February 16th is when Mitsubishi Motors will take the veils off the all-new Outlander, the fourth generation of the mid-size, seven-seat crossover. The Japanese automaker certainly took its sweet time with the redesign, more so if you remember how archaic the outgoing model is.
Heavily inspired by forward-looking concepts from the past decade, the Outlander will roll out by the end of the year with the latest Super All-Wheel Control system. Shortened to S-AWC, this suite is centered around an electronically-controlled coupling that directs torque between the front and rear axles when slippage is detected in various driving conditions. The suite also features a Lock Mode, which applies more torque to the rear wheels.
"We took everything we know about on- and off-road driving from the rally experiences to apply the latest Super All-Wheel Control technology in our newly-developed platform,” declared lead engineer Kentaro Honda. Be that as it may, the mystery vehicle architecture wasn’t designed by Mitsubishi.
Because it has roughly the same footprint as the Rogue – a.k.a. X-Trail in Europe - and Nissan controls the Japanese automaker, most of the chassis and oily bits are shared with the aforementioned crossover. "We also have specifically developed a new drive mode selector to provide confident driving at all times and in all weather conditions,” signed off Kentaro-san.
Slightly larger than the 2021 model, the all-new Outlander will most likely take its mojo from a 2.5-liter Nissan four-cylinder mill with natural aspiration. In the redesigned Rogue for the U.S. market, this motor cranks out 181 horsepower at and 181 pound-feet (245 Nm) of torque, output figures that come very close to the 2.4-liter MIVEC of the current model.
Mitsubishi will certainly offer a plug-in hybrid option as well, but it’s hard to guess if the 117-horsepower engine will be retained. The same can be said about the torque-converter automatic transmission, which may be replaced altogether by a continuously variable transmission from JATCO.
On that note, Mitsubishi is currently keeping quiet about a V6 option.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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