How well do you remember your family road trips growing up? Was it fun? Of course these days my kids’ main concern is the WIFI/hotspot signal. Last year we went through 5 states within a week and I think my kids didn’t even realize it until they saw our road trip videos.
That is why on our last road trip we got a brand new loaner of 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander and I insisted that the kids left their electronics at home. What was I thinking? What horrible mother would allow her children to spend 3 hours in the car without any electronics?
To be perfectly honest, it seemed like a great idea at first. However, I nearly freaked out 15 minutes after we left the house, but my husband refused to go back home to get it. However, I did get my children a great first class riding experience in the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander.
Being a family of five has its challenges with choosing cars because aside from some considerable cargo room we also need to have some legroom for kids’ books and toys, luggage that didn’t fit in the trunk, and easy access to snacks because kids always get hungry as soon as the car gets on the highway. From the first look, the Outlander appeared to be large enough to get us all in more or less comfortably for a local commute but what about longer trips?
As I mentioned we were leaving town for our annual winter trip to Wisconsin Dells which is about 3-3.5 hours drive. Nothing much to write home about yet enough to test a vehicle from lots of different angles.
Lucky for us our youngest one, who until last year was the reason we dragged a stroller, playpen, booster seat, and a couple of other large and bulky items around anywhere we went, has finally graduated out of most baby things. It felt amazing to limit our luggage to bags of clothes and toys/books!
Overall Outlander is an overall great vehicle. Though slightly on a tighter side it performed great on the road! Aside from all the high-tech stuff like Lane Departure, Smart Cruise Control, rearview camera, tons of safety, and a bunch of transmission modes, it had a few low-tech items which were pretty useful like manual headlight adjustment, adjustable 2nd-row seats, tons of USB to feed our ever-growing army of electronics.
2018 Mitsubishi Outlander is an excellent choice for a family with one or two children. However, since we have three kids in a tow, we took full advantage of the third-row seat and that decreased the trunk space. However, we have a way around that: the third row has two independent seats – we used one for one of the kids and used the second for the luggage in an additional trunk space.
We drove it in an urban setting as well as on the highway and it was extremely responsive – something I don’t normally expect from an SUV. I was pleasantly surprised by how little of road noise actually got inside at either low or high speed. It wasn’t Rolls Royce quiet but I could whisper inside if I wanted to and the kids would still be able to hear me.
From my Husband:
I would not hesitate to get Outlander if I was getting something to accommodate my family local commute. Great gas mileage, good size, and the tech make this car a great city choice. But for long trips, it didn’t feel the right size for a family of 5. A family of 4 (or less) would be able to take full advantage of the considerable size cargo space in the back while comfortable sitting everybody between 1st and 2nd rows. However, since we had the 5th passenger we used the 3rd row and here went the cargo. Rear seats are OK for kids but an adult would not be able to sit there for long.
The verdict – great overall vehicle for a family of 4 but it starts getting tight during long trips if you have more people coming along.
From Me:
The kids love third-row seat. It may seem like a little hideaway, so they can pretend to have some privacy. Maybe they read there or eating a pound of candy – we wouldn’t ever know.
