Mitsubishi Outlander Review (2013-2021)

If you’re after an honest, workhorse of an SUV at a good price, then the Mitsubishi Outlander is probably on your list of contenders. It’s nothing fancy but it's durable, has plenty of passenger room and boot space, and is also offered as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model, which was unique in the large budget SUV class for many years.

The Outlander PHEV offered the no-compromise benefits of very low CO2 emissions and pure electric running for some 20-25 miles in real world driving, with a 2.4-litre petrol engine to rely on after that. For most of the time that the Outlander was on sale, nothing else offered a similar combination of big-SUV versatility and roominess with plug-in hybrid efficiency, unless you went for vastly more expensive options such as the Volvo XC60 T8 or Audi Q5 TFSIe.

That's changed now, as there are finally a number of new plug-in hybrid SUVs, such as the Ford Kuga and Volkswagen Tiguan, entering the £35-£40k new price range that the Outlander used to occupy. These alternative are a little smaller than the Outlander but in reality will offer similar daily practicality and will do well for many of the company car drivers who opted for the Mitsubishi Outlander simply because it offered cheap company car tax in a practical family SUV.

It’s harder to justify the 2.2 diesel, which is offered with an optional seven-seat layout but also faces much more direct competition from the likes of the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Skoda Kodiaq, Nissan X-Trail, Peugeot 5008 and more – all of which are better to drive, nicer to sit in and often cheaper to buy.

That's not to say that the Outlander isn’t worth considering. A facelift in 2018 bought a bigger battery for the PHEV, but also saw improved materials and infotainment system in the cabin as well as better refinement in all Outlander models, and that made it feel much closer to new rivals.

Mitsubishi officially stopped selling the car in 2021, although some dealers may still have new cars on the forecourt, and aftersales service will continue as normal. As a result, it remains a convincing used buy. There are masses available second hand, they’re easy to live with and the plug-in hybrid promises much lower running costs than diesel alternatives, provided you plug it in to charge regularly. Just be aware that the PHEV’s fuel economy benefits rapidly evaporate if you’re covering large distances or lots of motorway miles.

Along with the plug-in hybrid option, the Outlander’s space and versatility are its main selling points. There’s masses of room inside, with rear seats that are easy to fold and the option of a seven-seat layout on the non-hybrid models. That said, the third row of seats in the seven-seater Outlander are a bit tight for space, so they’re best suited to kids; adults will only want to tolerate them for short journeys.

Opt for the PHEV model and the boot space is compromised slightly by the addition of the batteries, but it’s still a decent size at 463 litres, while the 60/40 split rear seats fold flat to give a cavernous 1,603 litres of load space.

The Outlander is somewhat underwhelming to drive. It's not offensive, but you can feel its weight in the corners and ride comfort isn’t what you’d expect either, with a lot of body movement and a fairly chattery ride in town. The steering is well weighted and quite precise, so you can still thread it down country lanes with reasonable confidence, but there’s none of the driver involvement that you’d get with, say, a Ford Kuga.

Despite refinement improvements, the petrol engine in the PHEV is really boomy if you accelerate hard, and isn't helped by an automatic gearbox that makes it easy to rev the engine more than is necessary.

There’s also a non-hybrid 2-litre petrol, and a 2.2-litre diesel (it’s technically 2,268cc so you may see it advertised as 2.3, but Mitsubishi marketed it as a 2.2). The diesel is reasonably punchy, but it lacks the refinement of its more modern rivals. The non-hybrid petrol, meanwhile, is mated to a CVT automatic gearbox, which blunts its performance and makes progress quite noisy as the engine revs away. It’s not one we’d recommend.

In contrast, the PHEV is most definitely the pick of the range. Just be aware that it has a Type 1 socket, where almost every other modern plug-in car uses Type 2. It’s not a big problem since the necessary adaptor cable for Type 1 to Type 2 charging come as standard, which gives access to all home wall boxes and the vast majority of AC public chargers that you normally find in towns and supermarket car parks. You can also buy one from aftermarket providers for under £200.

Get the Outlander plugged in to a dedicated charger and it’ll take three and half hours for a full charge, while plugging it into a normal three-pin domestic socket will get a full battery in aroundome six hours. The Outlander is also rare amongst plug-in hybrids in that it offers fast charging. The CHAdeMO socket in the Mitsubishi will deliver a charge at speeds of up to 22kW, which will get you 80% battery in half an hour.

As you might expect with the Outlander’s no-nonsense ethos, the interior focuses on functionality. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the design or the materials, but both lack the polish of the Outlander’s less rugged rivals. The infotainment system is a similar story, with a decent screen size and all the functions that you’d expect – Bluetooth connectivity is standard, as is DAB radio, while the post-facelift models come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – but the graphics quality lags behind most in this class, and the touchscreen is slow to respond.

Overall equipment levels are pretty generous. The post-facelift model comes with cruise control, heated front seats and a reversing camera on all trim specs, while higher grades include features like satellite navigation, leather seats, heated steering and a powered tailgate.

The Outlander is a little on the expensive side when new, compared to some rivals, but lease and monthly costs are more competitive so do check if you can get a good monthly cost before writing it off for a high list price.

The diesel Outlander isn’t as economical as you might hope; you’ll see around 40mpg from a manual car or 35mpg from the automatic. The earlier Outlander PHEV models will do around 15 to 20 miles on pure electric power, while post 2019 cars will do more like 20 to 25 miles. Fuel economy with the petrol engine running will be around 30mpg regardless of whether you have the 2.0-litre or 2.4-litre model.

Taxing the diesel will be more expensive, at over £100 for Vehicle Excise Duty. The Outlander PHEV is VED free, and is also exempt from the London Congestion Charge until late 2021.

Servicing is a little more expensive than for some rivals, with the PHEV costing £550 for the first three years ,while the diesel comes in at £625.

The diesel Outlander loses value more quickly than the PHEV, and will be worth less after a few years than alternatives like the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Toyota RAV4 and Skoda Kodiaq. The plug-in hybrid is more competitive with newer rivals for depreciation, but with news of the company’s uncertain future in the UK and Europe, resale values could drop more quickly.

Reliability for the Outlander PHEV is very good, according to the 2019 What Car? reliability survey, which placed it third out of 11 electric and plug-in hybrid cars tested. The Outlander (including the diesel) scored well for reliability in the 2020 Driver Power survey, too. However, interiors were a weak point, with some 12% of owners having issues with trim and cabin finish, and owners weren’t overly impressed with the infotainment and the way it drove. It rated it poorly for owner satisfaction overall which resulted in it coming 67th out of 75 models tested.

A standard five-year, 62,500-mile warranty should bring useful peace of mind, and the warranty can be extended too. It’s one of the more generous standard warranties in the class, although Kia and Hyundai will do better.