2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport Sport Utility Vehicle Review & Performance

Addressing the styling, Mitsubishi press materials say the Outlander Sport adds a dash of spice to an otherwise very humdrum segment. We can smile at the cheek of the statement, but we can't argue with it. If you want a small crossover SUV that doesn't get lost in the sea of sameness, the Outlander Sport might be your baby.

It's almost all in the nose. It looks like the hotrod Mitsubishi Evolution, as does the Lancer. The front styling is inspired by jet fighter air intakes, according to Mitsubishi.

But it's not just about looks. The Outlander Sport spent hours in the wind tunnel, to achieve a low coefficient of drag of 0.33. It's not just the front end, but also things under and over the car, for example the muffler and the roof rails, that have been tweaked to improve aerodynamics.

Almost all of the exterior is body colored, which enhances the clean design. A thin shiny ring around the black screen grille is about the only chrome. The headlamps are a sleek trapezoid. The rocker panels are discreet, not slapped-on cladding like so many cars with an uncaring design. A character line sweeps back and up from front wheels to taillights, creating a wedge.

The window outline is graceful, with tinted glass and black pillars enhancing the shape, tapered at the back. This shape follows the roofline, which slopes away to the modest spoiler over the rear glass. The combination LED taillamps again show styling effort, horizontal angles moving from the fenders into the liftgate that bears a tidy shiny Mitsubishi tri-diamond badge.

The wheelcovers on the stock steel 16-inch wheels on the ES aren't ugly, which is about all you can say about any steel wheels, while the 18-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels are beautiful, and add a lot. They're optional on the ES, standard on the SE.

One nice original feature is the plastic front fenders. You can't tell they're not sheetmetal, but go ahead and punch them; they flex in and pop right back out. So forget about parking-lot fender benders, that's a relief. The fenders still scratch, and who can say yet about matching touch-ups or fading, but we think they must be the non-sheetmetal of the future. They're 6.5 pounds lighter than sheetmetal, and nowadays carmakers are looking everywhere to save weight to improve fuel economy.

If the exterior is distinctive, the interior is about as average as they come, from an aesthetic standpoint. We don't want to sell the interior short, because there's a lot of excellent standard stuff, but scanning our notes, we find no highs or lows. It's just there. To put a positive spin on it, you might say there's nothing that will bug you. That's saying something, given the annoying technology on so many cars nowadays.

At least we didn't find any inconveniences, in about four hours of driving the Outlander Sport and trying things out. You might find it, when you try to fit your mega milkshake into a cupholder, or your Great Dane into the cargo space behind the back seat, or when you want an electronic capability that doesn't exist. Although the standard handsfree link system, called FUSE, does plenty, with voice command of phone, USB attachment, iPod, and optional navigation.

These other basic things are there for you: a soft plastic pebble-texture dashboard; an instrument panel with your standard chrome-ringed (SE) or better-looking silver-ringed (ES) tach and speedo that are easy enough to read; a color display with useful information located between the tach and speedo with a scroll button on the dash that you have to reach for but at least it's easy; supportive and reasonably sporty if not cool-looking fabric seats (leather not available), with a higher quality fabric in the SE; tilt/telescopic steering wheel with cruise and audio controls; an attractive center stack with the usual buttons and dials that are easy to operate; doors with decent pockets and good grab handles; two cupholders conveniently located behind a good gated shift lever (CVT) and great shift lever (manual), and a dial that selects FWD, AWD and low range (SE); a deep small console under your left elbow between the front seats (sliding in the SE); an AM/FM/CD/MP3 with a thin digital display (SE).

Come to think of it, trying to read that display with the Mexican sun shining through the optional panoramic glass roof might bug you. The roof, by the way, has LED lighting around it, which we weren't able to view but it might have looked great, framing the Mexican stars. And, while we're talking after-dark equipment, Mitsubishi says that their Super-HID headlamps are 35 percent brighter than most HID lights, and cast a beam 12 degrees wider than the luxury Lexus LS460. They're standard on the SE.

If you're a fan of pushbutton starters (and chrome rings around the instruments), the SE is the model for you. Or if you want the desirable SE equipment (Super-HID headlamps, beautiful 18-inch alloy wheels) but pushbutton starters bug you, that's life. Pushbutton starters have advantages but we think they have distinct disadvantages that often rear their heads at distinctly inconvenient real life moments. So we prefer traditional key starters.

While we're contradicting ourselves about highs and lows, the paddles that shift the CVT rate both a high and a low. High because they're magnesium alloy, so they don't get hot to the touch of your fingers (for example in that Mexican sun); and low because they're all over the place behind your hands, being bigger than necessary.

The Outlander Sport is 2 decibels quieter than the Outlander at cruising speeds, with different tires and sound deadening material added to the floor and headliner.

In the back seat there's 36.3 inches of legroom, which Mitsubishi, showing wild optimism, declares is ample for all passengers. That's only a half-inch less than the full-size Outlander with the optional third row, but more than 3 inches less than the five-seat Outlander. We'd say 36 inches is about what you might expect from a vehicle this size, but not exactly ample. At least not here in the American West.

The rear seat is a 60/40 that folds flat, and has a fold-down armrest with cupholders when a third passenger isn't in the middle. The armrest contains a pass-through hole to carry long thin things like javelins. There are adjustable headrests for all passengers.

There's 21.7 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seat, and 49.5 cubic feet with the rear seat folded flat. That's great space for most needs, although a family with two kids on a weekend to the beach might not have enough room for all their stuff. The premium package of options includes roofrails, but actual crossbars that make the rails useful will have to come from the aftermarket.

The cargo floormat is reversible, either carpeted or rubber, and the temporary spare is conveniently stored under the cargo floor.

The 5-speed manual transmission with the Outlander Sport ES is really good, and makes the car fun to drive. If you don't mind doing the work yourself, you'll get a bit more performance. Mitsubishi expects no more than 5 percent of their buyers to choose the ES with a 5-speed.

But you can't get all-wheel drive with the ES, and you can't get a 5-speed with the SE, so there's no Outlander Sport that can feel like a little rugged zippy 4x4 with a stick. When Mitsubishi calls it a crossover, they mean it. The Outlander Sport lives in between.

The acceleration with the 2.0-liter engine is decent. But with just 148 horsepower and 143 foot-pounds of torque, there's no room to spare. If you want to pass on a two-lane, you have to pay attention and be ready, and a running start will sure help to keep you safe by minimizing time in the oncoming lane.

When you couple that engine with the CVT, you've got the convenience of not having to work a gearbox, but you've also got something that feels like it's dragging you down, in Drive mode. In Manual mode there are 6 steps to the CVT, and it responds quickly, so you can work the paddles and get some snap back. But there's that word work again. Still, it's only your brain and your fingers working, not your arm and leg.

The 2.4-liter engine would go a long way toward solving this shortcoming, with only about 2 mpg as a price to pay. But besides wanting to crack the 30-mpg highway barrier, Mitsubishi feared that if the Outlander Sport had the 2.4-liter, it would steal sales from the larger Outlander, rather than from compact competitors.

Fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 25/31 mpg City/Highway for Outlander Sport 2WD, 24/29 mpg for 4WD. On our runs in the city and on two-lanes we got 27.2 mpg in the 2WD ES, and 19.7 mpg in the AWD SE. Because of the way the all-wheel-drive system works, the actual power to the wheels, on dry pavement, should have been no different. So we can't explain such a wide margin, because it was over the same route in the opposite direction, and we only drove slightly harder in the SE, which corners a bit better. According to the federal government, the difference on the highway should have been about 2 mpg not 7.

The ride is satisfactory while not quite feeling smooth on bumpy surfaces, especially speed bumps that are everywhere in Mexico and catch you by surprise, and which jolt you in the Outlander Sport. Over the undulations, you can feel the suspension taking you up and down, without being harsh. Relative to other compact crossovers, the ride should be good because the Sport is the same wheelbase as the midsize Outlander, although it's also about 400 pounds lighter, so the Outlander is a bit smoother.

The steering feels like there are dead spots all over. We had to make frequent corrections to keep the car pointed totally precise. The faster we drove the less of an issue it was; which sounds ironic but, from a dynamics sense, isn't really. Drivers who are less sensitive to these things or who aren't watching for them may never notice, but their hands and the shark-nose of the car will. The Sport uses electric power steering, and that's something new for Mitsubishi. Many manufacturers are switching from hydraulic power steering to electric power steering to reduce engine drag and save fuel, and we often have issues with the feel of electric steering.

The all-wheel-drive system is electrical, not hydraulic, and moves the torque from front to rear but not left to right. A dial on the console sets either FWD, AWD, or Lock. AWD goes from 80 front and 20 rear on dry pavement to as much as 30 front and 70 rear when the tires start slipping.

We drove our AWD SE over some Mexican dirt roads and it handled well, and we had no worries about getting stuck when we ventured onto the beach to watch the kiteboarders.

The 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport comes in ES and SE trim. Front-wheel drive is standard; all-wheel drive is available on the SE. Both use the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Base transmission on the ES is the 5-speed manual, with a 6-step CVT optional, while the CVT is standard in the SE.

Outlander Sport ES comes standard with 5-speed manual ($18,495) or CVT ($19,495). The ES comes with air conditioning with pollen filter; fabric upholstery with 60/40 folding and reclining high-back rear seats; keyless entry and power doors, windows and heated mirrors; 140-watt, four-speaker AM/FM/CD/MP3 sound system; leather-wrapped shift knob and steering wheel with audio and cruise controls; color LCD multi-information display; hands-free link system with USB port; LED combination taillamps; telescopic tilt steering wheel; 12-volt power outlets; halogen headlamps; rear privacy glass; 16-inch steel wheels (alloy with the CVT), all-season tires. Hill Start Assist is standard.

Outlander Sport SE ($21,695) comes standard with the CVT. The SE upgrades with automatic climate control, premium fabric upholstery, 18-inch alloy wheels, wide beam HID headlamps, 140-watt, 6-speaker AM/FM/CD/MP3 sound system. Outlander Sport SE AWD ($22,995) adds all-wheel drive and heated front seats.

Options packages include Premium ($1800), which features a panoramic sunroof and 710-watt Rockford-Fosgate nine-speaker audio system with doors built around the speakers. Exterior Sport ($995) adds a rear spoiler over the liftgate and aluminum fuel door. Interior ($265) adds piano black trim. LED ($340) adds interior LED lighting. Navigation with rear camera ($2150) adds a system with 40GB that includes 10GB to store music (3000 songs) and rearview camera.

Safety equipment includes seven airbags, electronic stability control, traction control, ABS with brake force distribution and brake assist, and Hill Start Assist. With its chassis technology that dissipates energy in a crash, as they all do nowadays, Mitsubishi anticipates a 5-star government crash ratings. Optional all-wheel drive enhances stability in slippery conditions.