I come from a different era. I am near the tail end of the baby boomer generation and yet I found myself driving a new generation of car, the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE 2WD last week.
To be sure, I see things differently. I have different priorities when looking at a car/SUV.
Before putting in my two cents, i wonder what kind of buzz the 2013 Outlander Sport SE has produced in the blogosphere. The answer – several pages of results worth
Jessica says, “I didn’t find any pleasure in it. I didn’t hate the car but it was just a car and I’m always looking for bits of joy to share with y’all.” She wrote this on April 1, so maybe, just maybe ...."
Angela says, “... that this is at very least an SUV and quite possibly a time machine.”
And Jasmine (Wait! Don’t guys review these things?) says, “...the Outlander Sport rocks when it (crossover vehicle) comes to MPG.”
Finally, Adam says, “...a respected all-terrain and entry-level SUV for young and sporty consumers.”
Using that last line from Adam as a segue, this crossover machine is not likely to be this baby-boomer’s choice when I go shopping for a vehicle when my lease expires on my current car in 3 months.
The SUV has a gas mileage estimate of 24 mpg in city and 31 mpg in highway.
The base price is $22,295. and the price as driven is $27,170.
Here’s why.
1. I grabbed a couple of CDs from my regular car so I could continue listening during this week’s review drive. Uh ... no CD player.
Yeah, I get it, hi-tech (I live in Silicon Valley) mp3 players and such. But my generation still gets CDs mailed to us from huge national associations that we belong to so we can listen to them when we drive our kids or grandkids to school.
It was a non-starter with the Outlander Sport. I did get the blue-tooth enabled within 2 minutes with a guess at the pin number. That was easy!
2. I had to use both doors to get my 5-year old into her car seat. Seriously, in one door, then run around to other side to buckle her in.
The seat belt catches were too weak to hold up while I tried to stuff the male end in making buckling my little girl up a 2-handed operation. With my Corolla, I just stick the thing in.
That being said, my 5-year old absolutely loved following the moon through the moon roof on our way home from a drive along the Pacific Coast.
3. Navigation. I really don’t know why any car would ever have a navigation system in it anymore.
A smart phone is more than able to deliver and generally is smarter than the average bear, um, car navigation system. My wife and I had a dinner meeting at a rather large, but not huge, (132 locations nationwide) chain restaurant.
I tried searching for it on the car nav system via point of interest. Nothing. Then via restaurants. Nothing. I tried for some time while my wife finished up her shopping (yup, that takes a long time).
Nothing. Finally, I had to look up the exact address on my smartphone and punch that in before the car would tell me where to go.
4. No place to hide my golf clubs. Yeah, it’s an SUV with a generally square back. At my age I need to be able to at least think I am ‘hiding’ things in my trunk. Truth is, I can’t get anything past my wife.
My wife, on the other hand, liked the car. “This is really comfortable,” she said on our 200-ish mile drive up and down the Pacific Coast on a leisurely Sunday.
“And?” I asked.
She was asleep.
My daughter, on the other hand loved the car. See comment above on the moon roof. Lots of room to kick her legs without kicking me. Wide enough to take toys along in the back seat. And a cooler. And a change of clothes. And and and ...
“Daddy, are we going to take the, what color is it daddy, car?” Cranberry? Maroon. Rally Red is the official color.
Maybe the car was designed for the post-millennial age group. Problem is they can’t drive yet and won’t be able to for another decade or so.
The car I drove:
Warranty - Powertrain – 10 years/100,000 miles, Corrosion – 7 years/100,000, New Vehicle Limited Warranty – 5 years/60,000 miles and Roadside Assistance – 5 years/unlimited.
Safety Features – Advanced Dual Front Airbags. Front seat mounted side airbags, side curtain airbags, driver knee airbag, active stability control, tire pressure monitoring system, latch system for child seats, anti-theft alarm system, engine immobilizer and hill start assist.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/2013-mitsubishi-outlander-sport-se-2wd-4-door-suv-belew-s-car-buzz?cid=roadrunner