2014 Mitsubishi Outlander SE 3.0L gas
Summary:
Great gas mileage, but too unreliable. Would not buy again
Faults:
Speedometer reading 8 km/h faster then actual (according to 2 GPS units) - Dealer hooked diagnostic equipment to the transmission and followed in a similar vehicle and said it was within spec. I disagree and at 100000km will have lost 8000km in warranty.
Transfer case replaced at 7600km. Failed seal. All of the transfer case fluid spewed out when driving and all over the driveway. Dealer got me to drive 15km back to the dealer. About 1 km away I had no forward motion and had to go in mania mode to get the rest of the way.
Rear coupler which engages the AWD would not disengage, despite the indicator saying it was.
Vibration between 60 and 80 km/h. Dealership changed rims and tires, but no change. Sent us an email saying the other Outlanders are doing this, as if it is supposed to be like that.
Throughout the dealer has been great, but they started cringing when they see us come in. They have stopped offering courtesy cars now, which makes it hard for us to bring it in for service as we both work.
General Comments:
The Outlander is fantastic on gas even for a 6 cyl, 7 passenger vehicle. On long trips at 120km/h we get approx 8.5l/100km and when doing a 5 hour drive at 90km/h we got 7.5l/100km. The reliability has not been there. Sadly, we traded in our Suzuki XL7 as we wanted to have something more reliable as we drive back and forth from Ontario and Nova Scotia several times a year. Lately, we would rather have the XL7. The transmission in the Outlander hesitates at times and in the mornings delays in engaging. We tow our Polaris Rzr with it and it does quite well both on side roads and on the highway. The options and convenience have been excellent, even though we purchased the base model.
Bottom line, I drive my 1993 Mercedes 190e instead on the Outlander, as the Mercedes has never let me down; even with 178,000 km.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 13th October, 2014
19th Oct 2016, 10:15
And you are fine with your vehicles displaying higher speeds? You end up losing warranty and going for maintenance before it is due. Now put this to a company who sells 100,000s of vehicles. Think of the money they save in warranty and the extra maintenance money they make. You shouldn't be okay with this.
22nd Sep 2017, 07:25
They have a very good reason for doing what they do. Liability. It's legally required for them to not have the speedo read low. Spec is not more than 10% error and tire wear accounts for around 5% over the life of the tire, so the manufacturer doesn't have much room if they want to stay legal.
22nd May 2018, 11:18
Cars don't display higher than the actual speed; it may be inaccurate by 2-3%, but definitely not by 8%. Maybe the tires installed are the wrong size (remember that the dealer replaced the tires). However, the odometer should be accurate and should indicate the exact distance if the tires are the correct size, so the warranty should be fine.
7th May 2020, 23:10
For the person who says tire wear would cause 5% change in speed reading; at no moment will a road car tire wear will cause more than 1-2 speed reading change. That said, speedometer and odometer accuracy are not identical in modern cars. While the speedometer always shows 'faster' by a certain amount - surprisingly this is because of regulations, which can indeed be as much as 5mph at 50mph speed, the odometer will measure the distance much more accurately, assuming the tires are the specified size. Basically, car makers set the computer to indicate a little extra speed, but the odometer shows the actual distance.
27th Jun 2015, 22:34
All cars I have driven measure 7-10 km/h higher speed on the dashboard than independent devices. Nothing specific here.