BabyDrive Verdict
Available as a five and seven-seater, we tested the five-seater Mitsubishi Outlander LS to see just how BabyDrive friendly this SUV really is! Our first impressions of this model were how seriously spacious it is both in the front and back!
Inside the cabin, the glove box has a shelf at the top to keep the chunky manual out of the way, leaving you the whole glove box as storage space.
There is under seat storage in the cab which I love for popping things in to keep out of view, especially kids iPads etc when going to the beach. There are ample cup holders and general storage throughout the car. I loved the BabyDrive friendly double bottle holder, door pockets, in the rear doors!
Great storage continues in the boot, where there are cup holders on top of the rear wheel arches!! These were obviously designed for the third row of seats but with this vehicle only having the two rows I had cup holders in the boot… AMAZING!!! I had somewhere to put my hot drink whilst I loaded the boot and strapped bub into her seat, then I could collect my cuppa and close the boot on my way to my driver's seat!
The spare tyre is stored under the car, rather than under the boot floor, making the boot space enormous! Instead under the boot floor, there are three large, plastic storage compartments I found fantastic for separating dirty items. I could put all the wet, sandy beach stuff in one and shoes in another it was great, and they were easy to clean. There are plastic wells behind the wheel arches on both sides of the boot too, which are very useful for putting delicate things in too, I used these areas for my daughter's lunchbox and the eggs on the way home from shopping.
The boot was a very practical, rectangle shaped space, empty I could fit 15 shopping bags in it. With our Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle stroller, I could fit six shopping bags. Or if you have a large family dog you could get them in the boot instead! You have to pay extra $205 for a cargo blind which seems a bit crazy and I would expect that to be a standard fixture!
The Outlander five-seat model has three top tether points, one in each of the rear seatbacks. There are ISOFix anchor points in both of the two outer seats.
I found I could only fit two child seats across the back row. I fitted the Mountain Buggy Protect infant capsule and Infasecure Kompressor4, both rear facing. There was not enough room for the third, foldaway booster seat in the middle and the seatbelt buckle of the central seat prevented anyone from sitting there too! The buckle sticks right up in the air above the seat on a rigid stem that you just can’t maneuver and definitely do not want to sit on!
With rear child seat installed there is still plenty of legroom throughout the Outlander five-seat model. I would love to test the seven-seat version to see how the additional row of seats effect this.
The Outlander is quite a noisy vehicle as I found the engine was straining and screaming for the whole journey, which really disturbed little passengers. It felt as though the engine wasn’t powerful enough and it really struggled up hills. The Outlander was not confidence inspiring to drive in the wet or on bends so I had to drive cautiously especially with my precious cargo on board! I found it quite stressful as the driver, and it was disturbing for the passengers because they could feel the car lurching around too. It was especially disturbing whilst trying to get bub to sleep and I found its motion would wake her up once I had got her to sleep as well!
The doors didn't close the first time and needed shutting twice a lot of the time too which became a little irritating and after the first couple of times and it is disturbing if you have a sleeping baby on board too!
The media system uses Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is fantastic. It was easy to navigate, and you can mute the sat nav voice easily by touching the mute button on the media screen easily while you are driving.
The air-conditioning in the Outlander is limited to just the front, where there are four vents across the front dashboard. The air-conditioning system was very blowy and I found the lowest fan speed was still too strong, but I think it may be set like this as it has to work to cool the whole of the car, but it is not pleasant for the driver and front passenger.
Overall the Outlander is a very practical BabyDrive, with large amounts of storage, easily fitted child seats and at a good price. We drove the basic model and you can feel it. The car feels basic and budget, the seats are comfortable but their covering fabric has a textured diamond weave that would be difficult to keep clean and I found leaves an imprint on clothes and the backs of legs when you get out! There are plastic blanks all over the interior to hide holes where more expensive models have buttons.
The Mitsubishi Outlander has a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2014 and has seven SRS airbags as standard.
BabyDrive Indepth
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
In the front, there are two large cup holders at the front of the central console big enough for the largest of takeaway coffees!
The front door pockets are large too and would hold my large refillable water bottle and my wallet, they are not lined though so anything smaller would rattle whilst driving.
The central console box is generously sized with two USB ports and a 12V socket inside. It also has a shelf in the top which I found great for putting my phone as there are even little grooves cut out of the box edge for the USB wire to pass through, a very considerate detail, so you could charge other things too!
There is a large glasses case in the ceiling of the Outlander and there are lit vanity mirrors in both front visors.
The glove box is also considerately designed, there is a shelf in the top of it that holds the manual giving you all the rest of the generously sized glove box for your storage.
I really liked this feature as it keeps the manual out of the way as lets face it we hardly ever use them so having them taking up most of the space in the main part of the glove box is rather silly! There was plenty of room in the main section of the glove box for an iPad, wallet, keys etc.
In the back, there is only one map pocket, just 1/3 of the seat back in size and although it is not net so you would not see its contents, it is too small to conceal an iPad. There is space underneath the back seats which you could put an iPad in. There are no drawers but there is carpeted space you could pop valuables etc out of sight while at the beach for example.
I found the rear door pockets very practical; they are a double bottle holder rather than the usual narrow, length of the door type we are used to. I found they would hold all combinations of child and baby drink vessels; sippy cups, bottles with straws, baby bottle and up to large refillable water bottles. This was another great feature for BabyDrive!
There is also a fold-down armrest in the central seat back with two more cup holders.
The great storage continues into the boot as well. There is plenty of room for a large dog. Or with the boot empty you can get 15 shopping bags in and with our Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle stroller I could get six shopping bags in as well.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually measurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
There are enormous plastic side wells, one on each side of the boot, behind the wheel arches, that are big enough for a shopping bag each. The boot is a very practical and usable rectangular space with a nice flat, carpeted floor; perfect for an emergency nappy change! There is a 12V socket also which is great for plugging in an Esky for family BabyDrive adventures!.
The spare wheel is kept underneath the car so there is heaps of space in the boot for underfloor storage! The boot floor comes apart in three large plastic sections. If you pay $205 extra you can have a parcel shelf that you can store in the first section when you’re not using it. I found the underfloor storage a great BabyDrive feature as I could keep all the sandy and wet beach things in there and then easily clean them out as they are plastic!
Because the Outlander we drove was a five-seater when I used the boot, the cup holder storage that would have been for the third-row seats was available for me to use too. Cup holders in the boot! GENIUS!!!
When I head out on a journey with Tulsi I usually take a travel cup of tea with me! Mainly because I’m tired and need the caffeine like most new mums! Also in case she falls asleep so I pull over and have a few minutes still time with a cuppa! Or I have water bottles that although they all say they don’t leak inevitably after they have been dropped a few times they all leak so it is a juggle to keep vessels upright and away from bubs or interested toddlers!
So I go to the boot of the car with bub, bags, drinks, snacks and I hope the boot has automatic opening as I don’t have a hand free and basically dump everything in there whilst I strap bub into her seat and organise everything. Having drinks holders in the boot helps so much as you can just pop your drinks hot and cold in there out of the way. Knowing they are not going to spill or fall over or burn anyone!
My one downside for the boot is that the middle seatbelt comes from the corner of the ceiling in the back. It makes visibility out of the back difficult for the driver and if you had a third row of seats this would go across the rear passengers' faces and not be too pleasant for them. We want the seven seats and amazing storage without these kinds of compromise please Mitsubishi!
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
The parking sensors in the Outlander are rather loud and potentially baby waking! You can’t alter the volume of them but they can be turned on and off with a button by the driver's right knee. When you turn it on it makes a ‘do-doh’ sound just to let you know it’s activated!
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
Part of the LS Safety Pack the model we drove was fitted with was lane departure warning. I found this another baby waking and rather irritating sound that you can’t alter the volume of. You can turn it on and off like the parking sensors with a button by your right knee. LDW is illuminated on your dashboard to let you know when it is turned on.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!
The indicator volume could not be altered in the Outlander but I found it was not disturbing for my bub.
The Outlander media system uses Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can use the satnav from your phone, which made muting the sat nav voice simple and easy to do with one press on the 7” media screen.
I find on most journeys when I use sat nav I only need directions for the last part of the journey. I know how to get to the area I am going and then it’s just the exact address I need help with. Because I need to input the address before I head off I found myself on most occasions when you can’t mute the sat nav voice having to listen to all the directions, which disturbs your concentration, any conversation in the car at the time or more importantly my sleeping baby! So being able to mute the sat nav voice until you reach the part where you actually need it is gold!
The opening and closing of the windows of the Outlander I found quite quiet and did not disturb my sleeping baby.
The doors, however, I found most times I had to close them twice to get them to shut! Which is not ideal, especially if you have a sleeping baby on board that you do not want waking up!
You can lock the doors and windows from the driver's door control panel. You can also turn on automatic door locking and set the length of time before the doors lock when you start to drive, in the screen settings.
What the Outlander lacked in road noise it made up for with engine noise! The engine seemed to be revving all the time, screamy when accelerating and the car really struggled up hills around town and couldn’t seem to pick a gear! In sports mode, up hills, you got a quicker response but the car was lurchy. This was all very disturbing stuff for passengers big and small and did not make for a quiet and smooth BabyDrive!
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
In the five-seater model we drove, there were three top tether points, on each of the seatbacks of the rear seats and ISOFix in the two outer seats.
I could fit two rear-facing child seats and didn’t find it was wide enough for a third seat in the middle and the seatbelt buckles stick really high up out of the seat bases, making it very uncomfortable for anyone small to sit in the middle. I fitted the Mountain Buggy Protect infant capsule on one side rear-facing and the Infasecure Kompressor4 rear-facing on the other side.
The ISOFix anchors are in the gap between the seat base and back and are marked above with a little ISOFix logo to show you where they are positioned. Installing the child seats was relatively simple and accessing the top tether points on the seat backs was easy.
The height of the ceiling in the cab means the posting space is ample to fit my enormous 13month old through!
Posting bub into her rear facing child seat from inside and outside the Outlander was good! From outside the door openings are really big, making it nice and easy to post bub into her seat. There’s ample room to feed bub in the second row of seats if you only have one child seat installed.
Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!
The seats in the model we drove had fabric covers with a textured, diamond weave pattern in them. Over time these would get stained and ingrained dirt in the weave as they would not be as wipe cleanable as leather would for example.
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
The front seats in the Outlander feel basic but they are firm and comfortable and I have sat in worse seats in much more expensive cars! I did find the textured, diamond weave pattern in the seat fabric gave me a really annoying imprint on the back of my legs or trousers which lasted a long time before it would come out! I quite often now as a mum have little time to spend on my appearance or outfit so the last thing I need is adding that to my dishevelled look!
The outer seats in the second row are comfortable too but the middle seat is not because the seat belt buckle sticks right up in the air on a rigid stalk so you cannot bend it around your bottom or child seat base! So it really renders the central seat useless! If it wasn't for the buckle the legroom for the central seat is good and only has a very low hump in the footwell so a passenger would not have to straddle it.
For the first year of Tulsis life when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with Tulsi so it’s important to check the back seat comfort as you may be spending a lot of time there! Back seats were never something I gave any thought to before I had Tulsi but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!
The second-rows seat base does not slide or adjust for extra legroom in the five-seater model but we found there was plenty of leg room and you can adjust the angle of the backrests, which made for extra comfort too! However, in the seven-seat version, you would definitely need to check the legroom with child seats installed.
I found I could not have a ponytail whilst driving the Outlander!
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The steering wheel was fully adjustable in/out and up/down. The lever felt very flimsy, cheap and clunky in my hand.
The cruise control in the Outlander I found to be quite accurate, especially driving on motorways. The controls are situated on the right of the steering wheel and are very basic but easy to use.
There are four air-conditioning vents in the front of the cab. Two large ones in front of the driver and two smaller ones in front of the front passenger. The controls are easy to access and use whilst driving, centrally located below the media screen. I found the air conditioning very blowy, even on the lowest fan setting it was too strong! I don’t know if this has been done on purpose because there are no rear vents. I don't know if the seven-seater version only has front vents too.
The rear windows are tinted and we didn’t find we needed to add window shades as well.
The visibility in the Outlander is excellent, even with two rear-facing child seats installed. The windows are large and deep so passengers get a good view out too. Rear-facing passengers can see out of the rear windows well because they are very deep. This good visibility makes the Outlander easy to park and maneuver, the side mirrors are nice and big too helping with visibility when reversing.
Both vanity mirrors in the front are lit and there are interior lights in the ceiling in the front, above the opening of the boot and in the central ceiling above the second row of seats. I found this positioning difficult as I could not reach the light easily at night when putting Tulsi in or out of the car and I couldn’t reach it from the driver's seat.
I often will reach back to turn on the interior light if I am driving at night time, I find my little girl gets less distressed travelling at night that way. It helps if I can reach the interior light from the driver's seat so I can turn it on and off whilst driving. I often find my daughter will need it on as we start our journey in the dark but once she falls asleep I can turn it off.
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting a baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
There are handles on both sides in the back that are well positioned for hanging a child’s toy from to keep little passengers amused.
There are two 12V plug sockets in the Outlander, one in the boot and one in the central console.
There are floor mats throughout the Outlander and they are all removable making cleaning easy.
The Outlander was terrible to drive in the wet or wind and bad on bends. I did not feel confident and had to drive really cautiously. The engine was very noisy and didn’t feel powerful enough for most hills.
I was not a fan of the interior. The dashboard had lots of plastic blanks where the higher spec models would have buttons, which really made it feel cheap and like the basic model it was!
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
The Mitsubishi Outlander LS is equipped with seven SRS airbags as standard. Frontal driver and front passenger airbags and a knee airbag for the driver. As well as front passenger and driver side airbags. Front and rear passengers also have curtain airbags.
The model we tested came with electronic stability control, ABS brakes, hill holder, EBD electronic brake-force distribution, brake assist, traction control, emergency brake assist and emergency stop signal, forward collision mitigation, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control and auto high beam.
The Outlander was rated a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2014. Scoring 35.58 out of 37 overall in crash testing, 15.88 out of 16 for the frontal offset test and full marks; 16/16 in the side impact test and 2/2 for the pole test.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!
Sorry, I know it’s an old post, but I just bought the car. The car is Ok, but that’s about it. I see that in pictures here it’s got a dc plug at the back in the boot as well. I couldn’t find it in mine which is a shame. I was going to use it for my cooler box to store food fresh for when we go out for country walks.