How to save hundreds of pounds on your next Mitsubishi

MITSUBISHI has announced a New Year deals involving savings right across its model range.

The offers include pre-VAT discounts on the L200 pickup truck, Outlander off-roader and ASX hatchback, and a zero per cent hire purchase on the Mirage supermini.

For a full round-up of the current offers, go online to www.mitsubishi.co.uk or pop into your nearest dealer.

Life begins at 40 for Mitsubishi UK

MITSUBISHI is celebrating 40 years of selling cars in the UK by bringing one of its most extreme offerings to Britain.

The company’s special edition Lancer Evolution X FQ-440 MR might pack both a lengthy name and a hefty £50,000 price tag, but its turbocharged 440bhp and rally-bred four-wheel-drive system make it one of the fastest four-door saloons on the market.

To find out more about the special edition, which is only available in white, visit www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk

The Life On Cars Radio Show

WHILE I could have used the new MP3 dictaphone in The Champion office for something vaguely useful, I've used it to record a show about cars instead.

As part of a venture for ChampRadio, the paper's new online radio station, I offered to do a recorded version of the banter you're probably used to reading on here and in the back pages of a certain local newspaper. It's essentially a follow up to what I did with Dune FM - the last show was in June last year - but with a more of an emphasis on new cars on their way to a showroom near you.

You can check this week's episode out by clicking on the link below to see what guest Katie Massam and I think of a whole host of cars, and you can check out all the other broadcasts on the "Radio" link on the blog.

You can also get involved, if you've got an opinion about cars and don't mind having a microphone thrust in your face, by getting in touch.

Until then, enjoy...

Fire up the... Mitsubishi ASX

ONE of the best things about driving new cars, I wager, is knowing that you're never going to come across a bad one.

Think about it; no matter what you make of the scores of models on sale right now, not one of them is going to fail to start up on a cold morning, make strange clicking noises when you do eventually set off or - worst of all - shed vital components when you're on the move. All things that have happened on the older machines I've actually owned, so you have to conclude that they just don't make ‘em like they used to. They make them much better.

This what I ended up pondering after driving Mitsubishi's ASX, because it occured to me that all cars, without a whisper of exception are now so startingly good that in fact anything less than class-leadingly excellent is in fact the new bad.

The ASX, particularly the 1.6 petrol version I've driven, is very, very good in all that areas that actually matter to motorists, particularly in how well it's screwed together and the utter sense of dependability it always gives you. The Japanese company's newest model, which comes with two or four wheel drive and blends Golf-esque size and dynamics with off-roader styling cues and practicality, is the kind of car you'd comfortably expect to survive a small nuclear blast.

It's also exceptionally practical, with plenty of room both up front and in the back, a big boot to carry all the things you don't need to hand, and lots of little storage bins and cubby holes for the things you do. It handles nicely too, keeping up with spirited driving whether you're on country lanes or dicing through gaps in busier traffic.

The particular engine I tried goes well enough and is refined enough for longer runs, but in many instances I found it lacked the mid-range punch I would have liked for overtaking, meaning the ASX is one of the few instances where I'd recommend the punchier, torquier diesel version.

But the problem with this car is not that it's bad, but that it's boring, with very little in the conservative styling outside and the unremitting dark grey of the dashboard to inspire you. The ASX is something you'd buy with your head, and it is a clever choice if you're looking for a solid, dependable crossover of a car.

But buy it with your heart? Not a chance.

Why I'm still not charged up by electric cars

IF you make it as far as the motors section in tomorrow's Champion, you'll probably be bored with all the stories about the Coalition Government cutting things. But what if they gave you £5,000 off your next new car?

That's right; David Cuts Cameron and his Lib Dem sidekick, Nasty Nick Clegg, actually announced yesterday that they're going to give you a whopping £5,000 off the price of your next car. Naturally, there's a slight snag to this nugget of good news - it has to run on electricity.

When the scheme starts in January, there will be just three cars on sale in British showrooms which run solely on electricity, which admittedly is three more than this time last year. The Mitsubishi iMiev, the the Smart Fortwo electric drive and the Peugeot iOn. Yet as much as I'd like to save the Earth, I'm yet to be convinced electric cars actually work properly yet.

I base this on my limited experience of driving just one electric car, the zero-emissions MINI E which BMW trialled in the South East earlier this year. I've driven and enjoyed the petrol-powered Cooper on a couple of occasions, but the MINI of the volt-powered variety was - and I choose my words carefully - one of the worst cars I've driven this year.

Sure, with all the power available at precisely no revs at all it got off the line like a greyhound, but the engine braking in particular was appalling; one on occasion, I pulled up safely at a roundabout without touching the brakes. It also had no back seats and a range of less than 150 miles and as much as BMW stressed it was an experiment and not a finished product, I really couldn't recommend it.

I've every hope that the similarly electric Nissan Leaf, which has just been voted European Car of the Year, and Citroen's C-Zero, which has just achieved the not-at-all-impressive feat of being the first car to successfully use the Eurotunnel, prove better buys. But there's still one real price you'll have to pay, and that's the price itself.

With the iMiev - a tiny city car - on sale at £24,000 and the Leaf due to cost about the same when it eventually goes on sale, I just can't see why you'd pay the price of a 3 Series or Golf GTi for a tiny and not terribly inspiring hatchback just because it runs on electricity.

I can't wait to be proven wrong, of course, but at the end of 2010 and even with the temptation of a tasty £5,000 discount, I just can't get charged up about electric cars yet.

Fire up the... Mitsubishi Shogun

IT'S big, brash, and an unapologetic throwback to another age, but by gum you'd want it on your side in a fight.

Mitsubishi's latest Shogun is the perfect car should you ever decide Southport needs a regime change, so indomitable are its looks, build quality and hard-as-nails off-roader stance. Paint the letters ‘U' and ‘N' onto the bonnet of the very white 3.2 diesel version I tested and you could even pass yourself off as a peacekeeper, because this is exactly the sort of tough trooper of a vehicle the United Nations swears by. It's good enough for them, but is it still good enough for us?

Clamber up into the seven-seater cockpit and you'll be impressed not only by the vast amounts of space it offers, but also by the fit and finish of the interior itself - flashy it isn't, but you get the impression it was built for tougher jobs than the school run. In fact, the only passengers who will be complaining are the rearmost ones, because you'll struggle to keep anyone over six feet tall happy in the third row of seats for long.

Out on the road the Shogun drives exactly how you'd expect a tall four-wheel-drive weighing it at three tonnes to, with the 168bhp V6 pulling well enough but being lumbered by the way the body rolls into the corners. The handy rear camera helps make parking a doddle and the oodles of torque are perfect for towing trailers and caravans, but you'll never escape the sheer size of the Shogun.

But it's biggest problem is the same one which affects all of the really big off-roaders, because buying one of these is bound to attract the unwanted attention of bystanders, who don't care what you have to tow or carry. Driving a Shogun - or a Discovery or Grand Cherokee for that matter - seems to attract an endless series of dirty looks, flicked fingers and scathing remarks.

The Shogun is tough as nails, unstoppable on the rough stuff and a titan of the towing world. But politically correct it isn't.

As published in The Champion on October 6, 2010

Great car, shame about the reaction it gets

EVEN if everything else is going up it seems there’s still one commodity that’s cheap in our age of austerity. Looking like a berk behind the wheel.

Previously I’d long laboured under the belief that the least you’ll have to pay to look like an idiot on the highways and byways of Britain is £43,980 - the entry level price for the BMW X5 - but after two lucky breaks last week I’ve been able to find out it’s much cheaper than that.

It was after being invited to a party in a part of Liverpool that‘s usually on fire I realised all I needed was Mitsubishi’s latest Shogun, which unfortunately I happened to be driving that evening. It’s a very, very good car for ten grand south of what the BMW sets you back, but with bright white paintwork, alloys all round and a chrome grille straight out of the Wayne Rooney school of car styling it didn’t exactly blend into the world of dented Nissan Primeras and terraced houses I’d taken it to. It took less than five minutes before the local yoof had made it that night’s target practice.

Genuinely frightened that I’d get a £35k off-roader that wasn’t mine keyed, burnt out or stolen by a gang who’d taken exception to my choice of chariot, I jumped straight back in and hotfooted it to safer streets, which I’m sure in anything else - even one of Mitsubishi’s smaller 4x4s - wouldn’t have been called for, and it’s been the same since. The Shogun just seems to offend people.

For all its low-down grunt, acres of space, and off-road ability I just couldn’t recommend the solid Shogun to anyone in austerity-era Britain, because you just feel antisocial driving it. I honestly didn’t think it would come across as in-yer-face as a Range Rover Sport or an X5, but it seems in 2010 ANY big off-roader is going to attract stones, dirty looks and flicked fingers. I actually felt embarrassed to be behind the wheel.

But don’t worry if you can’t afford £34,999 for a Shogun, because at the Woodvale Rally a few days later I discovered it’s far easier and cheaper to get personalised number plates. Mine cost just £15.

Luckily for me, I can’t legally use it on the public road anyway, meaning my new moniker is limited to just the few days a year I take it to classic car shows, but the fact is that I now own a number plate that reads 51 MMY.

Geddit?

Are friends electric?

IN an odd move for a journalist, I'm actually thinking I might sue the entire motor industry for harassment.

Why else would almost every single carmaker bombard me with press releases about electric cars for weeks on end? I wouldn't mind normally, but until (Flash) Gordon Brown sorts out the infrastructure, vehicles that run on volts rather than V8s are about as relevant as inflatable dartboards.

I've actually got to the point where I'm bored of reading about them, and long for the day someone revives TVR or reinvents Rover as a maker of big, beefy cars. I know these cars aren't exactly PC, but at least they don't take sixteen hours to recharge.

However, the carmakers think differently, and are determined that you read up on all their upcoming electromobiles. I've done just that, so you don't have to:

Mitsubishi I Miev: Amp-happy version of its quirky supermini, but police version (pictured) not exactly a hot tip for high speed car chases.

Peugeot iOn: As above, but with Peugeot top 'n' tail treatment. Am not convinced.

Audi e-tron: Electric version of the R8 supercar presumably tailored for Bladerunner remake.

Volkswagen E-Up: Version of Up concept car presumably tailored for Yorkshire.

Chevy Volt: Actually quite-nice-looking 'leccy supermini that's crucial to GM's future.

Think City: Electric Smart-a-like which has been threatening to go on sale in Britain for ages, but still hasn't yet

And so the list goes on, but I'm still wondering why - after years of failing to get us to go electric - so many firms are determined that we will buy these cars. Admittedly, they're a lot better than they used to be, but there's no way of escaping that they're still not as good as petrol ones.

The last thing I'd want is be accused of is the heinous crime of Global Warming Denial but until you can drive 600 miles on an electric car and then fill it up at an electricity station, I wouldn't buy one.

I dread the next pro-electric press release...