Hey folks, over this summer around July we just got a brand new 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander GT, and may I say first its a phenomenally nice car. I'm in love. Fabulous car. I just have some questions I'd like to ask about the car that I am a little confused about. Hopefully not too much, just some things that seem a bit odd.

First off, this problem I've been trying to figure out for a while is a skippy/glitchy USB system. I have the rockford fosgate sun-and-sound package in the car, not the whole touch screen entertainment hard-drive system, but it came with the USB/Ipod USB connector, which I got a USB stick for it to plug in with my music on it to play. It generally works good, takes a little bit to load all the music, but all that's expected. But occasionally it'll start to 'lag.' What I mean by that pretty much is just skip. Like every few seconds it'll make a little glitch skip sound like the data going from the flash drive isn't quite going through fast enough to the radio. And that's just what I thought it was. But the fact it happens randomly is odd. Also all the other music devices I plug in play do that as well randomly. So it makes me think there is something going on with the radio. I investigated further, and found out this issue only seems to happen when the bluetooth is connected to my phone. When my phone isn't connected to bluetooth to the hands free system, the USB doesn't skip. They're 2 completely different things, yet it seems like the Bluetooth slows down the radio. I'm not sure if this is an ongoing occuring problem with others, but I can't seem to figure this out. But it runs smoothly without skips when bluetooth is off. I'll try my sons Ipod Touch with the USB tomorrow to see if it skips with bluetooth on with my phone. The USB seems to be designed around the Ipod connectivity too.

Another question I had, which basically convinced me to try asking on a misubishi forum, happened the other night. It was around 32-35 degrees Fahrenheit outside, I just started the car, car was stone cold, and I went to roll down the passenger window to grab something from my friend I left in his house as I was leaving, but when I tried to roll down the window it was jammed. Wouldn't go down. It seemed like the window was frozen shut or something. It would kind of move half an inch when you hit the button, but wouldn't open enough for there to even be a gap. This never happened in any of my other vehicles, basically the window was jammed shut. Like before, if this has happened to anyone else or is just a little bug in the outlander, just thought I'd ask. Not a big deal, but maybe I should get it checked out? I'm just worried maybe water around the window seal on the outside got down into the door and froze the arms to open and close the window? Its just alarming since the car is brand new and the window already gets frozen shut. The car is about 5 months old at most. After I drove a little and the car warmed up I tried the passenger window again and it opened with a little thud like it broke free of some frozen bond, but I'm not sure where it was being held.

Lastly, we have the automatic climate control option in the vehicle, but it operates a little odd. I never payed too close attention to see if it does this all the time, but I notice when I put the fan to auto, and put the heat on, even to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, the AC turns on automatically, and blows cold air. Now I know its the AC since the AC light is clearly on, its not the cars engine being cold, because when I noticed this happened the last few times the car had been driven for a while, and when you shut off the AC it was very warm. I read in the manual and found some sort of profile you can set for the automatic climate control to set it to your needs. Could this just be something someone set maybe when the dealership got the car or when maybe someone was taking it for a test drive before us? I just don't see why the AC would come on with the auto climate control if I have the temperature set to 85. It blows cold air right at your face :P

So any help or feedback is appreciated. So my main concerns are the skipping USB only when Bluetooth is enabled, the window sticking completely shut the other night, even though the car is only a few months old, and the AC coming on with auto climate control even when the temperature is set to high heat.

But don't think I'm harping on the outlander. I definitely did not make this thread to complain. In fact this is the best car I've ever owned. This is sincerely my favorite car. Its very agile and sleek looking. I'm glad I got the GT with the 6 cylinder too, seriously, this is one badass car. Especially with the face-lift signature mitsubishi flat-nose look. This is my favorite and best car I've ever owned. Period. I cant think of a word to describe this car. Looks amazing, handles amazing, great pickup; and I travel a LOT. Long family trips to upstate new York, and this car is not only extremely comfortable and roomy, but very agile too. With the V6 and mivec variable timing system, passing those jerks who drive slow in the passing lane then purposely jam the gas when you go to pass them is no problem. The automatic RESPONSIVE transmission instantly and eagerly shifts down, mivec kicks in, the sweet powerful sound pops in, and you leave them in the dust trying to keep up :P. Trust me, we encounter those jerks all the time, but each time I've encountered them I've passed them no problem. This is a fun car to drive, love the tiptronic sporty paddle shifters on the steering wheel, and I actually prefer taking the back roads with this because its a fun car to drive! I mean I WOULD like to stiffen up the back shocks a little, I've noticed the back seems a little soft, I might get some new coilovers/rear suspension assembly when time comes for new shocks, but even still shes a 'beauty! So don't get me wrong- A absolutely love this car! The S-AWC is freaking awesome, I tow an 18 foot inboard speed boat with her to the launch and back from my summer home, and I click on lock with the AWC when taking her in and out of the water and have no problem. So far the one snow storm we've had (other than loads of rain :/) she had no problem on hills or anywhere. Very good in snow. And the hill brake feature is awesome. Nifty feature for starting off on steep hills, and also when your coming down the hill the car shifts down a little earlier to slow the car with the transmission/back compression. Saves your brakes. And its just cool too :P The little things here and there are real cool! And the rockford sound system sounds reaaaal nice. I like the fact rockford showed off their system, especially with the mean looking rockford 10" sub in the back. You cant miss it. Sounds reaaaal amazing too. The tweeters sing aswell. I'm an audio enthusiast, I love building SQ and high-sound pressure level sound systems in vehicles, I've been doing it for a long time, and this sound system passes my test. It gets real loud when you want, but even at loud volumes keeps great sound quality, even at regular volumes it really rocks.

So anyways, just thought I'd also share how glad I am with the purchase since I already made a thread, and didn't want my first post to sound like a complaint, because as you can see I'm in love! Handles great and looks great.

So I hope I didn't make one of them tl;dr threads because I sure did have a lot to say. But any feedback on these little issues would be much appreciated, and I'll see you guys on the road! Talk to you guys later!

 

I don't really use the USB for music in my Outlander but I've seen a similar problem on generic USB media players if they can't keep up with the decoding. What format and bitrate is the music? You say you are an audio enthusiest so I'm suspecting you have ripped some CDs at a very high bitrate that the Outie can't process quick enough and that the ones that play fine are perhaps a lower bitrate. With bluetooth enabled that would take a few extra CPU cycles and may be the factor that pushes it over the edge.

I've seen a similar Aircon problem with my Outie. It's set to 22 C (71 F) and the outside temp is close to the same, and yet it blows freezing cold air. Have not had a chance to investigate it further as yet.

 

I had that happen a handful of times over the winter. It appears water seeps between the glass and the rubber seal and freezes. The seals don't keep out water very well like other vehicles I've owned. On other occasions I've rolled down the windows several days after the most recent rain and when I roll them up, they're oddly wet. I can only hope this doesn't induce worse issues (internal door rust, mechanical failures, etc.).

I wouldn't advise forcing the window open using the electronic window mechanism - that's a good way to stress/break the motor and/or components. If you have access to warm-hot water, pour it onto the rubber seal and try again. Otherwise try to melt it with the defroster.

 

The A/C is designed to come on, as it takes the moisture out of the air to stop the windows fogging up.