This
Mitsubishi was not nearly as polarizing as our former long-term 2011
Outlander Sport, but the 2014 Outlander had to deal with much of the
sentiment left over from the junior's lackluster time in the MT garage.
While the 2014 model didn't wow most of the staff, it did make some
headway repairing the Outlander's reputation through its dependability,
redesign, and value.
Our
$32,720 Outlander came with a base MSRP of $26,620 but we added the
$6100 SE Touring package with navigation, power sunroof, heated leather
seats, a premium sound system, and additional safety features including
lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and a forward collision
mitigation system. I could have done without the lane departure
warning. I was never once glad to have it and I always turned it off
after the first beep. Forward collision mitigation gave me a feeling of
security during my numerous hypnotic stop-and-go commutes to work, and
more than once its alerts popped me out of my driving daze. I thankfully
never triggered the automatic braking.
I
asked our Motor Trend archivist, Thomas Voehringer, to hit the road in
the Outlander for a family vacay and he appreciated the adaptive cruise
control. "You could set the cruising speed and following distance, then
electronically latch onto the driver in front of you," Voehringer said.
But he warned, "Choose wisely because their ability to drive
consistently is immediately reflected in your ride. If they slow, you
slow. If they speed up, you will speed up (until the max speed is
reached)." He added: "Over thousands of miles the ACC was a better way
of accelerating than using the throttle. It was smoother, and more
efficient."
So
two out of three for added safety isn't bad. You can't disable the lane
departure warning system permanently -- you have to do it every time
you restart the vehicle. A small annoyance that compounds over time.