2025 Mitsubishi Outlander Midcycle Change Is All About Tunes

Yahoo

24-02-2025

Mitsubishi hopes to increase its fairly small share of the enormous midsize crossover utility segment with some midcycle upgrades on its 2025 Outlander.
The crossover has a little more than 10% of the sales numbers of segment leaders like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Tesla Model Y.
The most exciting upgrade might be the new Yamaha audio system, which rocks.
The Mitsubishi Outlander was already a solid entry in the midsize crossover utility segment, with enough quilted leather inside to make you think you stepped up a class or two—or even three—despite the ute's Nissan Rogue underpinnings and powertrain.
But no Rogue ever looked this nice inside, and with the 2025 midcycle facelift you see here, no Rogue is ever going to get the killer Yamaha audio you can have in the 2025 Outlander.
Now, you may have to pause a bit to recall the Outlander. It competes—sort of—in the ginormous midsize crossover segment but lags well behind more popular rivals.
There are 38 models competing there, from the Buick Envision to the Volkswagen Tiguan, including mega-sellers like the Honda CR-V at 402,791 sales in calendar 2024, Tesla Model Y at 375,898, and Toyota RAV4 at 475,193.
Compared to those, the under-the-radar Outlander's 52,228 sales in 2024 were downright diminutive.
The Outlander debuted in 2022, but its 2025 midcycle facelift brings a really nice sound system from Yamaha that may tip the sales scales in Mitsu's favor.
The company estimates that 10% of buyers are swayed by a vehicle's audio system, and this one may do some swaying. Available in two packages, Premium and Ultimate, the system is impressive just on the spec sheet before you even crank it up.
The Premium 1,000-watt package gets eight speakers: four tweeters, two "wooden" midrange speakers, and two woofers. Step up to Ultimate audio and you get 12 speakers with 11 channels hitting 1,650 watts.
Engineers turned the doors in the Outlander into speakers by blocking off the service access holes with resin plates to repurpose each door into a speaker box.
On top of that there are five modes: Lively, Signature, Powerful, Relaxing, and Surround Sound. To tune each audio experience to the vehicle's occupants, there are five "Listening Positions" that focus the sound appropriately: Driver, Front Seat, Rear seat, and all-seat modes. Then there are three means to compensate for noise: Speed Compensation, Rain Compensation, and Air Conditioning Compensation.While driving through LA streets and freeways, it was an impressive system, indeed. An easy way to gauge the robustness of a sound system is simply to crank the volume and see if it comes apart.
The Yamaha Ultimate system could hold distinct definition in all ranges at even the highest volumes. That definition was obvious at any output level. I gave it two ear lobes up.
They didn't let us try out the Premium sound one notch down, nor compare it to last year's Bose system, but the Ultimate may be worth investing in, especially since there are few places outside a college dorm room or the car where you can fully crank the audio like Otto Mann the bus driver on The Simpsons.
The rest of the midcycle changes are fairly standard. The front end gets all-new sheetmetal from the A-pillar forward, with fenders now made of steel instead of last year's plastic, for better fitment. The rear end is likewise refreshed.
Inside the two-row crossover you'll find an updated interior, with a new center console design "more focused around ease of use and comfort," new interior colors, and upgraded features.
The quilted leather trim throughout is a nice touch. The Mitsubishi Connect got a little clunky when using Apple Maps to navigate. I had to manually restart it after every travel segment instead of just hitting the "Continue" button on the screen.
But overall people have been happy with the current Outlander.
"For the first time ever, the Mitsubishi Outlander has won the small/compact segment in the JD Power 2024 US Multimedia Quality and Satisfaction Study," Mitsu crowed last year, and that was before the Yamaha sound system arrived.
For my part, I was satisfied after a day spent driving and riding around Los Angeles. The Outlander is a comfortable conveyance from which to conduct your daily urban or suburban life.
Road noise underway was minimal over LA's sometimes bumpy pavement, and engine noise from the 2.5-liter MIVEC DOHC inline four-cylinder was minimal.
Acceleration with the four-banger's 181 hp and 181 lb-ft of torque was more than enough to get the 3,803-pound crossover crossing over, though no 0-60 mph time was listed.
Peak power doesn't arrive until 6,000 rpm, but it didn't feel lacking at lower revs. Likewise, you might not even know you're driving a CVT, as its performance never intruded on the experience throughout the drive. Maybe I wasn't pushing it hard enough.
While the firewall, suspension pickup points, and basic chassis are shared with the Rogue, the Outlander gets its own springs, shocks, anti-roll bars, and 20-inch wheels, with the springs, shocks, and bars tuned specifically for this upscale, semi-sporty application.
I did not get a chance to take the Outlander off-road, but with a new Trail Edition Outlander coming out later this year, I'm looking forward to it.
There will also be an updated Outlander PHEV late this year or early next, Mitsubishi said. For now, the newest and coolest Outlander is this one.
How does it stack up against the sales leaders in the segment? The RAV4 also sports a 2.5-liter four but manages to get 203 hp out of it, 22 more than the Mitsu, routing that power through an eight-speed automatic instead of a CVT.
The Honda CR-V makes do with a full liter less displacement, yet manages to outperform the Mitsubishi with 190 hp, albeit with a CVT. And the Tesla Model Y beats everything in the class with 295 all-electric hp and all-wheel drive, but for 20 grand more across the board.
The Mitsubishi offers a handsome interior and a killer sound system, with what is mostly adequate vehicle performance.
That and the promising JD Power numbers suggest 2025 could be the year Mitsubishi rises up in the very crowded midsize crossover segment.
Does a killer stereo really make a difference in this class? Let us know below.