off road impressions

Thought today I would take the outie off the pavement, and see how it did.
Impressions, well, here are a few.
1st, not enough ground clearance for anything serious.
2nd. tight turning radius helps ALOT
3rd. that suspension that alot of people say is too firm, really works well in the field
4th. This thing really needs a limited slip. BAD. get on any kind of incline at an angle, and it just wont go. Dont even think for a second that the traction control will help at all in the dirt, or brush, it just wont. at all
5th, Tires more suited for off road (ones not so clearly biased to tarmac would help tremendously, these just wont bite at all)
6th, excellent articulation. The suspension really goes out of its way to do its job, keep the truck as close to level as possible, and keep all four wheels on the ground. even on really, really off camber, or deep ditches and holes
7th. thank god for the paddle shifters. going off road with first gear provides instant wheel spin, and thats about all. being able to click it down a gear into second helps tremendously.
8th, good view out helps alot
9th, the lower front plastic brush guard help push stuff over without scratchin your paint, or letting anything into the grill.
10. climbs pretty well, as long as both tires are on the same incline
11th, climbs fallen trees pretty well, (as long as they arent too big)
12, all that underbody protection helps alot, you can hear stuff sliding, but not bashing which is a good thing
13, excellent on rocks. went up a really steep incline with huge (ok, not huge, but huge for this truck) boulders, and it never faultered once. just kept on chuggin away without a problem
14, great motor, really torquey, and very flexible
15. great at negotiating tight trails, and steep downhill sections, its almost like this thing has a hill decent feature on it, though I know it doesnt.
16, wonderfull brakes, just great, couldnt ask for more power, and easier modulation.
 
I was fairly impressed, bout the only things I could ask for would be more ground clearance, better tires, and that much needed limited slip. Then again, more ground clearance, and more off-road tires would kill this things demeanor on the street. so, i guess Ill just take the limited slip, please mitsu

Out of curiosity, did you have the ASC disabled and 4WD Lock mode enabled when off-roading?

Very cool.  Thanks for the feedback.  It's nice to know that the Outlander hasn't completely sacrificed off-road prowess.  For the minor off-roading I do it should work just fine.

No, ASC waas on, I was dumb, and let my wife talk me out of 4wd, as my truck has it, and just about everyone else in my family has a new 4wd vehicle too. So, to hear her tell it, it was pointless. Oh well, live and learn I guess. I honestly feel like that if it had better tires, and that limited slip, it would be almost pointless to even have 4wd, it really is that good of road. You can tell where aim was with mitsu, and what is holding it back, which is a great thing. Alot of times, you have no idea where to start to get your vehicle up to par.

The reason I asked about ASC and 4WD setup during your off road adventure is that, from what I read, the ASC should be OFF and 4WD set on "4WD Lock" for deep snow, sand, mud, gravel conditions and I thought the same should apply for off-roading.
If you don't have 4WD, I guess the ASC should be OFF still while off-roading. Perhaps 4WD would have been of some help too.
In any case, great review. Thanks.

do NOT shut off the ASC in snow conditions.  it will probably save your life someday.

  Where did you read this about shuting off the ASC, I mean, if thats the case then what would be the point of ASC. "Active skid control" meaning when you skid, the vehicle's braking system and traction system talk to each other to eliminate the skid... right? and wouldn't snow be one of the most prone conditions for a car to skid? then why would you shut it off? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, its an ohnest question, and I would like to educate my self on the matter.

I paid way too much to go off road with a brand new car. If you hit one patch of sand that your car doesnt like you could slid off the road and smash a tree.  Maybe after a few years I will take it off roading alittle bit, but that isnt why I bought it.

when I talk about off roading, I'm not talking about flying through some backwoods field at a million miles per hour. I am talking about slowly, and methodically choosing the best way to get through a random location, without causing any damage to the car, or yourself. Mudding I leave to the good ol boys, and high school kids. Besides, I am a general contractor by trade, and never know where I am going to have to get to from day to day. Since my pops has been driving my F-150 while his 350 was in the shop, the outie has been my sole mode of transportation. I sure do like knowing what I can expect from it if I ever need it.
But I get what you are saying, its alot of money to slide into a damn tree.
Thats exactly how I broke my last f-150. lol . "ahhh, bull-crap guys, I can easily pull that 80 foot tall tree up that huge ass hill with, through that narrow path, and over those four huge boulders...." yeah, that worked out well for me.
you would have thought I would have learned something,

I live in NJ by alot of state forest so when I hear trail riding I think of some major mud holes. I go out with my friend that has a lifted jeep on 35 inch mud swamppers. I know what your talking about though. But I still wont be taking mine down any dirt roads unless I have no other choice.

Sorry for the confusion. I specified "deep snow", like when you try to drive on a residential street after a snow storm and before the plow made its way there. You drive at very low speed and you need al the traction you could get to advance. My understanding is that in this very specific conditions, the ASC could take over and cut the power to the wheels when they slip, which you don't want.
Some very intersting videos are available on the Mitsu Japan web site, where a driver demonstrates ASC and 4WD on snow.
For the regular driving on icy, snowy, wet roads, yes, the ASC should stay ON all the times.
 

For those of you who did not see these videos;even though they are in japanese, you could still enjoy them.
http://outlander.jp/drivers_feeling/dri_04.html#start
 

And here it is the article from Mitsubishi's web site where they mention the ON/OFF switch for ASC and when to use it. Deep snow is one instance.
http://media.mitsubishicars.com/detail?mid=MIT2006083040260&mime=ASC
One more thing - I started to look into ASC/4WD details when I read a thread about a RAV4 having trouble to get out of the snow. The owner wished to have the ability to disable the VSC system on the RAV4 in that situation.
It seems like the Outlander wins again.

Duuuuude!   You have more guts than I do to take a brand spanking new, 2007 Outlander 4WD (which in my area a base LS 4WD model starts @ $24,000) and go off-roadin'!!!   With that said, I also would like to point out your observation about the low clearance - the Outlander was designed to be more sporty, a grocery-getter vehicle, so to speak. Unless it's rival, the Nissan X-Terra, the Outlander has less clearance, less HP and torque, and certainly fewer off-road features such as low range gearing, off-road tires, and skid plates underneath the vehicle to protect some of the goods undernearth the car's body. Also, unlike Jeeps, the Outie is not trail rated.   As a side note the Outlander's owner's manual clearly says this vehicle was designed primarily for paved streets and to very seldomly to go off road.   So you guys be careful of not busting up your brand new Outties by trying to play Rambo!

ehhh, screw it, if it rolls down a hill, and I live to tell the tale, ya know what everyone is going to say "oh my god, I am so glad your ok"
they wont mention a thing about the truck... lol. I CANT LOSE.
No in all seriouisness, I would never do anything too hard-core with this thing, I would rate what I did with it, on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easy and 10 being expertly hard, maybe a 3... maybe a 2.

I would be interested in knowing if turning off ASC also disables traction control. ASC and traction control are two separate strategies-technically, traction control is one part of the ASC equation. That would be bad if it disabled TC for the stuck in snow or ice situation. The outlander has open front and rear differentials and the way Mitsubshi descrides its TC is that if torque is flowing to a spinning wheel (as it would, stuck on ice, just like any car without limited slip) the TC can brake that individual wheel and, essentially fool the diff into thinking it has regained traction, sending torque to the opposite wheel with traction. You would definately want this if stuck in deep snow or ice. ASC uses TC, reduced engine power, yaw sensors and a host of other goodies to keep you on your intended path WHILE MOVING.

Some things to keep in mind for anyone considering off-roading this vehicle. There is no mention of wading depth anywhere in any of the liturature I have seen (including the post on this forum about the Mitsubishi tech explanation of the system). Transmissions and differentials have ventilation holes in them and if they are not fitted with breather hoses to higher elevations in the vehicle then you run the risk of water infiltration. Very Bad. Same goes for combustion air intake location. Hydrolock-water in cylinder is very bad. Anyone look to see where the electronic brain equipment is mounted? This can be particularly vulnerable to water. Approach and departure angles make a huge difference in not getting stuck cresting or decending a steep incline-it doesn't take much. Prolonged hill climbing beyond manufacture specified angles can cause engine oil to return to the sump away from the pump location causing oil starvation. Same goes for fuel tank pump. Seen it happen. Off road vehicles have larger oil capacities and often special resevoirs just for this situation.

Having owned a 2004 Land Rover Freelander and off-roaded with it, the Outlander has the same potential if these often overlooked issues can be dealt with. You see why manuf. can void your warranty if you off-road? Clearly Mitsubishi is aware of these issues due to their extensive off-road haritage. It would be nice know if they included them in this vehicle.

From what I understand from the paraghraph belo, when you turn the ASC OFF, is does turn off the TC as well and I highlighted what I belive it was the reason for Mitsubishi to do it.
 
"An ASTC OFF switch allows the driver to disengage the system. Instances where that could be useful include driving the vehicle through deep snow, or out of a snowed-in parking space. In such situations, traction control could be a hindrance. The electronically controlled 4WD system does not rely on traction control to distribute power; power distribution is controlled through the electronically controlled viscous coupling, with ASTC influencing that as needed.
 
Note the wording as well; they say "could be".
 
Now, I don't have experience to judge waht is good and what is not in deep snow in terms of  TC, but I will have to give Mitsu credit for their extensive experience on this matter.
Another thing I know, Mitsu DOES NOT claim that the Outlander is an off-road vehicle by any means. It's just a good all-weather vehicle. Could Outlander handle some moderate off-roading? Yes, but that's about it.
And in any case, from what I read so far, Outlander has some of the best all-weather (and perhaps off-road) features compared to the main competitors: RAV4, CRV, Hyundai Santa Fe and this is enough for me.
Just my .02....

In a 2WD Outlander I would agree, disabling TC could get you out of a stuck situation by letting the tires spin in hopes of burrowing down to dry pavement. This would mean both front wheels have lost complete traction and wild wheel spin is a last ditch effort. Cudos to Mitsu for allowing this. But in a 4WD Outlander, the chances of all 4 wheels having absolutely 0% traction is much slimmer and I would want to the system to rely on what it was built to do, which is quickly identify the wheel(s) with 0% traction and get the torque flowing to the ones that have something other than 0. Remember, ACS also reduces total engine torque output which you definately don't want in this situation, that is the part best left disabled.

This system worked brilliantly in the Freelander I mentioned I used to own. That ute could outperform CJ's and Liberty's (so-called "Trail Rated") with open diffs in 4-wheel-near-zero traction situations. The Jeeps would have both opposite front and rear wheels spinning like mad trying to get unstuck with zero torque flowing to the opposing front and rear wheels. Thats how open diffs are supposed to work. The TC on the Freelander would start firing away on the ABS at each wheel individually, constantly redirecting torque to the opposite wheel with some traction. If that wasn't enough, it would redirect torque to the opposite axle and the whole process started over again. The ute would literally scamper out of the mud, ABS ablaze. Virtual Limited Slip as Mitsu describes it in its own liturature.

As you can tell from my lengthy posts I'm a fanatic about these modern systems. Brains over brawn I say. Nothing is sweeter than watching the faces of Jeep owners as you snatch them out of the mud. Of course, rock climbing was a different story...

I should also mention, the Land Rover was horribly unreliable, even by Land Rover reliability standards and thats saying something. I've never had such a love/hate relationship with a vehicle. This is why I'm excited about purchaing an Outlander. Potentially the same performance but with the benefit of Japanese enginnering.

Think Mitsu will still be around to honor the 10-year warranty someday?

Thanks for your comprehensive explaination. In my opinion, having the OPTION to disable the ASC in given conditions is a big plus and this is where Mitsu is superior in my books compared to the direct competition.
If you get stuck you could try with or without ASC and go with the most effecive setup for your scenario. It's just a switch away.

You never know, but if they keep bringing good products to the market (e.g. Outlander) chances are they will.

An Outie pulling out a Trail Rated Jeep Liberty from the mud or snow? Come on, that is pushing it a bit! I have driven a Liberty in the mountains in Colorado, I mean deep wilderness, very rocky. I would much rather risk myself in such situation in a Liberty than in an Outie. I am not trying to piss off Outie owners, I am one of them, but the Outie is a city-country SUV, not some roughneck's weekend muddin' vehicle.   However, the 4WD feature is totally cool, a brilliant system. I am also a fanatic about the smart vehicle systems (with slight reservations on whether they will be reliable in the long run or not). But I do wish Mitsu had put a different 3rd option and eliminated the 2WD altogether and created 4WD Low (meaning low gearing for REALLY deep snow - let's say Buffalo, NY snow). That could potentially make the Outie more off-road and more like the X-Terra or the Liberty.   European cars suck. Pick up a Consumer Reports mag and they will tell you how bad BMW, Mercedes, and my despised Volkswagen (VW) are bad in quality. Now, oddly enough, they have reported MItsu having a ton of tranny problems too, specially on the Lancers.   Speaking of which, since this is not an Off-Road car wouldn't it hurt and potentially damage the tranny if you go for wild wheel spins in snow or mud?? I also don't like the idea of rocking the Outie to get out of being stuck in snow... taht could damage the tranny.   Anway, if Mitsu continues to put out home run winning cars like the 2007 Outie, yeah they will be around for the 10-year warranty. If they come out with more crappy cars like the semi-unreliable Endeavor, no they might be around to honor that 10-year warranty.   You know what kinda raised some eyebrows about Mitsu's financial situation??? They sold MMNA Finanacing to a compny called  CenterOne Financial Services.   I know thsi because I got the 5.9% for 72mo deal though Mitsu Fianancing and got a letter a week later saying they were just bought over by CenterOne. Is that a sign???    

Mitsu was in the 9th place (out of 36, with MB in on the last place) in the CR predicted reliability standing, which is not bad at all.
Mitsu needs badly to redesign the Endeavor and Galant and eventually bring over the Colt to compete in B-segment. Not sure if there is a good case for Pajero/Montero in NA, since big SUVs are loosing ground and Pajero/Montero doesn't have much to offer other than off-roading in style. But who really needs that or let me repharese it, how many customers would need that. X-Terra and FJ Cruiser are cheaper and do the job just fine. 
I hope Mitsu will do well in the mainstream and they will stay around for the long run since I'm planning to get my Outi in few weeks.
Offloading the financing arm it's a good thing in my eyes. I think they are trying to stay focused on the core business. They lost tons of cash in the past on that side of the business impacting the company as a whole. I think it's a good business decision to get rid of it for now.

Trail-Rated was created by the Jeep marketing department. Its not an official, independant organization. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand Jeeps are quite capable and any vehicle that can tackle the Rubicon Trail has my respect. However, in 2004, stock CJ's and Liberty's had open diffs and no traction control and were vulnerable to the situation I described. Its rare, but it happens. I know because I did the snatching in my Land Rover. Today, I'm pretty sure Liberty's have electronic TC as an option.

The first electronic fully independant 4-channel, off-road TC system was developed for Land Rover while under the ownership of BMW in the late 80's-early 90's. The X3 and X5 and all Land Rovers have had this for a while. Other vehicles had TC before this but not true 4-channel, torque distributing. Mitubishi has taken this technology and refined it here in the Outlander.

Low-range would have just driven the cost and weight higher for very little benefit. With the Outies 6-speed and manual shifting, a lower-than-usual first gear would tackle most steep hill/torque situations fine (Lexus uses this strategy) and TC can be programmed to simulate low range engine braking on steep decents using ABS (aka BMW and LR Hill Descent Control). Mitsu made the right decision here in my opinion. I had a 93 Ford Explorer with 2-speed transfer case for 12 years and never used low range once.

dude, my mom used to have a cheap grand cherokee limited (99 model) with the big v-8 and all. One winter it snowed real bad, well me and my brother decided to go see how it would do. So we go to a subdivision my father and I were deveolping at the time, on the upper road (washington drive) where there were no houses yet being built, we decided we would hop the curve, and take it out into the open field. So, With me behind the wheel, I eased one front wheel over, and then the other (its always best to go in at an angle) then one rear wheel over, and then the other. We went down the ditch, and were headed back up when bam. Like god just up and spoke it to be, we were stuck. 6 inches of snow,  no traction, and no-one within 10 miles. Called my buddy, he showed up in his honda cr-v, hopped the curve, went down the ditch, went up the ditch, backed up to us (still on an incline , bout 3 feet ahead) we hooked up the tow strap, and he pulled out the Jeep. with his cr-v. YEAH. JEEPS ARE GREAT IN OFF ROAD CONDITIONS!!!
Seriously, the mitsu montero is 10 times the off road vehicle that any jeep is. Mitsu doesnt make a bad off road vehicle. Everyone they make that is designed in anyway to be taken off the pavement is good. Years of rally experience have taught them what works. Jeep doesnt compete in any off road competitions on the corporate level cause they suck. **** JEEP.
I would take my outlander with just some better tires, and show your little cheap liberty with 4wd the trail back to the trailer. seriously... lets bet on it.