• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, March 10, 2025

Vehicle shoppers looking for a luxurious but affordable SUV need to take a look at the Mitsubishi Outlander, particularly the new 2025 model year. 

I recently test drove the top-of-the-line SEL trim level. Even with just about every bell and whistle you can add to the starting MSRP of $38,895, it still comes in under $45k (or $44,675 to be exact.) 

It feels like a vehicle twice its price. 

The plush interior includes a leather-wrapped and heated steering wheel, a leather-wrapped steering knob and quilted heated and ventilated seats. It includes thoughtful touches for winter driving  like heated side mirrors and a front wiper deicer that helps prevent ice from building up on the windshield and freezing the wipers. 

The interior reflects Japanese “omotenashi,” a word that can loosely be translated as “hospitality."  Omotenashi suggests a level of thoughtfulness that goes beyond, to the point of anticipating a guest’s needs and wants, always taking the next step to deliver surprise and delight. That pretty much sums up the changes made for the 2025 model year. 

Since its launch in March 2021, the Outlander has set a new tone for Mitsubishi Motors. The Outlander has broken sales records and brought customers into the brand who haven't considered a Mitsubishi in a number of years -- or perhaps not at all.  

From the outset, Outlander brought a high level of premium fit and finish to the class, and the updated 2025 model takes that to an increased level of quality in materials and workmanship. 

“We listened to our customers, and many of the changes made are in direct response to their comments and their input,” according to the automaker. “Mechanically, our engineering teams sweated the details, with updates to both ride-and-handling and steering feel.”

The 2025 Outlander was developed under the overarching theme launched with the 2022 model, I-Fu-Do-Do (pronounced Ee-Foo-Doh-Doh). I-Fu-Do-Do translates roughly to “authentic and majestic,” and it illustrates the mindset of the product planning, design and engineering teams in developing the brand’s flagship vehicle.

The highlights of the refresh also include a new center console design more focused around ease of use and comfort, new interior colors and seating materials, upgraded features and a significantly upgraded audio system on all trim levels. 

Developed by the experts at Yamaha -- and the first time that Yamaha has ever developed an in-car audio system for a North American-market vehicle -- the audio system will also debut Mitsubishi Motors’ first application of SiriusXM’s available 360L on-demand satellite-streaming entertainment service.

Yamaha executives were involved in the early engineering of the car. No detail was overlooked, even going so far as to develop an entirely new inner door-skin that is completely sealed, which eliminates road noise and allows the entire door cavity to be used as a speaker enclosure.

A few small dings: the third row isn’t spacious, but that’s not unusual. It’s not someplace an adult would want to spend a whole lot of time. The gas mileage is about what you’d expect for a three-row SUV: 24 city, 30 highway for a combines 26 mpg. 

While many of the changes made to the vehicle are small, when taken as a whole, the vehicle is a more comfortable and takes its inspiration directly from the voices of existing Outlander owners, according to the automaker.