Cars

Mitsubishi's heavy duty hero won't be Taken for a ride

Big, tough and vastly experienced, the Mitsubishi L200 has a very particular set of skills...
Big, tough and vastly experienced, the Mitsubishi L200 has a very particular set of skills... Big, tough and vastly experienced, the Mitsubishi L200 has a very particular set of skills...

WE don't get too many pick-ups and vans to test in Drive, mainly because we prefer the sybaritic pleasures afforded a proper car to the utilitarianism of a commercial vehicle, writes William Scholes.

Really, unless you have to, for reasons of work or some sort of extreme hobby, why would you buy a pick-up instead of a big SUV?

But if you do need to park something on your driveway that can carry a pallet weighing a tonne in the back, pull a three tonne trailer and carry five people in overalls and steel toecaps, then what are you to do?

Your only real choice is to go for the automotive equivalents of Bryan Mills, Liam Neeson's character from Taken. You need a vehicle - nay, a pick-up - with a very particular set of skills, skills acquired over a very long career; skills that make them a nightmare for vehicles that just think they are tough.

Those with Big Liam aspirations include Ford's Ranger, the ubiquitous Toyota Hilux, the mighty Isuzu D-Max, the upwardly mobile Volkswagen Amarok - which sounds like a typo of anorak - and the value-for-money Great Wall Steed, still the best named thing on four wheels on sale today.

Among those with the strongest credentials is the Mitsubishi L200, which has recently entered the fray in fifth generation guise.

Called, simply enough, the L200 Series 5, the Mitsubishi picks-up where the accomplished Series 4 left off.

The Series 4 was the UK's most popular pick-up across a life cycle that started in 2006, and the Series 5 hones its talents further.

Mitsubishi boasts a long list of 'best in class' achievements, from fuel efficiency and manoeuvrability to carrying capacity and emissions, with "significant improvements" in 330 areas.

The load bay isn't the largest though, nor is the towing weight. At best, the L200 can pull 3.1 tonnes, bested by the 3.5 tonnes that the D-Max and Ranger can haul. The Isuzu and Ford can also lug more in their cargo bays.

The Holy Grail for pick-up makers is to make their wares feel as close to drive as, if not a car, then a large SUV.

This is far more difficult than it sounds. Some manufacturers struggle to make even their cars feel like cars, after all.

In the car-like stakes, the sheer size of these pick-ups counts against them - their width, height and length, never mind their weight - and the same heavy-duty truck suspension that facilitates all that ability to tow horseboxes and cattle trailers mitigates against ultimate driving machine dynamics.

Despite these inherent drawbacks, the L200 has a better claim than most to car-like credentials.

Once you've clambered inside - and it is a bit of a climb, even compared to a big SUV like a Land Rover Discovery - you find yourself in a cabin that looks remarkably like, well, a car, albeit one that's been scaled up.

There's a very good driving position and the view out is superb, a happy by-product of the height.

The test vehicle was in top-of-the-range Barbarian trim, which brings a range of toys and appointments that car drivers will easily recognise: dual-zone climate control, DAB radio, electric windows, posh satnav and Bluetooth, cruise control and even heated leather seats with electric adjustment. For some reason, there is even 'mood lighting', indicating an ethereal neon blue glow in the front and rear footwells...

Being a double-cab pick-up, there are back seats arranged across a generously proportioned bench and accessed through big back doors. Five burly builders will fit in here, no problem.

Push the engine's start button, and a 2.4-litre diesel awakens somewhere deep beneath the bonnet.

Car-like aspirations tend to go out the window at this point, as pick-ups have traditionally tended not to be the last word in refinement when it comes to noise and vibration. While you won't mistake the L200's engine for that found in a diesel family hatchback, it is still a reasonably quiet affair.

The power output - 178bhp - is hardly headline-grabbing, but given the duties they perform, pick-ups are all about the torque. The L200 churns out 317lb/ft of the stuff.

While I can't confess to having pulled a double horsebox during my time with the L200, it did come in handy for a house move, and I can report that it shrugged off the task of carrying the contents of a garden and a load of bicycles.

A slightly larger load bed would have been appreciated, however, to get the last of the pots in more comfortably...

Driven unladed, the L200 is mostly very impressive. That elevated driving position is a bonus, the engine burbles away largely noticed in the background - the test vehicle had a five-speed automatic gearbox that never seemed to get caught in the wrong ratio - and while the steering has the over-assisted lightness common to pick-ups, there is a smoothness and precision to the driving experience that is distinctly uncommon.

Fuel economy, too, is praiseworthy for a large pick-up.

There are caveats to the 'car-like' driving experience, though.

Without a load in the back, pick-ups can be lively enough wagons to drive; there's not enough weight over the back axle to help it behave, particularly in slippery conditions.

The L200 seems better behaved than most, and while it can still spin its rear wheels and damp roundabouts are best approached with caution, twisting the knob that turns the transmission from two-wheel-drive to four-wheel-drive calms things down.

The car-like ambitions take their hardest knock when it comes to the L200's ride, which is bouncy-bouncy without the cargo bay or a trailer hitched. It's a reminder that this is a working, functional vehicle, and not a car.

It's another thing that anyone who thinks a pick-up can substitute a car or SUV as family transport should bear in mind.

So too is parking. This is a very long vehicle - just about 18 foot long - so it's not going to fit in any old space, and parking it at Sainsbury's could be a nightmare and the school run won't be much fun...

If you do need to tow 3.5 tonnes then you will need to look elsewhere. But if that isn't important to you, then the L200, in its intended role as a workhorse takes some beating. Just like Bryan Mills.

:: AT A GLANCE

Mitsubishi L200 Series 5 Barbarian

Price: £30,238.80 (£25,199 commercial vehicle list price)

Engine and transmission: 2.4-litre four-cylinder diesel turbo, five-speed automatic gearbox with high and low ratios, four-wheel-drive; 178bhp, 317lb/ft

Performance: Top speed 109mph, 0-62mph in 11.8 seconds

Fuel consumption: 39.2mpg (EU combined); 32.1mpg (real world)

CO2, road tax and benefit in kind: 189g/km - £225 annually - under light commercial vehicle rules, £52.50/month (20 per cent tax rate) or £105/month (40 per cent tax rate)

Euro Ncap safety rating: Four stars (81/84/76/64)