On The Road
Once four-cylinder engines get much bigger than two litres, refinement tends to suffer, but the trademark balancer shafts used by Mitsubishi certainly seem to achieve their intended effect because this engine is exceptionally smooth and flexible with it. Fifth gear demonstrates that flexibility – it’s happy to propel the L200 from less than 30mph to the motorway limit and beyond.
The engine is normally fairly quiet but it can get a bit vocal when working hard. On the laden climb up Titsey Hill we were baulked briefly near the beginning, but the Mitsubishi recovered the climb only six seconds slower than unladen. It had previously romped up the M20 climb, holding 70mph all the way. One feature of indirect injection that we’d almost forgotten was the surprising amount of engine pre-heat needed, even in the mild weather during the test.
The gearshift is as smooth as the engine, although it proved possible to beat the synchromesh, especially in third gear. Off-road gearbox functions are controlled by a lever next to the main stick that which allows all-wheel-drive to be selected at up to 60mph.
Most of the L200’s dynamic qualities proved impressive, but the braking was considerably less so. The Bridgestone Dueller tyres looked to have road-biased tread but lacked grip under braking. We had to make more than one attempt at the proving ground brake just to achieve an average performance of 0.5g at 20mph. To make matters worse the hand brake ran out of travel before it would hold on the test hill, despite less than 2,000 miles on the odometer.
Those tyres also squealed embarrassingly at the least provocation, whether laden or not. The L200’s suspension is fairly softly tuned. As a result the laden ride is very good, but things can get untidy if corners are approached too quickly. It’s easy to feel the vehicle squirming around on the 80-profile tyre sidewalls and there’s considerable body roll, though not to a dangerous extent. Unladen, the ride is more lively but never uncomfortable. In the wet care is needed if the rear end is not to take charge; the benefits of that easy on-the-move 4x4 selection become obvious on greasy roads as much as off-road. However, when running unladen in the dry everything comes together to make the Mitsubishi no more challenging to drive than a family car.
The L200’s limited steering lock means its turning circle is no better than the average long wheelbase 3.5-tonne van, so some manoeuvres that are usually taken for granted need careful planning if an embarrassing shunting session is to be avoided. Our off-road testing was limited to little more than the equivalent of a rough Welsh farm track, but this revealed nothing to create any doubt over the Mitsubishi’s mud-plugging abilities.
Cab Comfort
The raised off-road suspension and fairly high seat combine to give a commanding view, although the climb aboard is not for the less agile among us. The cab trim is predominantly dark grey and black plastic, the main dash structure being car quality soft-feel ‘slush’ moulding.
There are five cloth-trimmed seats; the comfortable front pair have height-adjustable belts and head restraints, although our driver’s belt had an annoying twist built in. In the rear, only the outer occupants get lap and diagonal belts, the centre passenger has to make do with a lap belt. Both front occupants get airbags as standard. The simple, easily read panel includes the usual basics, plus a rev counter. Various switches control fog lights, rear diff-lock, headlamp levelling, heated rear window and hazard lights, and a hand throttle tucked under the dash.
We’re keen on consistency in the positioning of column stalks: force of numbers now defines the L200’s indicators on the right as being wrong. Mitsubishi is just about the worst offender in this area – it manages to use both payouts in its line-up. Heater controls are standard Japanese issue, there’s a digital clock, a set of pull-out folding cup-holders, an internal fuel filler release and a tilt-adjustable steering column. The large, well positioned mirrors are manually operated, as are the windows.
We had to concede a rare defeat from the complicated VDO radio-cassette – we were forced to resort to the handbook to find out how to receive traffic information.
There’s a decent amount of small oddment storage in the cab, including a glove box, door pockets and centre console with coin holder bin as well as a second audio slot. A soft, non-slid, non-rattle lining in some of the bins would be nice, however.
Unfortunately, there’s nowhere to stash larger objects except on the rear seats and floor, although the rear backrest folds down to create a hidden space big enough for a briefcase or similar. Security is assisted by remote central locking and an engine immobiliser.
