Mitsubishi Shogun: month 2

Arrived: Jan 2009
List price (including options): £34,849
Average economy: 23.3mpg

The Mitsubishi Shogun has been -

Doing exactly what 4x4s are designed for. Carrying stuff and getting to places where regular cars falter. We took the Shogun to France for a few weeks into the Alps and it did a fantastic job of not just whisking us across 800-odd miles of France to Chamonix, but also excelling in the slippery snowy conditions around the resort.

We're loving the -

The simplicity of the large Mitsubishi. It's an uncomplicated beast the Shogun and that's a big part of its appeal. The four-wheel drive system is a cinch to operate and it's possible to switch from rear-wheel drive to four-wheel drive on the move by pushing forward the transfer lever beside the automatic shifter. For more extreme settings you need to be stationary and in neutral. Choose the fully locked transmission and the Shogun can haul itself out of even the slipperiest snow covered car park with relative ease. We know, as we tried it.

It's huge inside too, which means even with my chuck-it-all-in style of packing it wasn't overloaded with gear. The side opening bootlid leaves a great big platform that's perfect for sitting on when you're squeezing ski or snowboard boots on and the reversing camera meant even in our tight car park we could park the Shogun with ease. Fuel economy isn't too punishing either, the Shogun managing mid to high 20s mpg in daily use, that dropping to around 22-23mpg at the sort of high cruising speeds that are the norm on the continent. With snow chains in the boot and more outdoor kit than a branch of Ellis Brigham in the boot the Shogun felt prepared for absolutely anything the Alps and the extreme weather had in store for us.

But not so impressed by -

The big Mitsubishi is a surprisingly comfortable cruiser at speed with relatively hushed wind noise despite its boxy lines. What's not so quiet is the engine, which, on the way to attaining those constant speeds is rather gruff. In fairness it quietens down a lot at speed, but push the accelerator to the floor - as you need to if you want to gain pace - and the racket is pretty intense. Mitsubishi makes a big thing of the premium audio that's in this Diamond model, but at best it's average and worst it's someway off the pace of middling systems from other manufacturers.

The transmission is a touch jerky coming off the throttle at motorway speeds too and the ride is sometimes jarring. The luggage cover is also rather fiddly, needing clipping onto the back of the seats' headrests to ensure all the gear you've got in the boot is hidden out of sight.

We're looking forward to -

Trying out the snow chains. The Shogun has proved itself well here in the snow and long may that continue. We're waiting for a decent dump of snow in France to give us a chance to see just how fiddly it is getting snow chains around the Shogun's big wheels. That said, given the weather everyone's been having back in the UK perhaps we'll just wait until we get it home...

Kyle Fortune