2009 Montero Sport

Dad once (finally) let me drive his new Montero Sport because he wasn't feeling well and as with most cars I drive I made a review.
What follows is my usual disjointed style of reviewing mainly culled from my observations while driving the car.

Powerful engine, responsive even though it is diesel, Smooth power delivery with good torque, throttle response is also excellent with the engine responding quickly to changes in throttle position. The automatic transmission does not make it seem that you are driving a diesel with low rpm limits cause it is smart, shifting when needed and shifting unobtrusively providing uninterrupted acceleration. Was singing praises to Rudolf Diesel and the engineers at Mitsubishi for 1/4 of the time I was driving it.

Ride quality is great with only a nibble of undamped suspension movement (mostly on the rear) on bumps when hit at speed. Manages to absorb every bump the road has, even expansion joints aren't felt in the cabin. One gripe is that the vehicle tends to lean when turned but this is an SUV so some lean is expected.


Steering feels somewhat numb, with somewhat large movements needed to elicit changes in direction. Also the wheel feels a bit underboosted at times but this may just be a precaution so that overeager drivers don't turn the wheel too fast and make the car roll too much.

One big gripe is the brake pedal, during the first few milliliters of travel the pedal doesnt give any feedback and is spongy. Though the brakes bite during the first few mm of travel, it is hard to modulate over a long drive and thus the top muscle of my feet feels tired. After the first few mm of travel though, the pedal feels firm and responsive with braking power easily changed by pressure on the pedal.

Ergonomics wise everything needed for driving is within quick and easy reach of the driver. The only downsides to ergonomics are the handbrake and the horn button. The handbrake needs a large amount of movement needed to achieve some braking action and it felt like driving a train, it is good to note that we didn't fiddle around with the handbrake adjustment and that this setting came from the dealer. The horn button is in the middle of the wheel and is hard to modulate to elicit short toots or one long angry toooooot, so I found myself beeping too little or beeping too much. Also the placement of the horn button is suboptimal because ideally a driver should have his hands on the 3 and 9 o clock positions on the steering wheel. The horn button forces you to take one hand off the 3 or 9 o clock position to press the button. As for the sound of the horn, the sound is tinny which doesnt match up well with the size of the vehicle, since by default big expensive vehicles should have big sounding horns and for a vehicle in this price range and size you'd expect something sounding a little more manly.

Driving position and view is excellent, with big sideview mirrors that permit the driver to keep looking at the road while looking at the sideview mirrors because they show cars well on peripheral vision.
Seats are supportive enough, not much to say about em except that the drivers seat lacks a little bit of forward lean range.

And uhhh what else? I still missed driving the Opel Omega.