Our Vans: Mitsubishi L200 2.4 MIVEC
23 March 2016: L200 Barbarian gets to work with HJ Vans
The Details
| Current mileage | 192 |
|---|---|
| Claimed economy | 42.8mpg |
| Actual economy | 26.8mpg |
During my 10 years as a motoring journalists I've driven around 40 pick-ups. Some of them have been great. Some not so great. One or two have been truly terrible. Yet, despite this roller coaster of automotive emotions, I still get excited when a new one arrives in the car park. Only today isn't a normal pick-up delivery. This is the new Mitsubishi L200 Barbarian. And it's going to be my daily runner for the next six months.
Given the boom of new models in 2016, there's probably has never been a better time to perform a long-term test. Everyone from Ford to Volkswagen are in the process of updating their pick-up stock and Mitsubishi has its work cutout to keep its commercial crown.
Mitsubishi has made some bold claims about this, the Series 5 L200. For starters, they say it has been subject to 330 improvements, with better handling, refinement and ride comfort. There's also a new 2.4-litre engine, which Mitsubishi says will provide 42.8mpg. Over the next six months I'll be testing all of these claims and reporting back to let you know if they're true or big, fat, fibs
The L200 is offered in a range of trim levels - 4Life, Titan, Warrior and Barbarian - but I have gone for the Barbarian, which gets - almost - all of the extras you'll ever need in a pick-up. There's navigation, a CD player, cruise control and Super Select four-wheel drive, which lets the driver activate permanent four-wheel drive while on the move.
The L200's interior is upmarket and plush, with leather seats and a large colour touchscreen
At the business end of things, the L200 gets a good-sized load bay and a maximum payload of 1045kg, accessed via a fold-down tailgate. However, I've always been worried about the security of an open-back pick-up. So, to protect the load area, I've added the optional load cover with sport bars for £1491. I know this isn't the cheapest cover in the Mitsubishi options range, but I think it provides the best practicality, with the rollback cover and the option of securing high loads to the bars when necessary.
During its time with the Powell clan the L200 will take on a variety of roles. First and foremost, it will be used as daily transport during the week. I will also use it to move my mountain bike at weekends to Thetford Forest. There might be some building work in store too, with the L200 being pressganged to transport materials for my Dad's house extension.
So far I have completed a few hundred miles and it's been smooth sailing. The interior is large and comfortable and the dashboard layout is simple to read and understand. I have also found it easy to use the navigation and programme the DAB, although the quality of the infotainment system is distinctively aftermarket.
That said, everything has been working as it should and I've no complaints so far about any aspects of the L200. One area I won't be testing is the towing ability. Most L200s will pull a braked 3.1 tonnes, but as I don't own a trailer or anything heavy to put in one, I've decided leave this aspect alone. But I will be putting the one tonne payload to task and letting you know if the L200 impresses as a workhorse.
