Mitsubishi L200 2026 review | Mitsubishi's capable pick-up returns to the UK

What is the Mitsubishi L200?

The Series 7 Mitsubishi L200 is the latest generation of one of the most famous names in the pick-up truck world, and a welcome return of the vehicle to UK shores for the first time in half a decade.

That’s right, when Mitsubishi stopped selling vehicles in the UK back in 2021, it spelled the end of the UK’s access to a pick-up truck dynasty dating back to 1978 (although for clarity, the first-generation version was wasn’t actually offered in the UK, and the second-generation version didn’t arrive until 1986).

Of course, the world is bigger than just the UK, and Mitsubishi - and the L200 - carried on prosperously in other parts of the world in the meantime. This generation of L200 was originally released to the international market in 2023, and the version that has now received a reprieve on these shores as Mitsubishi makes its return to the UK is essentially the freshly facelifted version of that vehicle.

It makes its return offered solely with a 2.4-litre twin-turbo diesel engine, paired with a six-speed automatic gearbox. Four-wheel drive is standard, as you’d expect from a working pick-up truck, and only a double-cab bodystyle is on offer (although a Commercial version will follow later with an additional cargo area instead of rear seats). There are two trim levels designed to satisfy commercial use at the bottom end of the range, and more lifestyle use at the top.

The funny thing is that the UK pick-up truck market has changed unrecognisably since the L200 has been away. European emissions regulations have seen many manufacturers withdraw their pick-up truck offerings from sale, so while the market that the L200 left was awash with rivals, the market that it’s returned to doesn’t have nearly as many. The Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Volkswagen Amarok are arguably the best known and most recognisable of them, while other options include the GWM POER300, KGM Musso and Maxus T60 Max, and the Isuzu D-Max.

How practical is it?

As the L200 always has, the Series 7 does all the important pickup-type stuff pretty darned well. The loadbed is a very decent size at 1555mm long 1545mm wide and 526mm deep. That’s easily big enough for standard 1200mm x 800mm Europallet, plus more besides.

Both versions have a payload of more than a tonne (it’s 1,092kg in the Titan and 1,025kg in the Barbarian), and the L200 has a braked towing capacity of 3,500kg. Indeed, during our test drive, we pulled a trailer of almost three tonnes (a very large one with another L200 sat on it), and the vehicle hauled it like it was barely even there.

The L200 is offered only in double-cab form, and it’s a marginally bigger truck than the Series 6, most notably in the width department. Where that’s most noticeable is in the rear seats, where there’s enough shoulder space for three burly adults to sit across the rear bench in reasonable comfort. If you’ve only got two colleagues along for the ride, then they’ll feel properly spoiled. That’s helped further by legroom and headroom that are also very generous, while whoever sits in the middle will benefit from a wide seat and an almost-flat floor in front of them

As you’d expect, there’s plenty of space up front, too, and lots of adjustment for the seats (powered in the Barbarian-trimmed L200 we drove) and steering column. The seats are supportive, too, and your view out in all directions is nice and clear.

Our Barbarian-trimmed L200 also felt reasonably flashy inside, with stitched leather on the seats and dashboard, and even a couple of squidgy soft-touch plastics. Most of the plastics you’ll encounter are of the harder, more durable variety, but not only is that acceptable in a working vehicle such as the L200, it’s entirely appropriate. There’s a solid feel to the way everything is put together, too, which is befitting of the L200’s rugged, hard-wearing character.

It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that the Titan has a vinyl floor in place of the carpets you get with the Barbarian. This will be great if you’re constantly hopping in and out wearing muddy boots, but perhaps less welcome if the L200 is to double as your family transport, and you value a bit of plushness.

What’s it like to drive?

The L200 is offered with just one engine choice, a 2.4-litre twin-turbo diesel engine delivering 201bhp through a six-speed automatic gearbox. That’s a fairly decent amount of power, but even so, the engine feels like it’s working quite hard to get you rolling, or get you going faster once it does. However, we feel like that’s more to do with the six-speed automatic gearbox rather than the engine itself, because it seems to favour low gears, working the engine harder than it probably needs to. An official 0-62mph sprint time of 12.6 seconds will bear further evidence that this is certainly not a quick vehicle by any stretch of the imagination, but it really doesn’t need to be, and it’ll be plenty quick enough for those who buy it.

The refinement is rather less impressive than the performance. It’s an old-school diesel that clatters its way along the road at all speeds, and at a steady motorway cruise, it drones away quite loudly, but it is just about tolerable. We couldn’t tell you if wind- and road noise were an issue at 70mph, because both were completely drowned out by the engine.

Otherwise, the on-road experience is pretty good. Yes, you can definitely tell it’s a pickup truck rather than an SUV: it has that characteristic jitter and tremble through the chassis even on a seemingly smooth road, and while the soft suspension allows plenty of vertical movement on an undulating road, making things feel a bit bouncy, it does absorb large bumps easily. However, we should point out that we drove the L200 with an empty loadbay, and the ride might well improve with a bit of weight on board.

Of course, the soft suspension means plenty of body lean in bends, even ones taken at moderate speeds, and the steering is as slow as you expect (both to respond and to turn), while also having a rather numb, artificial feel. That's pretty much par for the course in a pickup, mind, and the handling is no worse than in most other pickups.

If you’re planning to drive off-road - which if you’re considering an L200, you actually might - then it’s important to know that the two trim levels have two different four-wheel-drive systems.

The Titan has Mitsubishi’s Easy Select system. Using a dial on the centre console, you can switch between rear-wheel drive for more economical road driving, high-range four-wheel drive for light off-roading, and low-range four-wheel drive for more serious work, and there’s also an additional rear differential lock. We haven’t had the opportunity to try this system yet, though.

The Barbarian, meanwhile, gets Mitsubishi's more sophisticated Super Select 4WD-II system. Again, choosing 2H mode gives you rear-wheel drive for more economical on-road driving, 4H gives you high-range four-wheel drive for more on-road traction or light off-roading work, selecting 4HLc locks the centre differential for more challenging terrain, while 4LLc engages low-range four-wheel drive and locks the central diff for the most extreme conditions. You also have an additional seven driving modes (Normal, Eco, Gravel, Snow, Mud, Sand and Rock), which alter your throttle response and the behaviour of your traction management systems according to the type of surface you’re facing.

We tried the latter system on an off-road course that took in loose surfaces, steep hills, deep mud and shallow wading, all of which it dispatched without breaking a sweat.

Technology, equipment and infotainment

The Titan is the entry-level trim of the L200, and this version comes with 17-inch alloys, rear parking sensors, reversing camera, front climate control, cloth upholstery, and keyless entry and start.

Barbarian adds to that spec with larger 18-inch alloys, the more sophisticated four-wheel-drive system, hill descent control, leather interior, heated- and powered front seats, dual-zone climate control, and LED lights.

Both versions of the L200 get the same basic infotainment system based around a 9.0-inch central touchscreen, and it brings together mapping, DAB, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while Barbarian adds wireless phone charging on top.

The first thing you might notice about the L200’s cabin is that there are lots of buttons and knobs on show: not an overwhelming amount, but way more than you find in most modern vehicles, which irritatingly force drivers to use the touchscreen to perform every conceivable function. Happily, that’s not the case here. You can operate the finer points of the vehicle’s ventilation system without going anywhere near the central screen, and plenty of other functions have their own physical controls, be those on the steering wheel or elsewhere. This we very much like.

This also means that the touchscreen system isn’t so crammed with functionality that it inherently has to be hideously complicated, and confusing to use as a result. Unfortunately, though, it still is, despite its simplicity. The way the menus are arranged isn’t very intuitive, and the wording used to describe the various functions is also rather confusing. We like the fact that there’s a dial on the right of the screen that allows you to toggle, though the on-screen options with having to tap or swipe the screen, but that still doesn’t help you with the bamboozling vagueness of the basic interface. What’s more, the graphics are really dated, which damages the cabin's otherwise pretty upmarket feel.

There’s also another interface in the small digital portion of the instrument panel found between your speedo dial and rev counter. Pushing a button on the steering wheel brings up more menus for various things - disabling driver assistance systems, for example - and you scroll through the options by spinning and pressing a roller control on the steering wheel with your thumb. Again, the way that some of the menus are arranged is somewhat confusing, not to mention distracting, and looking though them on such a small screen will have you squinting.

Mitsubishi L200 running costs

Settle for the Titan, and the L200 will set you back around £36,000, while if you upgrade to the Barbarian, you’ll be looking at more like £40,000. Compared with other pick-up trucks, that puts the L200 into quite a tempting position. Yes, there are cheaper trucks, such as the GWM POER300, KGM Musso and Maxus T60 Max, but it’s cheaper than most of the others, including the Isuzu D-Max that’s also peddled by the same company that imports Mitubishis to the UK, and the D-Max has the image of being a more rugged and less luxurious vehicle. And compared with most versions of the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Volkswagen Amarok, the L200’s price advantage is even more significant.

Obviously, average combined fuel economy of 33.3mpg means you’ll be getting through a fair amount of diesel, but that’s the case for pretty much every rival, and the efficiency figure is actually pretty competitive.

Changes to the company car system means that double-cab pickups are no longer the very handy tax dodge they once were, but it remains possible to claim back the VAT on such vehicles for VAT-registered businesses.

An insurance grouping of 49 means premiums won’t be cheap, but they never are on such vehicles.

Mitsubishi L200 reliability

Traditionally Mitsubishi has enjoyed a fairly solid reputation in this area, and the L200’s solid assembly and rugged remit would suggest that not much should have changed on that score. However, because the brand has been absent from the UK market for several years, it’s subsequently fallen off most of the usual reliability studies we consult, so right now, we don’t have the documentary evidence to back that up.

It’s not like the firm has been laying idle in other parts of the world during its hiatus from the UK, though, and we can’t imagine that it’s forgotten how to make a reliable vehicle. And pickups are usually built to be more durable than most, because their owners are so heavily dependent on their vehicles for conducting their business, and any time spent off the road is time spent not making money.

Mitsubishi offers the L200 with a warranty of five years or 62,500 miles (that’s 100,000 kilometres), which is good on time, if not so good on mileage. Servicing is required every 12 months or 10,000 miles, whichever elapses first.