Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

I have a brain bug that makes me think Mitsubishi left the US market. I know this is Suzuki I am thinking of, but it is impossible to stop me from thinking that every time someone brings up Mitsubishi.
 
We don’t have Mitsubishi anymore so we generally don’t talk about them….
 
I honestly haven't cared about Mitsubishi since they were in the WRC, the last Mitsubishi I rode in was a LWB Shogun from the mid 90s. Great wobbly truck, smelt funny. I think they've aged really well actually and the Shogun Sport has too.
 
I just had a look at their website to see what they offered for the US market. It's pretty thin. A handful of SUVs (including an electric!), then a small sedan and hatch. That's it. No trucks (last one they offered here was a rebadged Dodge Dakota), no midsize cars, no sporty offerings, just vanilla.
 
*walks in*

...

*walks out*
 
I agree, one of the not 80s GM full-size car things is this

photo1624389180.jpeg


Adorable little pickup truck. I wish the brand would make something in this segment for the US market, but their incompetence has been so extreme, I'm reasonably sure even Nissan has forgotten they bought them.

...the thought occurs to me that I never did make a thread for Mitsu.
 
I remember the mid 00’s Lancer. It was clearly a 90’s car but tarted up with a spordy steering wheel. They came from the factory with aftermarket radios, too. That’s when i realized this is a company not in the greatest of shape.

It reminds me a lot of the last efforts Rover made to keep the 25 and 45 relevant.
 
It reminds me a lot of the last efforts Rover made to keep the 25 and 45 relevant.
I still see MG ZR and ZS...es (why did they have to re-use ZS?) around and I can't quite believe that people maintain those piles. These days they just look like a Rover crashed through Halfords. I still have a place in my heart for the ZT though because it had a V8 option.
 
Mitsubishi were early to the PHEV market in Europe with the Outlander and managed to sell quite a few of them. I have to give them points for actually making it AWD unlike many PHEV:s today which are 2WD only, either completely or when driven in EV mode.

I know I sound like a broken record here but it bugs the absolute hell out of me that Volvo decided to make their PHEV platform RWD when driven in EV mode. If I was paying through the nose for an AWD luxury car, it would have to be AWD at all times and not just when the ICE is running.
 
The local Mitsubishi dealer here normally runs radio ads every few months with ":Great deal, come on in for a cheap ride" type of vibe. That has changed since cars are getting hard to come by. Haven't they had a banner year in the U.S. market?
 
Going to collect a Mustang Mach-E tomorrow. Gone halves with my father on one to see if an EV suits either of our lifestyles. (I need one for business use within two years to keep claiming mileage due to my Mondeo being too polluting...). The intention being we both use it as much as possible to make it profitable in fuel savings. Now that I work from home it's a lot easier to share a daily between us.

Absolute murder trying to get hold of one, Ford online sales completely suck and their customer service is appalling. They've tried too hard to be Tesla and work it all out online, yet they still make dealers do all the heavy lifting (without letting them making any real profit on the vehicles, hence most couldn't care less about them).

Managed to find a cancelled order, in stock at a dealer down south thankfully, meaning I can ditch my order with Ford UK and their merry-go-round of crap. I'll write up the full story in the thread...

Either way, quick trip to London and a drive home in a new car. I'm buzzing like it's Christmas Eve and I'm 8. :woot:
 
I hope it all goes well, are they going to have it fully charged for you when you get there? Do you have a plan for charging on the way back? The new superfast Ecotricity chargers at Rugby services are supposed to be good but the last experience I had with a 'normal' Ecotricity charger was crap.

I hope it works out well for you, the fact that you can charge at home already makes it more convenient than a petrol car.
 
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