Mitsubishi ASX 3 1.8 Diesel 2WD Review & Road Test (2010)

Mitsubishi ASX Review and Road Test

The world is full of compact SUVs which look like the real thing after a boil wash. Which was all the rage just a year or two back when the likes of Ford and Volkswagen came along with the Kuga and Tiguan.

And many more have joined the party since then, including the Koreans with the Hyundai ix35 and the Kia Sportage. The difference is that car makers now like to call these cars Crossovers instead of compact SUVs. Crossover sounds like a car for all seasons; a practical family proposition.

On the other hand ‘Compact SUV’ sounds like something that will kill the planet, just a bit more slowly then a regular SUV. Or such is the perception of car makers. Frankly, we don’t think buyers care what daft moniker car makers stick on these cars, what they want is a high-riding car with decent fuel economy. So that’s what Mitsubishi is aiming at with the ASX.

Mitsubishi has been in the SUV game for a long time. The Mitsubishi Shogun is a big favourite in the UK and the more modern Outlander does a good impression of a cross between a compact people carrier and a capable SUV, despite Mitsubishi trying to market it as a crossover. Or maybe that defines it as a crossover.

But now Mitsubishi has a car to take on the likes of the Kuga or the ix35 head on – the Mitsubishi ASX. It’s not only a similar size to most of the trendy softroaders you see clogging up school gates a 3pm, it looks like them too. Yes, it has the nose of a Mitsubishi Evo grafted on the front, but in all other respects it looks like a generic, modern softroader.

So nothing to frighten the horses on the looks front, but nothing particularly stand-out either. Inside is much the same story with nothing much to mark out the ASX. But there are no big negatives either. It’s well-equipped with stuff like Climate and Cruise as standard on this ASX 3 spec, but an odd omission is no SatNav.

On the whole there’s a quality – if a little sombre – feel to the cabin with some decent quality materials being let down by the odd set of scratchy plastics and cheap feeling switchgear in less obvious places. But the general feeling is of a decently premium – if again, rather generic – cabin.

In the back there’s a decent amount of room. That’s probably because – despite its more compact proportions – the ASX is actually sitting on the same platform as the Outlander, which not only makes the cabin a surprisingly spacious one but promises a decent level of on-road manners.

But with just 2WD on offer is the Mitsubishi ASX a decent drive?

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By Cars UK