Mitsubishi Ups the Power in the 2015 Outlander Sport

2015 Mitsubishi Outlander 2.4 (Credit: © Mitsubishi)

Mitsubishi is a brand against the ropes, as it ranked 25th in overall sales in 2014, despite seeing sales growth of 24.8 percent for the year. The 2015 calendar year isn’t starting out much better either, as the Japanese automaker ended January in the 24th slot in sales, but a silver lining is that sales increased in January by 42.7 percent. In an attempt to ride this wave of relative success, Mitsubishi has announced that it is offering a new, more powerful powertrain in its best-selling vehicle, the 2015 Outlander Sport.

I personally tested the Outlander Sport for a week, and noted that despite being grossly underpowered, it was the best vehicle in Mitsubishi’s lineup. It looks good, is built well, has decent passenger room, and is priced right; it simply lacked the oomph to make it competitive. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought this was the case, as Mitsubishi has decided to offer the 2.4-liter MIVEC four-cylinder engine to the 2015 Outlander Sport lineup. This injects the model with an extra 20 horses, taking it to 168 horsepower.

2015 Mitsubishi Outlander 2.4

The 2.4-liter engine will be available with a pair of trim levels: 2.4 ES and 2.4 GT. The 2.4 ES trim will receive a black center bumper to better distinguish it from the base ES. Moving into the 2.4 GT, Mitsubishi will add in a power driver’s seat. A leather-wrapped hand brake, aluminum pedals, a black center bumper and outside mirrors, and LED repeaters on the side-view mirrors.

The 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport 2.4 ES will start from $21,295 and the 2.4 GT will base at $23,595. The only issue I see with this upgrade and the aggressive pricing is the fact that this may very well encroach on sales of the larger Outlander. Sure, the Outlander has seven-person seating to set it apart, but honestly, the third-row seats in the Outlander are nearly useless – I tried using them once and I felt pretzel wrapped in a rubber band. Then again, maybe Mitsubishi has something else up its sleeve for the Outlander in the near future.