Is anybody else frustrated and surprised at the things that Mitsubishi doesn't engineer into the outie that other cars of this caliber do have. We have some pretty high end features like HID headlights, Fast key remotes, and a 650 watt stereo.An example of my bewilderment is this, I have these awesome HID headlights. Sure wish they would turn on automatically! Come on Mitsubishi, this is not a base model Kia! Give me automatic headlights. Another thing is there are no airvents in the rear. They are not absolutely necessary, but sure would be nice. How about the Homelink built in garage door openers. And finally, it would be nice to use the DVD and play it throught the stereo system! I'd trade my expensive headlights for any one of these mainstream features. Having said all this, I do love my Outlander!

 

Its a tradeoff of costs vs features and when deciding what features to put in, sometimes they misjudge the desires of drivers. For example; Mitsu hasall these screens on their dash information display and I wish one of them actually showed a digital readout of your speed.Simple and practical, but for whatever reason its not included. Here in the US mitsu wanted tostay in the $20,000 - $25,000 base price range with the Outlander so they were competitive with the CR-V, RAV4, and Hyundai SantaFe while at the same time having a fully loaded luxury XLS model going for well over $30,000. Maybe that wasn't the best strategy because when you spend well over $30,000 for the XLS you are starting to compete withthe luxury crossover marketand its hard to make a vehicle that covers that broad of a market.

 

Hey, being an engineer myself, I think that the title of this post is wrong [:@]. These decisions are not made by engineers, It's the bean counters that make them. Ask any engineer to design a car and it will be loaded with all kinds of stuff, but will probably be too expensive for anybody to afford! [sm=smiley9.gif]

 

Thats true Chenarm, the bean counters in any business usually make the decisions. I just think Mitsu tried to cover too broad a market with the Outlander. The vehicle competes very well against the CR-V, RAV4, Ford Escape market, most features for the money.

However, when you consider a top end XLS has a sticker price well over $30,000 you havea totally different market you're appealing too, and its hard for the Outlander to compete in both.

 

Yes there are some things that were left out. But there are also some things that were added in that no other car in this category has..... i.e. flap-fold tailgate, FAST key, 3rd row seat,navigation that is hard drive driven, LED tail lamps, 6-speed auto transmition w/ PADDLE SHIFTERS! Some of these things may be looked at as unesessary or useless to some people, but the point is that they are availabe and that there are people that enjoy that fact.

Plus with any "totally new" model there are deffinitley going to be some things left out. As each next model year comes out is when you usually see the small things that people noticed where left out be added in. There werent many changes from the 2007 model to the 2008, but there were some... expect a little more of those changes or additions to come with the 2009 and 2010 models.

And as a side note, I've seen a couple times on here lately that people saying that the XLS is a "well over $30,000 vehicle". Umm, my fully loaded XLS with every option available, sticker price $29,000 and some change (in Colorado, prices are region specific). So A) sticker wasunder $30,000 and B) who pays sticker? I deffenitleypayed under sticker.The things that compares to the XLS are luxury SUV/crossovers that start anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 more. So for what I wanted, the XLS is a DEAL, and thats why I love it!

Got winded here, but just tired of people saying how expensive this vehicle can be. The ES starts at $20,685. This can be a very affordable sport-ute. But if you want all the bells and whistles you can have them! Which makes the Outlander more appealing to more people. And thats a GOOD thing!

 

Chenarm, agreed. It probably wasn't engineering that left off the modern conveniences. Let's see who I can pee off now. I don't really like marketers, so here it goes. If marketing would have done just a little bit of research, they would have known to include a few more of the modern conveniences and less of the "exotic" ones. Dang marketers! Oh, BTW, I probably have the least reason to complain. I bought my fully loaded "07 Outlander XLS with 40k miles for under $15,000. Even without the extras I would have preferred, still a great price.

 

I wonder if the feature that you would have wanted are just not very popular outside the US, so when MMC brought the car to North America, they decided not toAmericanise it, to keep the price down. But they have certainly removed some feature that we don't see much in North America like folding mirror, colling glove box,..

 

Wasn't knocking the Outtie on its price, because I love my ES and think its the best value out there. I'm just saying the more you pay for any vehicle the higher the expectations and all vehicles out there have a certain audience that the marketing people want to appeal to.Again the Outtie is the best value in the $20,000 - $25,000 range. More than holds its own between 25 and 30 thousand, but once you go over 30,000 you're getting close to competing with a whole different class of vehicles. BTW. The $30,000+ price on the XLS came from a review I read some months back.

 

Hey, being a marketing guy myself, I thinkyour post is wrong. We do studiesto find out what people want, with the understanding that you can't have EVERYTHING.

So which would most people rather have, Bluetooth or Homelink. Bluetooth wonbecause yourgarage already comes with a remote, all you have to do is put it inyour car. I velcro mineto the underside of the center console storagebin, completely out of the way and easy touse.

I'm guessing automatic headlights might have a liability cost. If they don't turn on at the right time then guess who gets sued if it causes an accident? Other manufacturers might add that feature and have a dedicated budget for law suits. Anyway, it's easy to just turn on the headlights when you want them on, somehow we survived doing it that way for almost 100 years.

I'm not sure what you are talking about with the DVD, mine plays through the stereo. If you go over 2.5 mph you lose the video but keep the sound. Add the Video in Motion patch and you can have both while driving.

The list of features that we have is huge... bluetooth, nav, cruise, 4WD, tailgate, stability control, airbags, sunroof, great stereo, power seat, HID lights that adjust to load, 6 speed tranny, great brakes, paddle shifters, good fuel economy. All at under $30k.

 

Ok Biscuit, take a deep breath. I was just funnin with you all about marketing people. I my self am in R&D and work with, and am part of the marketing arm of our organization. No hard feelings. Don't get me wrong, I love my outie. But the list of features that you gave is exactly what I was talking about. Although many of these gadgets are cool as heck, and the price is right, I wonder if we took a poll, how many people would trade the paddle shifters and HID headlights, for some more common features like automatic headlights or airvents for the rear passengers. What should I tell my mom when she insists on taking the back seat, "Sorry mom, you can't have any air, but please enjoy the inflight movie." Paddle shifters are cool, but I'm a 38 year old married guy more interested in fuel economy than "sport driving". I would also suggest that someone that is a "sport" driver is more interested in an Eclipse than a crossover. I think this feature is probably wasted on this audience. (I am speaking in generalizations here and am sure that there are some that disagree.) Anyway my point here is that they put some pretty high end and expensive options on these while leaving out a few of the more common stuff.
Ok, now onto the DVD sound part of my post. I do not have the Navigation system, but do have the 650 watt stereo. We have not figured out how to listen to the DVD throught the stereo. Any advise for this big dummy on how to do this without rewiring the DVD to the radio head? Thanks.