When Mitsubishi first showed off the 2025 Outlander to the media, it dropped a little surprise that on the one hand, made sense, but on the other, felt a bit out there. The Outlander Trail Edition looked like it took a page from the Subaru Wilderness playbook, except that page had been faxed back to the JDM golden era with some of the uniqueness of that period coming through. However, after finding out more about the Outlander Trail Edition, it seems a little less funky than it first appeared, at least in standard form.
Let’s start with the eye candy. For one, Mitsubishi has dug back into the archives of automotive accessorizing and pulled out exactly what this segment called for: Side graphics that evoke mountain imagery. Is it a bit ’90s? Sure, but it’s closer to the real ’90s than the ultra-glossy aesthetic everyone’s been obsessing over for the past decade or so. I could totally picture those side graphics on a ton of period SUVs, but they don’t appear overly anachronistic on this modern crossover. At the same time, check out those all-terrain tires. Not only do they have some decent sidewall on them, they look chunkier than you get on many competitors. If this niche is all about posing, that’s how you do it. However, there’s a catch: When a Mitsubishi Outlander Trail Edition rolls off the truck, it doesn’t look exactly like this.
That’s because almost everything cool is a dealer-installed option. The awesome mountain-style graphics? Optional. The 235/60R18 Cooper Discoverer Road+Trail all-terrain tires? Optional. All of the roof rack gear, including the flat platform itself? Optional. While I understand not wanting to re-homologate a car simply because a drastically different tire package might change mileage, pretty much all of the Outlander Trail Edition’s competitors come with some form of all-terrain tire. The Toyota RAV4 TRD Off-Road, the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek, the Subaru Forester Wilderness, the list goes on. Sure, a highway tire might be better suited to actual customer needs, but that’s not why people buy visually-toughened compact crossovers.
Instead, for your $40,890 including freight, you get essentially a mid-range Outlander with mud flaps, fender flares, rubber floor and cargo liners, door protectors, bumper garnishes, a bit of blacked-out trim, and a neat wheel design. That’s disappointing, but maybe it’s not so bad in the grand scheme of things. After all, the Outlander is essentially the thinking person’s Nissan Rogue. That’s because it shares a whole lot of its DNA with Nissan’s surprisingly good compact crossover, but not the most contentious part. You know, the VC-Turbo three-cylinder engine that’s been the subject of a massive recall due to reports of bearing failure. Instead, the 2025 Outlander gets the old PR25DD 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine that’s proven to be fairly robust. Come 2026, that engine will be replaced with Mitsubishi’s own 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that also seems reasonably solid.
Then there’s the amount of kit that you get for the money. A hands-free power liftgate, an eight-speaker Yamaha sound system, a panoramic moonroof, front parking sensors, leatherette, heated front seats, power-folding heated mirrors, and the bonus of an occasional-use third row. It might be cruel to stuff adults back there for an extended period of time, but for schlepping your kids’ friends around town or making a quick airport run, two extra seating positions is a big plus over most compact crossovers.
Oh, and the cherry on top is the warranty. While bumper-to-bumper coverage is good for either five years or 60,000 miles, the powertrain is under warranty until ten years or 100,000 miles from the in-service date. This means that if you do fewer than 14,280 or so miles a year and keep up on maintenance, you could finance one for as long as 84 months and still be within a warranty period.
While I do wish Mitsubishi went further with the Outlander Trail Edition and made the mountain graphics, roof rack, and awesome-looking all-terrain tires standard, the Outlander’s still a pretty smart choice in the grand scheme of the compact crossover market. I’d probably go for the SE with the Tech Package because $39,990 for something with the upgraded 12-speaker Yamaha sound system is more my speed, but if you like the Trail Edition, sure, why not pick one up if it makes you happy?
Top graphic image: Mitsubishi
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Man. Mitsubishi should hire you. You make this thing almost appealing. At least as optioned.
Dealer options, does that mean you can just buy the cheapest model and add the dealer option bits to make it better?
Looks like the 1.5T in the 2026 is the mild hybrid system they currently sell in China. I guess dropping the 2.5 is part of the Nissan divorce.
I would be curious if they have an alternative transmission option but I’m pretty sure it’s still the same Jatco CVT. At least the PHEV doesn’t use it…
FWIW, we now have Cooper Discoverer Road+Trail all-terrain tires on our Highlander Hybrid that they do stellar off-road and in snow. (Yes, we off-road a Highlander). I’d go with higher profile tires than what Mitsubishi is offering here though.
As an added bonus, you cannot see the front end from the driver seat.
What do people want? Cheap cars without a bunch of bullshit.
What does Thomas want? a 50k starting price filled with bullshit.
Mitsubishi, please, PLEASE come through on your promise to bring a modern PHEV version of the Delica offroad (or even soft road) van to the U.S.
I’ve been telling my wife that if they do that, and if it’s not complete garbage, I will be buying one. Even if it looks as ugly as the Outlander… I don’t care.
Honest analysis on the soft-roader trims — they have to align at least somewhat with the brand. Here are the logical ones, in order from most to least:
8 Chevy Activ but not active with the ‘e’ because that would be too active (hyperactiv?)
9 Ford Timberline bc Timberlake was too urban
10 Mazda CX-50 Meridian Edition should have had its own Prime sub-edition
Feel free to work these in as needed.
Usually so confident, Hyundai cleverly hid its off-roady Kona and Tucson with little X-line badges and then painted bits of the Palisade, Santa Cruz, and Santa Fe black, which only served to further obfuscate the little XRT badges.
X-Line is the Kia one. Or X-Pro? They have both, I think it’s like an R vs. R-Line thing.
I cut the Activ some slack because it did somehow seem more honest about being just as a cladding and appearance package to start, on the Spark. But GMC has the AT4 on every model from Sierra 2500 and EV down to Terrain.
Toyota has a few entries, the Woodland is what they throw on hybrids with a little lift. Maybe ties with Rock Creek, because it does have the lift but still i-AWD.
Yes, you’re right! I think X-line was dropped and now its X-Pro. As for XRT I gather than Ioniq 5 is available with it, which is wild.
Yes, I actually find the Activ trim charming, especially on the Spark. The tiny cars with off-road trims are great. I think Toyota even added cladding to the Prius C later on to make give it a tougher appearance.
Toyota had an Adventure trim for the RAV4 but it looks like its the Woodland now. A bunch of Toyotas now have Woodland trim, even the Sienna which gets a whopping 0.9-inch lift.
I don’t hate the Ford Timberline, it seems like such a natural extension of the Eddie Bauer edition of the 90s which was just lip service to an outdoorsy lifestyle but genuinely resulted in better interiors and more interesting exteriors.
“A warranty period” and “the warranty period” are wildly different.
My first car had a bumper to bumper warranty for 2 years or 24k miles (1995). It had a powertrain warranty for 10 years or 100k miles, the first in the industry — long before Korea took notes.
Guess how many out-of-pocket repairs were for the powertrain 🙂
I’m pretty sure that Mk3 Golf is sitting in a junkyard somewhere, rotted to pieces but with a pristine 2.0 and 5MT that found a life in their third or fourth cars somewhere.
“Kinda Disappointing” has more or less been the Mitsubishi corporate motto since the 00s.