Best-Selling 3-Row Outlander Gets Updates In and Out
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander has gone through updates and revisions that reflect customer comments from when it was launched all-new in 2022.
Clean Fleet Report recently spent a half-day driving a 2025 Outlander SEL S-AWC, getting a feel for what the best-selling model in the Mitsubishi line-up now has to offer.
Departing the Pendry Hotel West Hollywood, on the famous Sunset Strip, we jumped on the challenging Big Tujunga Canyon Road to where it met-up with Placerita Canyon Road. These are only two of several great mountain drives in the greater Los Angeles area, where canyon carving brings a big smile to your face.
But why would we be taking a family-oriented three-row seven-passenger SUV on mountain twisties? We got a feel for the ride comfort, handling and performance that make this a value-proposition three-row SUV.
This Flash Drive is a first look review that will be followed by a longer and more in-depth Road test review at a later time.
Power and Drivability
The 2025 Outlander comes with a 2.5 liter 4-cylinder engine that produces 181 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. The “8-speed” continuously variable transmission (CVT), with paddle shifters and sport mode, drove all four wheels through Mitsubishi’s S-AWC (Super-All-Wheel Control system. S-AWC models have electronically-controlled 4WD and Active Yaw Control (AYC). There is a console-mounted wheel where the driver can select drive modes of Eco, Tarmac (Mitsubishi-speak for Sport), Normal, Gravel, Snow and Mud. Each mode affects shift points, throttle response and traction control, but not the suspension.
The engine and transmission combination was smooth and had sufficient power for most driving needs, but it is not fast. While a CVT by its nature is not a performance transmission, the paddle shifters helped a bit by holding the CVT in a power band for more pull. The EPA rates fuel economy at 24 mpg city/30 highway/26 combined.
Driving Experience: On the Road
The route we took and the sometimes the above-normal speeds we drove provided good insights on handling and vehicle control. We learned the 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander S-AWC handling is far more capable than almost all of its owners will ever need, as they will not be (hopefully!) driving hard after packing up the family and all their gear for a mountain road trip. Our experience shows that you should be able to make an emergency maneuver and keep control.
Clean Fleet Report’s Outlander was shod with Toyo Open Country H/T 255/45 Highway all-season tires on 20-inch alloy wheels. Coming in at 3,803 pounds, the ride was smooth, with a good, confident drive quality. This tire comes with a 70,000-mile tread wear warranty.
The canyon route was a continuous set of right, left, up and down curves that tested this family SUV. We experienced moderate body roll on the absolute hardest of corners; lifting off the accelerator remedied that quickly.
The stability and traction control, and active yaw sensing helped keep the Outlander well behaved. The electric power steering, which has been recalibrated from the outgoing Outlander, gave good road feel feedback and was perfect in town for parking and maneuvering at slow speeds.
The steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters were used when headed downhill to slow the Outlander, asking the CVT to contribute a bit to the slowing. When we did use the brake pedal the stopping was straight and true with no fading from the four-wheel ventilated discs, ABS system with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist.
The 2025 Outlander is equipped with Mitsubishi’s Mi-Pilot driver assist that comes with adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist. This is not a self-driving system, but your hands can be removed from the steering wheel for up-to 15 seconds, and the system will keep the Outlander between the lines, and bring it to a complete stop if necessary. Please read a full description of this system before taking your hands off the wheel.
Towing is rated at 2,000 pounds. With the gross vehicle weight at 5,192 pounds, the Outlander can easily handle a family of four, their gear and pulling a tent trailer.
The Refreshed Exterior
Mitsubishi says the exterior utilizes the design concept of “Bold Stride.” The front end, with an updated grille and bumper, has three dominant features. The Dynamic Shield grille, the bold spelling-out of O-U-T-L-A-N-D-E-R and the large, square enclosures housing the LED head and fog lights. This design is unique to the Mitsubishi Outlander. The nose is rounded and sleek, leading to a lightly sculpted hood.
The flat roof, with silver roof rails and a power panoramic sunroof, extends to a spoiler that shades the power lift gate, which separates the LED tail lights that wrap the rear fenders. Mitsubishi says “The T-shaped LED lighting emphasizes width, and harmonizing with the horizon.” Check it out at your Mitsubishi dealer and let us know what you think.
The use of chrome can be a bit much some times, but Mitsubishi has done a good job of keeping the shiny stuff to a tasteful minimum. The polished aluminum wheels, with black inserts, complemented the strong lines of the side panels.
Modern Interior
The Outlander has benefited from being on the road for a few years as Mitsubishi took owner feedback into account and did a refresh on the interior. Some of the changes include a redesigned center console to more conveniently hold cups and the wireless phone charging pad. The frameless rearview mirror with Homelink is a nice feature.
The elongated dash amplifies the cabin spaciousness and features a full-color configurable 10.8-inch head-up display, a 12.3-inch digital gauge display and a full-color 12.3-inch infotainment touch screen.
New for 2025 is a Yamaha audio system that was specifically designed for the Outlander. This system, which replaced last-year’s 10-speaker Bose system in the Ultimate trim, has 12 speakers (4 woofers, 4 tweeters, 1 sub-woofer and 3 squawkers) and pumps-out 1,650 watts through 11 channels. The Outlander Premium trim sound system has eight speakers with the same system.
The Yamaha and Mitsubishi design teams developed the system so the doors act as a speak box to complement the 880 watts for the front speakers and the 770 watts for the rears. Tomukazu Hikida, Yamaha sound meister, told us: “This all-new audio system delivers tight, punchy, powerful bass and clear, crisp highs for low, mid and high range clarity.” We agree, it sounded great.
Sounds came from the AM/FM HD radio, SiriusXM and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Connectivity included two USB-C ports, Bluetooth and 12-volt power outlets.
The 2025 Outlander is classified as a seven-passenger compact crossover, so finding a third row seat in the far back is unique, but it comes with a caveat. That third row should be for an emergency, or for the very small of stature.
Up front is where the Outlander treats its occupants very nicely. The heated and ventilated, quilted leather seating surfaces were supportive. The driver gets 8-way power adjustments with lumbar and memory, and the front passenger has 4-way power seats. The heated leather steering wheel had paddle shifters and radio and telephone controls. The second row passengers get heated seats, air vents, side window pull-up shades, privacy glass, reading lamps and two USB C ports.
The second row is highly configurable, splitting 40:20:40, and includes a long item pass-through. There is 10.9 cubic feet of storage space with the third row upright, but that expands to 33.5 cubic feet when folded, and then with an easy pull of a lever in the rear cargo area, the second row folds flat to provide 79.7 inches of cargo space, which is impressive for a compact crossover.
Safety and Convenience
The 2025 Outlander is highly equipped with standard safety equipment. The details are here. Among them are active and passive advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), including front, side, curtain and knee airbags, lane change assist, forward collision mitigation, pedestrian detection, blind spot and lane departure warning, rear cross traffic alert and park assist sensors.
The Outlander comes with a two-year introductory subscription to Mitsubishi Connect, giving owners a telematic system that connects them to a call center for emergencies, (certain emergencies are reported automatically). It also can pre-set the cabin temperature, remote-start the vehicle and safely open and close your garage door.
Additional convenience features include wireless phone charging, push button engine start, floor mats, headlight washers, rain sensing windshield wipers, multi-view camera system, tilt and telescopic steering column, power folding (with memory) heated side mirrors, tire pressure monitoring system, hill start assist and a 3-zone automatic climate control with micron air filtration.
Pricing and Warranties
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander comes in three trims, with packages and options and is available in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. The base price starts at $31,140, including the $1,495 destination and handling charge. Final pricing will be revealed on February 28. More information can be found here.
The 2025 Outlander SEL 2.5L S-AWC we drove included these options: White Diamond paint with the black roof $995; Premium Package $1,050; Door Guard with illumination $370; Tonneau Cover $210; Black Hood Emblem $170 and the Welcome Package at $185. The final price was $45,270.
The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander comes with these warranties:
Powertrain – 10 years/100,000 miles
Basic – Five years/60,000 miles
Maintenance – Two years for oil and filter changes, tire rotations, cabin filter
Anti-Corrosion – Seven years/100,000 miles
Roadside Assistance – Five years/Unlimited miles
Observations: 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander
Jeremy Barnes, senior director communications and events at Mitsubishi, says: “The importance of Outlander is everything to Mitsubishi, I would call it the new face of Mitsubishi. It is our number one selling vehicle in the U.S., being nearly 50% of our volume. When you add the Outlander plug-in hybrid that number exceeds half of all sales.”
Barnes continues: “When this car came out in spring 2021 as a 2022 model, it brought people into Mitsubishi dealerships that hadn’t shopped a Mitsubishi in years, or in some cases never had done so.”
Smart shoppers have found a compact crossover with an impressive amount of cargo space when the seats are folded flat, standard driver safety technology, the ability to put a couple of the little ones in the far back third row, and one of the best warranties.
The styling is modern, the interior materials and fit-and-finish are as good as anything in this category, and the fuel economy is acceptable. But if fuel economy is your thing, Mitsubishi sells the highly efficient Outlander plug-in hybrid which Clean Fleet Report reviewed here in 2023.
Have you ever considered a Mitsubishi? Have you ever been in one of the company’s remodeled dealerships? Apparently many people have been lately, as sales results for 2024 saw an increase of 25.8% with an impressive increase of 38.4% in the last three months of 2024.
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Story by John Faulkner. Photos by John Faulkner and Mitsubishi.
[See image gallery at cleanfleetreport.com]
Disclosure
Clean Fleet Report is loaned free test vehicles from automakers to evaluate, typically for a week at a time. Our road tests are based on this one-week drive of a new vehicle. Because of this we don’t address issues such as long-term reliability or total cost of ownership. In addition, we are often invited to manufacturer events highlighting new vehicles or technology. As part of these events we may be offered free transportation, lodging or meals. We do our best to present our unvarnished evaluations of vehicles and news irrespective of these inducements.
Our focus is on vehicles that offer the best fuel economy in their class, which leads us to emphasize electric cars, plug-in hybrids, hybrids and other efficient powertrains. We also feature those efficient gas-powered vehicles that are among the top mpg vehicles in their class. In addition, we aim to offer reviews and news on advanced technology and the alternative fuel vehicle market. We welcome any feedback from vehicle owners and are dedicated to providing a forum for alternative viewpoints. Please let us know your views at publisher@cleanfleetreport.com.
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