I was looking for a CUV for a while and tested everything from Toyota to Acura, Then I found the right one - 2012 Outlander GT AWD. The car was in San Diego and I drove it back to San Francisco area along the coast. I put 700 miles on it in 2 days.

I love the car, but first the minor bad things, there is a bit of dash / plastic vents creak and minor interior trim buzz over pot holes and broken roads. But I had more expensive cars that develops similar sounds. My steering wheel is not centered when I bought it during the weekend and didn't have a technician on staff, but that was fixed at my local dealer, just a "reset" was needed.

Overall everything else is great and I love the V6.

I averaged 24.5 MPG for the trip. 24.98 mpg I calculated for one of these tanks. Barely using any cruise control during the break in. The computer estimates about 360 miles per tank given these parameters. I had worried that I needed to fill up every 2XX miles on a road trip but this was not the case.

Other points, but you guys probably know this, so these are just my feedback.

-The S-AWC makes the tires stay glued to the road during cornering. I tested the outlander sport and 2.4L FWD also. The S-AWC made a big difference.
-The ride is better than many other CUVs I tested, my wife did not get motion sickness in the twisties.
-RF Audio system is great, navigation has poor POI searching. methods, good directions and the traffic is very accurate, the system also suggest routes as you drive traffic congest and clears up. The factory nav system is one of the few that lets your passenger enter things while you drive.
-Dipstick is hard to read, need to sit overnight on a level surface.
-A/C is ice cold but it reduces fuel consumption noticably when not used.
-Off the line torque is great but uses massive amount of gas if not careful, but can be driven very smooth when tipped in.
-the steering and seats worked well for me. We notice the lumbar support slightly less than required. But overall comfortable for long trips.
-RPM is 1900 at 65mph. I think the engine will last! You hardly can hear the engine on the freeway, only tire and wind noise.
-The 6 speed automatic is quite smooth. Can use paddle shifter without touching the shift **** at anytime.
-It seems to interior motion sensor alarm is not equipped on my vehicle.
-next gen outlander is coming soon but it did not interest me, so I decided to get the current one.

Well, that's all for now!

 

Looks good! Our 2012 Australian model has a few differences. Ours get rear mud flaps and roof rails and slightly different design wheels. I don't know if you get leather and Rockford-Fosgate audio but our Nav won't work while in motion.

The dipstick is readable on one side but there is a knack to it. I would agree with the punchy torque comment but I can notice some torque steer with the S-AWC in Tarmac mode.

 

One of the things I felt the options was slightly backwards is the lower models get the roof rails and the body color stripe across the front grill. The GT gets the "black out" stripe and I think it is just textured black plastic.

The GT now comes with naked roof but with Thule mounts under a cover, I need to order tower and cross bar kit from Mitsubishi for around $300 MSRP. It comes with locks too and is actually cheaper than Thule. Overall isn't much more than OEM cross bars that sits across the rails.

I have got the beige leather (my peference), FUSE system, LED and rear park sensors.

The park sensor is kind of an aftermarket unit but it now has a volume control and on/off switch located in the cargo area. However I ended up really liking this feature being able to park about 1 foot away from the wall easily.
The LEDs system priced very high, but it is very nice when all 3 dome lights lit up it is perfectly bright, plus gotta give some labor credit to the hatch and footwell blue LEDs, which is routed into the ETACS ECU.

To be honest I was focusing on conserving and slowly consuming the first tank of half filled / half stale gas I havn't really went WOT. But I used to have a 400HP FWD Eclipse so I know how to hold on

I like the fact his vehicle is length and width wise same as the current Lexus IS sedan for example, so it isn't hard to manuver or park. I parked in front of a Toyota Sequoia and it made my outlander looked like a baby mini van in comparison.

 

We only get black leather but rear parking sensors and camera are OEM on the VRX model.

One thing I have done is taken the fuses out of the cornering lights. To me, they activate at too small a steering angle and I don't think they are necessary with the xenon headlights.

 

Here is a picture of my interior and LED lights.
Coming from current gen Lexus I don't feel I downgraded too much when I sit inside.