Hi, I'm thinking of buying a 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS to add to my vehicles but before I do I had some questions about it that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

1) Can you remove the second row seats easily?
I have dogs and wth my current SUV (mid/full size) I just fold all of my seats down and there is a large flat area for them to have their beds and any other safety measures. However from what I found the third row folds perfectly flat but the second either folds in and lays against the passenger and driver seat or just lays in the back seat making useless space. If the seats were just folded in would that leave enough room for dogs to jump in the door? Can you still see them or are they cut off from you? I can always put them in the trunk but I hate it when I can't see them and they are just in the trunk area by themselves.

2) How is it for adventuring and camping?
I would like to take it camping and on adventures so how does it handle and how does it do space wise? I have camped in the back of my suv before and loved it but when I layed down in the trunk I was too tall to lie down straight with the seats folded in and I'm only 5ft tall. Again removing the seats would be useful, but if I can't I can always build a bed to go over them. But how was it space wise and handling wise for camping and adventures?

3) Does it feel like an SUV or car?
I like the feel of SUV's and large vehicles, I did test drive a newer model and it felt smaller than my SUV but on a day to day basis did you feel the added height like it was an SUV or more car like?

4) Am I to understand the XLS with the rockford stereo without nav doesn't have an aux plug in or bluetooth?

 

Have a shiba inu and big black lab mix

1) the second row seats do not come out, not even easily with four bolts

how I do it is, I half fold the pax side and put the dog bed on top of that for easy access to window on the smaller dog and fold the driver side all the way up, the 2nd row is designed to allow people access so the dogs have no problem jumping up through there, also the bottom of the seat facing upwards makes kind of a nice barrier for the big dog to rest her paws on looking forward and then her bed is in the back with the cooler and things that can't ride on the roof or in the hitch rack, the rear view mirror offers plenty of view of whats going in with bones and toys and any fighting over said bones and toys

2) camping is great, but having two dogs and two people means that I need most of the room inside for a 75lb baby and 25lb old meanie, so I use a pair of cross beams to secure a fabric roof carrier for all soft stuff like tents, pillows, air mattress, canopy, etc - then I have one of those hitch racks to hold the stove and food caddies, heavier blockier items, also in a fabric zippered bag that clamps on to the hitch rack, personally, you could sleep inside but I wouldn't think it to be too comfortable, there are two separate dome lights though, now since I have all this weight, I really needed to get a pair of air bags to insert in the rear springs to keep the back end from squatting too much, I keep 15 lbs of air and that works excellent for tromping up and down mountain roads

note: I really wish I had gotten the 4WD model, my FWD does fine going through shallow streams, over pretty messed up country roads and handles the ruts ok, but I have experience driving old sedans in the same environment from when I was a kid, so I have the whole momentum thing down pretty good, knock on wood, and don't get stuck, I still wish I had the four wheel though

3) it drives like an SUV but parks like a car, this 2nd gen model is pretty tall (has aluminum roof and so many control sensors to prevent tipping it isn't even funny) - I live in LA and park it pretty easily since it's narrow and fits into compact spaces

4) there is an aux input (turned on by holding down the cd button for 5 seconds) but it is behind you in the armrest facing the rear passengers, there are RCA to Mini cables and about a 6' works well, tucked under the center console at the carpeting

anymore Q's just DM me

Cheers and good luck