SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a preselected course. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get a test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.

Fighting back: 2019 Mitsubishi Triton launched

Serious player

Posted: 5 April 2019

The numbers
Prices range from R509 995 (4x2 manual) to R589 995 (4x4 automatic)
Engine: 2442 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 133 kW at 3500 rpm
Torque: 430 Nm at 2500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: About 11.8 seconds
Maximum speed: About 175 km/h
Claimed average fuel consumption: 7.5 (4x2) and 7.6 l/100 km (4x4)
Tank: 75 litres
Cargo: 950 kg
Maximum towing mass (braked): 3100 kg
Ground clearance: 220 mm
Approach/Departure/Breakover angles: 28/23/25 degrees
Warranty: 3 years / 100 000 km
Roadside assistance: 5 years/unlimited km
Service plan: 5 years / 90 000 km

Briefly:
•    Seven airbags
•    Improved back shock absorbers
•    New six-speed automatic
•    Rugged new styling
•    Better off-road specs
•    Greater towing capacity

Mitsubishi’s new 4x4 brag line: “Triton is designed to GET BACK from any adventure,” suggests that competitors won’t always be able to; fighting words indeed.
It’s well qualified. Ground clearance on the four local models (all double cab); 4x2, 4x4, manual and automatic, is now 220 mm. Departure angle is slightly sharper at 23 degrees vs. 22 previously. Other numbers remain the same.

Also continuing as before is the 2.4-litre, MIVEC dual overhead cam, intercooled commonrail diesel engine that, owing to some reworking of numbers, now has a braked towing capacity of 3100 kg rather than 1500 kg previously. That brings it back in line with overseas specifications.

Mitsubishi’s Super Select ll four-wheel drive, in 4H mode, uses a limited slip centre differential to distribute power 40:60 (front:rear) for safer driving in slippery conditions. Four High lock (labelled 4HLc) defaults to 50:50 for improved traction in sand, dirt and snow.

A switch marked ‘Off-Road’ allows user choice of gravel, mud and snow, or sand modes to optimise engine and transmission settings for varying conditions. Four low lock (4LLc) provides stump-pulling gearing for white-knuckle adventuring and a fourth setting, Rock, for the really rough stuff. Hill descent control is obviously part of the 4x4 arsenal, as is a rear diff lock that isn’t available on 4x2s.

What’s new?
•    In response to input from visiting engineers, rear shock absorbers are now broader in diameter to accommodate more damping fluid for better bounce control,
•    Styling has been completely reworked so that, apart from the Cinderella’s Coach side view of the cab, you wouldn’t recognise it. It looks tougher, more rugged and, dare we say it, more plausible as a serious player in dirty places,
•    The new six-speed automatic transmission uses fuzzy logic to adapt its shifting patterns to accommodate each pilot’s driving style and,
•    Working hard to maintain NCAP ratings, even though it qualified for five stars years ago, airbags were increased from two to seven.
 
Staying the same are suspension, disc- and drum brakes with ABS and every acronym you can think of, hill start assist, dual zone air conditioning, touch screen infotainment with Apple CarPlay (Android Auto via your phone) and all the streaming you want, keyless entry and start, self-dipping interior rearview mirror, automatic door locking, leather upholstery with electrically adjustable driver’s chair, folding electric mirrors, reversing camera, ISOFix anchors and a high(er) mounted extra stop lamp on the tailgate where loads would not usually mask it.

There’s no makeup mirror on the driver’s side sunblind because this is supposedly a Man’s Pickup; although women would probably find it easier to handle, with its 11.8-metre turning circle, than Brand T’s Model H. That wallows around in 12.8m.

There was no extended familiarisation drive. We were simply led to a cracker of a privately owned 4x4 course and coached through hair-raising obstacles. That the Triton 4x4s sniffed at. Disdainfully.

There are cheaper diesel 4x4 double cabs out there but with all this one’s standard features, it would be difficult to find a true equivalent within R25 000. That’s because Triton is not a basic workhorse. It’s a luxury SUV; with a bin for convenience.
 
Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press event.

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

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