umph. We had a hard time passing cars, afraid we wouldn’t make it with our weak power. Of course, because of the small engine, you get the benefits of great gas mileage. And it was great for a long trip! At one point we almost ran out of gas too – we were so thankful for good gas mileage then! Honestly we never run low on gas, but there was a point on our route where there was no gas for 180 miles! We thought we’d be fine, well we were, but we were sweating the last few miles when our tank screen no longer told us how many miles we had left of gas! Which is an awesome feature that I shouldn’t forget to mention! Look at the meter! 
FAST FACTS
- 2013 Outlander Sport starts at $19,170
- 24/31 MPG
- Transmission: CVT & MANUAL
- Active Stability Control (ASC)³ monitor the grip of each tire.
- 4 cylinder, 2.0L
- Easy switch from 2WD to 4WD
OUR FAVORITE FEATURE
So typically I have one favorite feature. But for this car I have two! The first favorite feature was the rear back up camera. Since this was a new car to us and we were not familiar with the size, the camera made it easy and took the pressure of a good park job off! When we had to back up or parallel park on the side of the road to see some wildlife, we were able to do it easily and quickly thanks to the help of the rear camera. It displays right were the navigation and radio is and it is clear and easy to follow. It shows you how much room you have and has line suggestions of where to stop safely without hitting something! How cool is that? 
The second favorite feature was the one-touch start/stop engine switch. This comes in handy when you don’t want to dig out your keys from your purse or your pocket. Because we were camping, we were in and out of the car frequently, and it was nice not to pull out the keys each and every time we stopped for a scenic overlook or bear! We just kept the keys on us, pressed the foot on the brake, hit the start/stop button and we were on our way again!
Finally after a week of test driving, our adventure-packed journey came to an end and we had to return the car. We sadly handed over the keys, but we will look upon our great trip and remember that the Mitsubishi Outlander got us both to and from Yellowstone safely and comfortably.
CONNECT WITH MITSUBISHI
- Mitsubishi Motors Website
- Mitsubishi Motors Facebook
- Mitsubishi Motors YouTube
- Mitsubishi Motors Twitter @Mitsucars
Disclosure: I had the opportunity to test drive the Mitsubishi for a one week loan in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions are my own.