Interior

I seem to have started a dirt-related theme with this review, so I might as well stick with it. The black-colored interior showed every bit of dirt. I had the Outlander for seven days; by the end of the first day, I was ready to reach for a whisk broom and Shop-Vac. The interior was a little dark for my taste; I don’t like that cave-like effect when I’m driving. While it did have leather seats, which are easier to clean than cloth, I’d pick a lighter color, something in the dried-mud color family.

OK, off with the rubber gloves. There were several interior features I liked in the Mitsubishi Outlander. I always enjoy the choice of automatic, manual or sportshift paddles in any car. I tried out the manual and paddle-shift options, and I’m pleased to report both upped the Outlander’s fun factor.

The Outlander gave me plenty of places to stow my things, including two glove compartments — yay! The cupholder area was a perfect fit for my purse, which worked well because the Outlander had a pop-out cupholder for my coffee to the left of the steering wheel.

The comfortableness of the Outlander’s seats was questionable. As the driver, I was plenty comfy. When my husband sat in the passenger seat, I couldn’t help but notice that his knees seemed super high — almost to the height of his chest. When I asked why he’d taken on such an awkward form, he explained that the seat was hurting his legs. Instead of resting his thighs on the seat, he needed to elevate them. Have I ever mentioned that my better half is a bit odd at times?

For a moment I considered letting my kids ride in the third row to enhance the novelty of their ride. I folded the second-row seats forward (they didn’t fold into the floor) and crawled back to get things situated. When I popped the third-row seats up, I realized there was hardly enough room back there for their skinny little legs. How would an adult fit back there? Next I pulled up the third-row head restraints — they were huge and reminded me of tennis rackets. With both head restraints up, my view out the rear window was completely obscured. In my opinion, the Outlander’s designers threw in the third row on the XLS trim level because it looked good on paper, but someone failed to test the actual usability of the feature.

My kids never got to ride in the third row, but I’m not sure it would have warmed them to the car. They had no love for the Outlander because getting in and out was difficult and the seat belt buckles were impossible for them to secure on their own. It took us a lot longer than usual to get settled in and ready for lift-off in the Outlander.

Storage Compartments (Puny, Fair, Ample, Galore): Galore
Cargo/Trunk Space (Puny, Fair, Ample, Galore): Galore

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key interior: Features

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