Car Gazing
How much is that SUV in the window?
Pricey option packages only downside of fun-to-drive Outlander
By Derek Price
Buying a small SUV is like picking out a puppy at the animal shelter.
Every one of them is cute at this stage, although you know some will turn out sweet while others will become vicious, couch-eating monsters the size of a school bus.
And some try harder to catch your attention.
Take the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. These are the puppies that beg for attention at the front of the cage, constantly flashing their big, brown eyes as you see them on TV commercials and watch them pull into your neighbors' driveways. They follow you wherever you go – but that doesn't mean they're necessarily the best? for your family.
In the back corner, just waking up from a nap, is another puppy you really ought to consider taking home. It's the Mitsubishi Outlander.
This one clearly doesn't get as much attention as its more visible rivals. It's a mutt, a vehicle you may never have heard of.
But it's much more playful and well-behaved than you'd expect.
When you take this SUV on the road, you can feel it wagging its tail. It's happy to drive, something you don't find often in SUVs unless they come from Porsche or BMW. While this Mitsubishi is certainly no Cayenne or even X3, it does handle better than most small SUVs, making it fun to take on twisting roads or drive vigorously around town.
It also won't eat too much. It gets up to 25 miles per gallon on the highway, which is remarkable for a V6 engine that makes 220 horsepower.
Plus, it looks good and makes a very pleasant bark when you blip the throttle. Its sporty, European body will be a hit with your kids, and its throaty exhaust note has just the right timbre to sound aggressive without being annoying.
As if that's not enough, it's also the perfect size.
The Outlander is small enough to easily maneuver through parking lots, almost like a compact car, but it's also big enough to be comfortable on the inside. The back seat is cramped, but it leaves plenty of room for carrying stuff in the roomy rear cargo area. It's a good compromise between the utility of a mid-size SUV and the efficiency of a small one.
Perhaps the greatest downside to the Outlander isn't in the vehicle itself. It's how Mitsubishi chooses to sell it. There are some really cool options available, including a system that comes with a 30-gigabyte hard drive for storing data, like MP3 files, but you can't buy these options individually. You have to get them in pricey "packages."
For example, the MP3 hard drive only comes in an $1,800 package with the navigation system. You can't get a sunroof? unless you also upgrade the stereo in the $1,740 "sound and sun" package. You can't get leather seats without ordering the $1,600 luxury package, which also includes HID headlamps and heated seats.
So, if you only want the hard drive, sunroof and leather seats, it will cost you a cool $5,140. That's a huge premium over the Outlander's base price of $21,370.
Ouch.
I suppose my wife is right after seeing us spend a fortune on vet visits, dog food and other pet-related goodies for our furry friends.
There's no such thing as a free puppy.
(Derek Price is a newspaper editor and freelance writer living in Texas.)
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