Mitsubishi Triton Black Edition: Hello darkness my old friend

The name can be taken all too literally. It’s all value too.

Price: $46,990
Powertrain and economy: 2.4-litre MIVEC turbocharged and intercooled in-line four cylinder diesel, 135kW, 437Nm. Six-speed automatic transmission. Super Select II 4WD with Off-road Mode. Combined fuel consumption 8.6L/100km.
Vital statistics: Length 5305mm, height 1795mm, width 1815mm, wheelbase 3000mm, ground clearance 220mm. Wheels 18-inch black alloys.
We like: Diesel performance is over a broad revs range; Super Select 4WD among the best around.
We don’t like: Black-on-black may not appeal to some; air conditioning seems hard to get warm; hard lid restricts use of wellside.

WOULD you own a vehicle in the olour most notorious for showing off dirt the quickest?

A lot of people do.

Latest worldwide statistics show that while white was by far the most popular colour – or non-colour – in 2020 for a massive 38 percent of all vehicles built, black ran next with a 19 percent share.

A large proportion of those were luxury cars, because everybody knows that black looks really classy with that genre. But black is of course also offered as a choice of body hue with every other style of motor vehicle, from the smallest hatch to the largest ute.

I mention all of this having just been driving what is perhaps the blackest vehicle on the market.

It’s the Mitsubishi Triton Black Edition, a limited-edition ute that is based on the GLS, a model line that isn’t now a part of the Triton lineup here, having being replaced by the VXR as the top Triton on offer.

To make it a Black Edition model, MMNZ has added a black ‘dynamic shield’ front end and grille, black LED headlight surrounds, black 18-inch alloys, and black alloy side steps.

Black Edition Triton is available with a choice of paint hues including blue, orange, white and grey, but the version we had for road test was – naturally – painted a colour called Pitch Black. And on top of that, our ute also had a black deck liner, black sports bars, black two-piece hard lid, and even a black towbar.

So the black version of the Triton Black Edition is black – spectacularly black. It is also spectacularly priced, on the market for $46,990 which is well below the $62,990 RRP for the VRX. That’s good buying, because the only things the VRX has which the Black Edition doesn’t are leather seats, seat heaters, paddle shifters and a rear roll bar.

Granted, in typical Mitsubishi fashion the VRX is currently being offered with a special retail price of $51,990, but even so that offer for the Black Edition model is highly competitive.

Mind you, these days nobody buys a new ute in New Zealand without spending a few thousand extra accessorising it. In the case of our Black Edition test vehicle the accessory spend was at least $6100, which took the total price to more than $53,000 – more than the SRP for the VRX. But then again, a VRX buyer would almost certainly accessorise that ute, and so the process goes on and on….

Triton is the third most popular ute and the fourth most popular vehicle in New Zealand, with sales last year running at around 10 a day. It’s easily the most popular Mitsubishi, well ahead of the ASX and Outlander SUVs.

The replacement of the GSX with the VRX as the top model happened a couple of years ago when the massively facelifted ‘Beast Mode’ model was launched here.

All the utes in the Triton range are powered by the same 2.4-litre MIVEC turbo diesel, which is part of a Mitsubishi family of petrol and diesel engines with variable valve timing technology, and which have been installed into everything from the smallest Mirage up to the largest SUV.

In this case the engine develops 135kW of power and 437Nm of torque, figures which on the face of things look a bit modest when compared against the likes of Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux. But that variable timing of the intake and exhaust camshafts works efficiently in supplying the power and especially the torque over a broad revolutions range, so overall performance is sound.

Adding to the attraction of this ute, big-time, is that it carries Mitsubishi’s Super Select II, which is one of the few 4WD systems that allow a vehicle to operate on seal in 4WD without voiding the manufacturer warranty – and of course not destroy the diff.

It’s a very good system, which in the latest models is controlled using a twist dial on the centre console. It offers 2H and 4H - 2WD High and 4WD High – which can be selected at speeds of up to 100kmh and are able to be used on seal. Then there is 4HLc, which is 4WD High with the centre differential locked to provide a 50:50 torque split for best performance off the seal, and finally there is 4LLc which is a crawl gear for the really tough off-road work.

On top of all that there an Offroad Mode selector which offers the choice of gravel, mud/snow, sand and rock drive modes for improved performance through various ground conditions.

Super Select is one of the things that sets Triton apart, easily compensating for the fact it doesn’t offer quite the same power as the Ranger and Hilux, or the brand-new models Mazda BT-50 and Isuzu D-Max. The Mitsi ute also isn’t quite as large as the Ford and Toyota, but it is a bit bigger in most dimensions than the Mazda and Isuzu.

During our time with the jet-black Black Edition we used it for a summer camping trip in the wilds of Bay of Plenty – well, Papamoa, which these days is so populated it feels about as ‘wild’ as the Auckland CBD. But there’s a great beach there, the weather was nice and the water warm, so we weren’t complaining.

For us, a camping trip usually involves loading a vehicle to the gunwales, and the trip with the Triton was no exception. It didn’t unduly affect the ute’s performance – in fact being fully laden meant its ride and handling felt rather secure. The only downside was that fuel consumption rose from the official stated average of 8.6 L/100km to around 9.2 L/100km.

That was still acceptable though, with very little difference in consumption between the times the Triton was run in 2WD in dry conditions, and in 4WD High when we opted for extra safety in the wet. Actually, the bigger annoyance was the massive differences in diesel prices at various service stations around Papamoa and the Bay in general. How can the fuel companies justify 35c differences in diesel prices at sites mere kilometres apart?

Talking about fully loading a ute, I have to say that those hard lids installed over the wellside deck are a pain. They seriously compromise the ability of the load area to carry cargoes of any size. If I had to fit anything in the interests of rear load security, I’d much rather opt for a removeable tonneau cover (which is a lot cheaper) or go the whole hog and install a canopy.

But at least the hard lid, which was lockable, did provide secure storage. And it has to be said it helped make the Triton Black Edition something of a looker – which is important in the current ute-crazy motoring environment in which highly-accessorised ‘hero’ utes are all the rage.

Equally important is the Black Edition’s price, which is very attractive. Little wonder then that this limited-edition model is contributing solidly to Triton’s good sales performance.

Express carries value, cops ANCAP hit

After five years absence from the van sector, Mitsubishi finally has something to sell. Does the new Express tick all the commercial vehicle boxes?

Mitsubishi Express 2.0DT
Price: $44,990 (introductory pricing, regular RRP $52,990)
Powertrain and performance:  2.0-litre four cylinder dCi intercooled turbo diesel engine, 125 kW at 3500rpm, 380 Nm at 1500 rpm. Six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Fuel consumption 7.3 L/100km, emissions 191 g/km CO2.
Vital statistics: Length 4999mm, width 1956mm (excluding door mirrors), height 1971mm, wheelbase 3098mm. Cargo space 5.2 cubic metres. Pseudo MacPherson strut front suspension, beam axle and coil springs at the rear. 16-inch steel wheels with 215/65 R16C tyres.
We like: Comfortable and easy drive. Brilliant access to the cargo area. Plenty of minor storage up front. Appealing special retail price.
We don’t like: ANCAP assessment’s ‘Not Recommended’ judgement.

DID anyone hear an unusual noise coming out of Porirua a few weeks ago? That was the sound of the people at Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand Ltd breathing a collective sigh of relief when, after five years, they finally had a commercial van to sell again.

During that time it must have been a tough few years for MMNZ as it watched other distributors sell their vans in the thousands.

That’s what MMNZ used to do with its famous L300. A total of close to 40,000 of them were sold here between 1980 and 2015, with the L300 being top-selling van in several of those years. But then calamity - the decision had to be made to pull the plug on the vehicle because it no longer met modern-day safety standards.

The tragedy of that decision was that it had to be taken in the knowledge that no replacement van was available. And that forced the company to sit on its hands for five years and watch as established van manufacturers including Toyota and Ford, then newcomers such as Hyundai and more latterly LDV, combined forces to sell more than 6000 vans a year.

But then, good news.  Mitsubishi became part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and that quickly resulted in a decision to build a Mitsubishi version of the Renault Trafic van exclusively for the commercial vehicle markets in Australia and New Zealand.

But what to call it? The van we Kiwis knew as the L300 had been marketed as the Express in Australia – and presumably because the Aussie market is much bigger than ours, it was decided that the replacement van would be Express.

Trafic is well-known all over the world, including in New Zealand. The first such van was produced in France way back in 1980, and the current model has been on the European market since 2014 where it is also sold as the Nissan NV300. A Vauxhall Vivaro version also used to be built at Luton, but that has now been replaced by the Citroen Jumpy van following PSA Group’s takeover of Opel/Vauxhall.

And now the Mitsubishi version has arrived here. It is available as a 1.6-litre twin turbocharged diesel with a six-speed manual transmission, and as a 2.0-litre single-turbo diesel with a six-speed dual clutch automatic.

Both models are front-wheel driven with what is known as Extended Grip, which is a traction control mode activated by the driver to assist in low-grip conditions. Both versions are also identical in size and offer all-important cargo volume of 5.2 cubic metres.

From the practicality point of view, Express immediately impresses as a useful van, even though it is not quite as large as the volume-selling Toyota Hiace and Ford Transit. And crucially, due to the fact it is developed off a Renault van that is at least six years old, it lacks several modern-day convenience and active safety features. More about that later.

Load space design is very good. The load area is easily accessible through dual sliding side doors and full-width rear ‘barn’ doors that feature stops at 85 degrees and 160 degrees. To open the doors to their widest you simply lift a couple of catches and they will swing open enough to allow forklift access to the cargo space.

This space measures 1268mm between the wheel housings which means it can accommodate standard-width pallets and such things as GIB sheets. Not only that, but the cargo area has 16 inbuilt cargo rings, including three on each side of the floor and five on each side wall.

In addition, there’s a large storage compartment that is accessed from the rear load area and extends under the passenger seats up to the dash, which helps allow really long items to be carried in the Mitsubishi by extending the loading length by 413mm to 1213mm.

Both versions of the Express run on a 3098mm wheelbase, with the manual model offering a maximum payload of 1150kg and the ability to tow up to 2000 kg braked, while the auto’s payload is 1116kg and braked towing capacity 1715kg.

The Express’ passenger compartment is separated from the cargo area by a bulkhead, and that means the driver environment is rather pleasant. It has three cloth-trimmed seats – a drivers seat and a passenger bench – the gearshift is up in the dash area, and a feature that underlines the van’s commercial intent is 89 litres of total storage capacity, including almost 25 litres built into the dashboard.

The middle seat has a fold-down workstation complete with pull-out clipboard, a clipboard holder, a non-slip laptop tray, and storage a laptop.

The Express also comes standard with a smartphone holder, which under normal circumstances would be a great idea, but unfortunately these days it is next to useless because it can only accommodate smaller phones from iPhone 6 size down. And although the van also has rear reversing sensors, also a bit useless is a reversing camera display which is located in the rear-view mirror.

I first encountered such a location aboard earlier model Hyundais and didn’t like it then – and I don’t like it now, because to look at the rear view requires the driver to take his or her eyes too far away from the frontal view. It’s much more user-friendly to have such a display as part of an infotainment screen mounted on the dash, but there isn’t such a thing aboard this van.

Nor is there Apple Carplay or Android Auto – the audio is a bit old-school featuring Bluetooth with voice activation and DAB.

From an operational point of view however, there are some more encouraging features. The Express has what are called aspherical wing mirrors which divide the mirror images into three sections for increased viewing, a wide-angle view mirror integrated into the passenger sun visor to help remove the left-hand blind spot, and it also has cornering front fog lights which turn on at night to light the inside of a bend.

The model we had for road test was the automatic, which is powered by a 2.0-litre intercooled turbo diesel that offers 125kW of power and 380 Nm of torque, and which is mated to a Getrag six-speed wet dual-clutch transmission with a flick shift manual sports mode.

It performs well, with an ECO mode and engine stop-start function helping reduce fuel consumption to a published 7.3 L/100km. The driver position is very good, the steering wheel is adjustable for both reach and rake, and the location of the gear lever is great. And of course visibility is great, with those big mirrors very useful.

Unlike several other competing vans, the Express is front-driven, and an interesting feature is what is called Extended Grip which is designed to enhance traction when pulling away or at low speeds on soft ground or low-grip surfaces.

When activated by the push of a button, the Extended Grip de-activates the van’s electronic stability control (ESC) to maintain torque split to each wheel. It is quite easy to get wheelspin with a van, particularly when it is unladen, and this system prevents that.

Another feature is a driving style indicator on the dashboard, which changes colour from green to yellow to red depending on how heavy-footed the driver is. Gee – wonder what colour the indicator would normally be with most courier drivers…

One modern-day issue with the Express – and this illustrates what can happen with badge engineering – is that although it is a brand-new entry on New Zealand’s commercial van market, it is in fact a vehicle that has been around for so long it doesn’t have any of the advanced collision avoidance systems that are aboard many of the other truly new vans.  

This explains why, after the Australian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) had recently assessed the collision avoidance capability of a total of 15 vans, it stamped the Express with a ‘Not Recommended’ due to its poor active safety specification.

The ANCAP people acknowledged that due to longer product cycles for commercial vehicles, many vans currently on the market – Express included - are either unrated or have ANCAP ratings that pre-date the introduction of latest collision avoidance technology.

But the organisation added: “Commercial vans generally operate with higher levels of exposure and hold a much longer economic life-span due to their primary commercial use and goods carrying function, and this makes their active safety capability arguably even more critical than that of passenger cars.”

In the case of the Express, ANCAP said that although it has an adjustable speed limiter and a driver’s seatbelt reminder, it lacks a number of other important active safety systems including autonomous emergency braking and lane support systems such as lane-keep assist.

Is that ANCAP criticism fair? Yes and no.

The Mitsubishi Express does carry a good level of passive and active safety specification that includes six airbags, ABS brakes with electronic stability control and electronic brake-force distribution, emergency brake assist, hill-start assist, trailer sway mitigation and the Extended Grip system.

But the fact the Express is a Mitsubishi version of a Renault Trafic that is way into its current model cycle means that it doesn’t carry the sort of very high-level active safety specification that is increasingly demanded by the safety assessors.

None of this means that the Mitsubishi Express is an unsafe van.  Quite the opposite in fact. Our week with the vehicle showed it to be a secure and comfortable drive with excellent ride and handling characteristics. And let’s be frank here – it is streets ahead of the old forward-control L300 van it replaces, albeit after that hiatus of five years.

And here’s another appealing thing about the Express: it’s price.

While it carries recommended retail prices of $47,990 for the manual and $52,990 for the auto, MMNZ has lopped $8000 off and given them ‘special’ retail prices of $39,990 and $44,990.

That’s value, despite the fact it can’t emergency brake on its own or assist the driver to keep in the correct lane. And value for the money is vital for any commercial operator.

Ageing Mirage no longer a hoot

Mitsubishi’s facelifted and safer Mirage hatch remains one of New Zealand’s value motoring packages – if you can put up with that annoying noise.

Mitsubishi Mirage XLS
Price: $21,990 (down to $19,990 on special)
Powertrain and performance:  1.2-litre three cylinder DOHC MIVEC petrol engine, 58 kW at 6000rpm, 102 Nm at 4000 rpm. Continuously variable automatic transmission. Fuel consumption 5 L/100km, emissions 115 g/km CO2.
Vital statistics: Length 3845mm, width 1665mm, height 1510mm, wheelbase 2450mm. Luggage space 235 litres. MacPherson strut front suspension, torsion beam at the rear. 15-inch alloy wheels with 175/55 R15 tyres.
We like: A motoring value package, excellent safety specification for the price, good interior room, easy to drive.
We don’t like: That pronounced engine noise.

YOU’VE got have a certain amount of the affection for the Mitsubishi Mirage. But does it have the goods today for that affection to last?

For several years from the early 1980s the little hatchback was good enough to be the backbone of the brand’s market presence in New Zealand, to the extent that not only did it account for 35 per cent of all hatchback sales here, but it helped Mitsubishi rule as the country’s most popular new vehicle brand with a market share of close to 19 per cent.

These days it is Toyota that dominates, with sales more than double those of any other vehicle brand. But Mitsubishi continues to do well all the same – year to date it is in third place behind Ford with a share of 8 per cent.

But just like every vehicle brand, it is achieving its market share largely via ute and SUV sales. Triton ute and the ASX and Outlander SUVs all feature in the list of New Zealand’s top 10 best-selling  vehicles.

And as for Mirage, these days it’s well and truly out of the sales limelight as it performs its duties as the smallest, most economical and least expensive Mitsubishi on offer.

I suppose you could say the Mirage is now living the quieter life, which is probably reflective of the more senior age group that buys this type of vehicle.

This year the Thai-built car received its second facelift, with exterior changes including a fresh take on Mitsubishi’s so-called dynamic shield design language. In other words, Mirage has a new nose complete with chrome detailing. The model also sports new 15-inch alloy wheels, and daytime running lights.

Interior changes include a black-on-black colour scheme with – you guessed it – black fabric seat material. There’s also a new combination meter cluster, cruise control is now standard, and the car gets its own unique smartphone link display audio (SDA) system that is compatible with both Apple Carplay and Android Auto.

It’s all rather good. So too are a number of safety features that have been added to the Mirage as part of its facelift.

The little car now has lane departure warning, forward collision mitigation with pedestrian detection, and a reversing camera with its view displayed on the hatchback’s 7-inch central touch screen.

All of that is an addition to numerous existing safety features that include active traction control, hill start assist, four-wheel ABS with brake assist, and driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags. All of that contributes to the five-star Ancap crash safety rating.

So the 2020 Mirage boasts a fresher look, improved interior, and it carries great safety specification for a model that currently retails for $19,990. All of that helps keep the model up to date, despite the fact it has been on the New Zealand new vehicle market since 2013.

But what is falling behind is its drivetrain.

Mirage continues to be powered by a 1.2-litre three-cylinder DOHC MIVEC petrol engine that develops 58 kW of power and 102 Nm of torque, mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission.

This CVT has a two-step planetary gear set that is designed to better match engine revs with the job at hand, and when the vehicle was last facelifted in 2017 the transmission was re-mapped to improve vehicle acceleration.

I remember when the Mirage was first launched seven years ago, and even when it was facelifted three years ago, many critics enjoyed the experience of driving the hatch with its three-cylinder engine, with one fellow journo even going so far as to describe it as a “hoot”. In retrospect I suspect this wasn’t so much because of any lightening acceleration but more because of the car’s pronounced three-cylinder engine note.

Triple-cylinder engines traditionally have a rougher sound because there’s a slight gap in the timing of their four stroke internal combustion cycle. Trouble is many other car manufacturers have succeeded in reducing this engine note, while Mitsubishi hasn’t.

There are numerous cars with three-cylinder engines out there, too. They range from the more expensive Audi A1, through the more reasonably priced product such as Volkswagen Polo, Skoda Fabia and Ford Fiesta, to the very small product such as Suzuki Celerio.

In more recent times we’ve also received the latest Toyota Yaris and Ford Puma, both of which are powered by three-cylinder engines of varying sizes – culminating in the Yaris GR which pours 200kW out of its little triple.

I suppose it has to be said that the Yaris GR’s engine is 1.6-litres and turbocharged, while the Mirage’s unit is 1.2-litres and normally aspirated, so in a motoring sense they are as different as chalk and cheese. But other product such as the Fabia and the new Puma come closer in terms of engine sizes, and they are much quieter and more powerful.

But then again neither of those vehicles retail for less than $20,000, and that is what helps to keep the Mirage relevant in the small car class. It’s one of the least expensive cars you can buy, which helps present it as one of the value packages when all that new standard safety specification is taken into account.

And it remains an enjoyable drive too, although these days the experience is no longer a “hoot”. The car is easy to operate, there’s good interior space and comfort for the vehicle size, and it is safe. But it is also noisy, which is why this generation Mirage is now showings its age.