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LOS BARRILES, MEXICO – We really want to like the new-for-’11 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport cross/utility vehicle, which after all comes from the same folks who make the raucously fun Lancer Evolution.
Known internationally as the RVR and 1 ft. (0.3 m) shorter than the 7-passenger Outlander, the 5-passenger Outlander Sport boasts a number of delightful attributes including fuel-saving technologies, roominess, crisp handling and some cool design cues.
But these little CUVs are becoming as common as muck. In some ways, they are the stereotypical compact car for the 21st century with their underpowered engines packaged in an underwhelming design, yet oh-so tantalizingly affordable to own.
A decade ago, the small CUV segment included just two players, the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Toyota RAV4. Today, according to Ward’s data, the segment has swelled to 11 entries.
Sales in the small CUV segment continue to pale in comparison to the 1 million-plus small cars sold annually. Still, deliveries of the pocket-sized cargo haulers have more than doubled, from 145,773 in 2000 to 399,794 in 2007, the last big sales year in the U.S.
The overall CUV segment is the hottest in the industry today, and Ward’s middle CUV segment displaced upper-middle cas as the largest single segment in 2010.
So forgive us for sounding jaded, but turn a corner these days and another CUV pops out of traffic – more proof the playbooks at auto makers are disappointingly homogeneous.
It’s high time for a segment buster, but instead we get another likeable but low-risk effort with the Outlander Sport.
