Lifestyle wagon gets boost in power

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

Mitsubishi will launch a turbocharged version of its lifestyle all-wheel-drive Airtrek later this month.

The original Airtrek, a crossover vehicle aimed at bridging the gap between four-wheel- drive recreational vehicles and conventional family sedans, was launched last year but has been slow to gain acceptance.

Mitsubishi even pulled its price down by $3000 to $36,990 in an effort to make it more competitive, but sales have remained modest.

It's a competent vehicle, well built, with good road manners, an uncluttered, functional interior, and sufficient load space.

It pretty much has a walk-through flat floor, sits higher on the road than conventional sedans and wagons and rides on MacPherson strut suspension in the front and a multi-link set-up in the rear. The 16-inch alloys are shod with 215/60R tyres.

Drive goes to all four wheels via an intelligent automatic/manual transmission and the same pump-driven centre differential used in the Lancer Evolution VII. The gear lever is mounted amidships, in an instrument-cluster below the dashboard. Under normal driving conditions, drive is split 50:50 between the front and rear wheels. When things get slippery, drive goes to the wheels with most grip. But the Airtrek's main problem is its engine, a 2-litre four-cylinder producing 93kW at 5500 rpm and 173Nm of torque at 4500 rpm, breathless output in the lifestyle segment. It copes okay at leisurely speeds on the open road. But off the main road with anything resembling a decent load on board it struggles. The engine needs a flatter torque curve peaking at about 3500-3800 rpm if Mitsubishi is to challenge rivals like the Subaru Forester in the recreational market. And that's where the turbocharged version comes in. Mitsubishi is keeping details of the boosted 2-litre's output to itself until the launch. But it's understood power will be around 170kW and torque at about 340Nm, almost twice the current car's oomph. Price is expected to be in the early forties.