Mitsubishi Outlander 2.2-litre diesel

Currently selling up a storm in Europe is Mitsubishi’s new Outlander which Mitsubishi claim has met its target of more than 13,000 sales in its first half year, 80 percent of which were to buyers who previously owned other brands.

A big part of the Outlanders success in Europe is its 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine. As we all know the Europeans love their diesels simply because they are cheaper to run (diesel is also a lot cheaper than petrol in Europe) and these days offer few compromises when compared to their petrol equivalent.

Mitsubishi Motors Europe (MME) currently source the 2.0-litre diesel from Volkswagen but they have just announced that two new engines will be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. A 2.4-litre petrol and a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel. It is the new and more powerful diesel that is of most interest to us.

The new 2.2 Di-D turbo-diesel is sourced from Peugeot. It features direct diesel injection and common-rail technology and provides 116Kw/380Nm up from the 104Kw/310Nm on offer with the current 2.0-litre VW unit. GoAuto had a chat with Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd (MMAL) and it appears the more powerful diesel may make it to Australia.

“Given the popularity of diesel in the current market, we were very interested to hear about the diesel Outlander when it was first mooted some time ago. We have been investigating the feasibility and logistics of introducing it here in our Australian line-up, but to date we haven’t progressed far enough for me to advise anything concrete regarding probability or what the launch dates would be if approved.”

MMAL’s senior manager corporate communications Lenore Fletcher told GoAuto.

In Europe the 2.2 Di-D equipped Outlander will only be available with a six-speed manual transmission. Unlike Australians, European’s still like to drive their cars so the manual only configuration may be a problem if Australia is to see the diesel Outlander. Currently Australian Outlanders are sold with a six-speed CVT gearbox exclusively while Europeans can choose between a six-speed CVT or five-speed manual.

We believe the diesel engine will prove to be the saviour of SUV’s large and small. They allow the SUV owner to enjoy all the perceived benefits provided by the size and packaging of the various brands SUV’s while achieving excellent fuel consumption figures with no real loss of power or driveability. Lets hope Mitsubishi get the 2.2 Di-D equipped Outlander to Australia. We can see the day coming where diesels will be the norm in this segment not the exception.

Source : GoAuto