The 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander received an update to its fourth generation. Designers tweaked the styling outside and in. And engineers refined the ride.
| What’s Good: Quiet ride. The Outlander nicely isolates the cabin from both wind and road noise. Quick steering rack. Suspension tune easily absorbs all of life’s bumps. | What Could Improve: 181 horsepower and torque for a 3800 lb. crossover is not enough for today. Sounds a bit buzzy too. S-AWC is too fancy a name for AWD. | My Conclusion: Much more refined driving experience than before. Mitsubishi made several small changes, but all of them went in the right direction. |
OVERVIEW
Mitsubishi updated the fourth-generation Outlander for 2025. At first glance, it looks minor: some tweaks to the front and rear fascia, a larger center display with newer technology, and a new suspension tune. However, these changes add up to a more refined driving experience. And that’s despite retaining the same, naturally aspirated, 2.5-liter inline-four-cylinder engine and continuously variable transmission.
You still choose between three trims of Outlander. The base ES, which costs $31,140 when you include the $1495 destination charge. Jumping in the next level SE raises the base price to $33,890. And the top SEL starts at $38,490. Mitsubishi offers all-wheel-drive for each trim and asks for an additional $1800 in return. These prices make the Outlander competitive with other mainstream compacts. But it doesn’t quite fit the category. Let me explain.
Powertrain
Unchanged for 2025, only one engine resides under the hood of the Outlander, a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-four-cylinder engine. It makes use of variable valve timing and a 12.0:1 compression ratio to produce 181 horsepower and 181 lb.-ft of torque. The former at its redline of 6000 rpm, the latter at a reasonably low 3600 rpm.
That bolts up to a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which sends power on to either the front, or all four wheels. My test car included what Mitsubishi calls Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC) or, you know, all-wheel-drive. This combination delivers a decent 24 miles-per-gallon in the city, 30 MPG on the highway, and 26 combined. If you go with front-wheel-drive, highway and combined numbers tick up by one.
The powertrain performs…fine. Considering it needs to lug around a 3803 pound, three-row crossover, the 2.5-liter needs to work hard. Weight to power ratio is 21 pounds per horsepower after all. But the CVT quickly maximizes ratios when asked and, in everyday traffic, the Outlander moves through it well. You feel its lack of strength when wanting to accelerate on the freeway. And—oof—give yourself plenty of space for a pass on a two-lane.
Also, as it works, the 2.5-liter makes a bit of a buzz. The engine does not spin as smoothly or emit as pleasant of a sound as the top of the compact crossover competition. Fortunately, Mitsubishi put a lot of work into sound in other places.
Chassis
Mitsubishi starts with a Nissan Rogue platform to build the Outlander. To that end, it shares the same strut front and multi-link rear suspension geometry. And the latest Rogue rolls down the road perfectly pleasantly. But the Outlander adds a level of refinement above the Rogue and the outgoing model.
To start, engineers spent time improving steering feel, reducing friction of the wheel on center. Indeed, engineers weighted the steering nicely, making it easy to precisely maneuver around traffic. The rack also reacts faster than expected, allowing you to enjoy a more responsive front-end. Stiffer springs and new shock-absorber tuning help that along as well.
Mind you, this is no sports car. You still get plenty of body roll if you chuck the Outlander into a corner. But, where it felt underdamped and floaty before, the 2025 Outlander feels stable and sure footed, all while maintaining plenty of compliance to handle all of the imperfections today’s roads have to offer.
Couple that with a much quieter interior and comfortable, supportive seats (for the first two rows at least) and the Outlander delivers a calming sanctuary from the cacophony of the city.
Yamaha Sound, Yamaha Silence
Mitsubishi partnered with Yamaha for the Outlander update. Yes, that includes a new sound system. And that in of itself is a first for Yamaha. For the first time, a Yamaha system comes factory installed in a North-American vehicle. In fact, there will be two. Lower trims get what Yamaha calls Dynamic Sound Premium, an eight-speaker system. While higher trims get Dynamic Sound Ultimate, a 12 speaker, 11 channel, 1650 amps system. Great.
But lots of manufacturers offer branded, high-level sound systems in their products. No big deal. What’s different here, Yamaha engineers worked with Mitsubishi to add several pounds of vibration and sound dampening material to the interior of the crossover. Not to mention elements to stiffen the body in specific places. Yamaha wished to isolate them for superior sound quality. But the side benefit is a quieter cabin.
This went along with generally liberal use of insulation in more places. Heck, Mitsubishi even went back to a steel hood and front fenders for their superior NVH properties. And it worked. The Outlander isolates wind and road noise better than its mainstream compact crossover competition. Even at freeway speeds, you’re hard pressed to hear any whistles or howls from the air outside. And road noise keeps to a minimum as well. What does come in tends to be low frequency, less distracting stuff. The Outlander cruises quietly.
Inside and details
Look at a 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander—or the 2023 Outlander PHEV thumbnail above—and back at this new 2025 model, you’re forgiven for not instantly noticing a difference. Mitsubishi smoothed out the upper grille portion of the front fascia and messed with the details in the rear. But, visually, its essentially the same. You do get different wheel designs. And Mitsubishi now exclusively uses LED lights both outside and in.
Inside, you see changes more clearly. Mitsubishi played with the lower console, improving the usability of the wireless smartphone charger, fiddling with cupholders, giving you more storage beneath the armrest, and adding usb-c ports throughout.
You also view a 12.3-inch instead of 9.0-inch center display, which comes standard and includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. SE models with the technology package and higher trims also look at a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. But the outgoing Outlander offered that as well.
If you go with the SEL trim, you get heated and ventilated seats up front, heated seats int the rear, and a heated steering wheel too. My Test vehicle included the $3050 Premium Package. That added the higher-end Yamaha sound system, a 10.8-inch head-up display, a digital rearview mirror, and semi-aniline leather on the seats, among other things. More fundamentally, the fit and finish of the interior looked high-end and felt comfortable.
Three-rows – Emergencies only
Mitsubishi calls the Outlander a compact SUV. And that’s close. But it measures a couple inches longer than the other compacts sold today, making it quite a big fish in this particular pond. And the Outlander stands alone in offering three-rows of seats. Here’s the thing, it barely offers three rows. To provide any legroom for the third row, you need to severely compromise legroom in the second.
Fortunately, the second row does slide fore and aft to do exactly that. And, in an emergency, you can indeed legally carry seven people in the Outlander. Think of it as an opportunity to save the day at elementary school pick-up. Not the caravan of choice for any corporate outing.
in conclusion
Mitsubishi changed a lot about the Outlander. Each individual difference looks pretty minimal. But all of them went in the same direction and combined into a noticeably more refined and comfortable crossover to travel around town. Moreover, considering what you get, the price seems completely reasonable.
Next up on the chopping block for future Outlanders, I hope, is the 2.5-liter. Or at least a nice makeover. Then again, with the quieter cabin, it’s not a bother and it gets the job done.
And, really, that sums up the Outlander. It’s not the flashiest vehicle on the market. But, if you need a plus sized compact crossover, the Outlander ticks a lot of boxes. It gets the job done. And does so in a nicer, quieter cabin than most its competition.
Competitors
Honda CR-V
Kia Sorento
Nissan Rogue
Specifications
2025 Mitsubishi Outlander SEL 2.5 S-AWC: 5-door, 7-seat, crossover SUV
Base price: $40,290 (includes $1495 destination charge)
Price as Tested: $45,930
Powertrain: 2.5-liter I-4
Peak Power: 181 horsepower at 6000 rpm
Peak Torque: 181 lb.-ft at 3600 rpm
Transmission: continuously variable transmission
Drive: all-wheel-drive
Fuel Economy in MPG and range
24 city
30 highway
26 combined
Dimensions
Length: 185.8 inches
Width: 74.7 inches
Height: 68.8 inches
Wheelbase: 106.5 inches
Weights and Capacities
Curb weight: 3803 lbs.
Interior volume: 121 cu ft
Cargo volume (behind 3rd/2nd/1st rows): 11/31/64 cu ft
Calculated weight to power (lbs./HP): 21.0:1
Mfr’s claimed 0-62 mph: NA seconds
Mfr’s claimed Top Speed: NA mph
Government classified size: Small Sport Utility Vehicle 4WD
Options: Premium package, $3050; Launch package, $1400; Premium paint/black roof, $795; Tonneau cover, $210; Welcome package, $185
