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By MURRAY HUBBARD
29 March 2010
It
was every drivers' worst nightmare. I was stopped in a line of
traffic and the rear vision mirror told me there was going to be a
crash. I was road testing a 2010 Mitsubishi Triton – and the
rear view mirror was filled with the image of another Triton about
to ram my vehicle from behind.
Seeing about 60 km/h of Triton ute heading towards you at close
range is not a pretty sight. The young bloke swerved violently to
avoid a direct nose to tail crash. Thank goodness he did not panic
and hit the anchors, there was no way he could stop in time. As he
careered past I heard a sharp `crack' and knew I'd been hit. The
damage, given the potential for a fatal crash, was minimal. There
was a nasty gash along ‘my’ Triton's right-rear quarter panel.
The metal was a bunched up to the front end. It was perhaps lucky
the other Triton did not flip over as part of the crash.
Thankfully, the rest of our Triton road test was uneventful; the
way we like it!
The clash of the old and new Tritons also reminds of just how long
this Mitsubishi workhorse has been around. It seems like forever.
There are still plenty of the early models still in daily use by
tradies, light removalists, off-roaders and even two-wheel drive
variants that have been lowered and jazzed up. This speaks volumes
for the Triton's reliability, longevity and ability to take
punishment.
Triton is a name that's unique to Australia, and one that people
here have trusted for a long time.
Our test vehicle was the GL-R double cab ute fitted with the new
2.5-litre turbo diesel mated to a five-speed manual transmission.
We really like this engine. It puts out 131 kW of power at 4000
rpm and 400 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm. Best of all is the economy,
with Mitsubishi measuring it at 8.3 litres/100 km to official
Australia standards. We covered almost 600 km and still had the
best part of a third of a tank full of diesel in reserve.
In addition to our urban running around we took the vehicle west
of the Gold Coast through Beaudesert, Boonah to Moogerah Dam ,
Aratula, and Spicers Gap, just over 330 km before returning to the
Coast. In overall terms the vehicle has good ride comfort, but it
could do with a couple of hundred kg over the rear axles to settle
the suspension down over undulating roads and the gravel we
encountered on the way to Spicers Gap. If you owned the vehicle no
doubt there would most times be a load in the tray, either for
work of play.
The engine simply purrs at 100 km/h and will easily drop to 50
km/h in fifth gear and work its way back to triple figures with no
complaint, thanks to the substantial torque. Our only comment with
the transmission is at times we found the move from second to
third gears a little notchy. We wonder whether a six-speed
transmission would make this vehicle even more economical,
particularly for those who drive long distances on open roads. Our
return on our country sojourn was in the high sixes – excellent.
Passenger comfort has improved with new seat fabrics and seat pads
– if you like, sports seats are also available – there's a new
easy-to-read instrument cluster, new sound system and floor
console treatments. It's not a bad place to be in at work or on
weekends.
While on the subject of work and play Mitsubishi looked closely at
two critical factors with this ute: towing ability and load
carrying capacity. The new long-bed on offer on dual cab Triton
gives a tray length of 1505 mm and a tray height of 460 mm, up
some 14 per cent on the old model. Towing capacity is now 2700 kg
on the dual cab 4x4 with long tray and 3000 kg on all other 4WDs.
Verdict: Four vehicles dominate this segment: Mitsubishi's Triton,
Mazda BT50, (also sold as the Ford Ranger), Nissan Navara and
Toyota HiLux. The 2010 Mitsubishi Triton certainly holds its own
against excellent competition.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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