Sunday Drive: Mitsubishi Triton VRX

Monday, 15 April 2019

**MITSUBISHI TRITON VRX

Base price:** $49,990.

Powertrain and performance: 2.4-litre turbo-diesel four, 135kW/437Nm, 6-speed automatic, 4WD, Combined economy 8.6 litres per 100km.

Love it or hate it, you can't miss the Triton's new chromey face.

Vital statistics: 5409mm long, 1815mm high, 3000mm wheelbase, 18-inch alloy wheels with 265/60 tyres.

We like: Value, improved spec, practicality, Super Select.

The long rear overhang does restrict the Triton's departure angle off-road.

We don't like: So-so front seats, noisy engine.

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music; they're absolutely essential to the show, but few are household names – which most are very happy about.

The seats aren't the greatest, but the Triton packs a lot of high-spec equipment for its much lower price.

A tell-all documentary 'Twenty Feet From Stardom', is quite riveting and yet you probably don't know it as – and how ironic is this – it never really made the big time. One insight is how the almost-stars can keep low key yet still do very well for themselves.

Has that been Triton? While Ford Ranger has Jagger-strutted, Mitsi's model has been singing along in the background, making the bucks but less of a scene – until recently

Comfortable and capable on and off the road, the Triton VRX impresses with its value for money.

Mitsubishi wasn't shy about showing off the Triton's suspension improvements at its global reveal in Thailand last year.

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The last few months of the latest financial (March to March) year have seen Triton volume lift. In March it out-muscled Toyota Hilux for the second time in three months. Overall, 5200 Tritons were sold in the latest 12-month period, up from 4277 the previous year. A long way short of Ranger, but even so ….

The flagship VRX surely represents chart-topping talent. We're becoming used to utes with upmarket ambience, but they've always hefted upscale prices, too.

Triton's perceived value positioning is an ace card its maker has been playing for years, yet it seems all the more impressive with this latest version, given it has a swag of luxuries and safety features normally associated with premium passenger fare.

There's nothing in the VRX that isn't also in top-spec equivalents from Ford, Holden, Mazda and Toyota. The difference is those models cost a lot more.

For sure, the big boys overshadow physically. Triton gives less in respect to cabin size, payload, performance, engine outputs and towing. Yet those differences are usually small – so why are the price gaps so wide; are other brands taking us for a ride?

We could conject all day. Brands charge what they think you'll pay: and it's working – the dearest models are often the biggest sellers. All I know is that pick ups aren't expensive vehicles to engineer and it's hugely cost-effective to source out of Thailand.

At the end of the day, even the VRX with all its glam is able to heft a sharp sticker - with a category-leading warranty - yet still can lift its technology imprint considerably. With utes increasingly becoming defacto family wagons, the addition of blind-spot monitoring, forward collision warning and mitigation with pedestrian detection, automatic high beam and rear cross traffic alert is well-timed and salutary. Even though some of the functionality could do with more polish, it all works.

All the same, let's be clear about what this 'new' model really is. Beyond the slick restyling and mechanical changes, including adoption of a fresh six-speed auto, it's a refresh. The final update set to probably last three years.

That jutting Dynamic Shield grille that suggests this brand has cornered the chrome market or at least has a Transformers' fan on the design staff is hard to like. But also hard to ignore.

Likewise the equipment level. A tub-liner, sports bar, LED daytime running lights and low/high beam, leather, power adjust driver's seat, reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors as well as surround view monitor, dual-zone climate and heated front seats, plus a 7.0-inch infotainment screen. You could quibble the latter is stingy by foregoing native sat-nav so you'll need to use your phone for mapping. Yet that's a significant package, no argument.

For all the extra refinements, it is still built out of cheap, hardy materials. Which is as it should be – even show pony utes are workhorses, right? The front seats are hardly thrones and the back seat is very upright. It's not hugely room and VRX also loses headroom because the ceiling has air vents that demand a dropped section.

The driving experience is much as it was previously. The new transmission is a big step up on the old five-speed but the 2.4-litre engine is no great fireball and has a more mechanical note than some others. Yet it develops good torque and seems economical, which is what matters more.

A suspension revision that delivers larger rear dampers and has seen spring-softening for improved on- and off-road comfort probably makes it ride better now, but it's still bouncy and choppy both on- and off-road when unladen.

Body roll is also part of the package, but it has a secure on-seal dynamic providing you can utilise Super Select. While not quite a full-time four-wheel-drive, Mitsi's set-up nonetheless enables all wheel driving on seal: a feat denied part-time rivals (despite what their badging says) as they only entertain all-paw on loose surfaces. It's worth having, simply due to it giving broader functionality and safer driveability.

Triton's tray design delivers more overhang than most rivals and many say that has implications for serious load carrying and towing. The tub liner is sturdy, finish not so good and the tie-down points poorly placed, being high on the tray sides instead of down on the floor. The load bed is also shallow, which makes the determination to fit VRX with a segmented metal cover seem questionable. Yes, it looks trendy, but is awkward to lock and cannot be used if loads jut above higher than the wellside.

So it's flawed - what ute isn't? It's still a sensible choice. The 'best buy' buck stops here.