Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 DI-D Juro Review & Road Test (2011) Part 2

Mitsubishi Lancer 2.2 DI-D Juro Interior

In part 2 of our review and road test of the Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 DI-D Juro we see if it can really stack up as a family car. Roomy? Well built? Economical? We’ll see.

Is the Mitsubishi Lancer a decent family car? It’s hard to see how it can’t be. It’s competing with the Golfs and Focuses of this world, but it’s closer in size to a Mondeo. Which means oodles of room in the back for the kids or granny or friends or…

Not only is there a decent amount of room in the back (and the front, for that matter) but the boot’s more than a sliver of space behind the back seats. You can actually get a fair chunk of shopping in and still have room to threaten recalcitrant children with exile to the boot (or is that just me?).

It’s also well-equipped in this Juro guise. With the one thing I consider to be a must in any family car – leather trim. Yes, it’s hot in summer and cold in winter, but that’ll toughen the sprogs up.

What is a delight with leather is that whatever the kids spill and however much mud the dogs drag in, all it takes is a pair of damp cloths and one dry one and your upholstery returns to pristine condition in two minutes flat. Try that with cloth upholstery, even if you have had your arm twisted by the dealer to indulge in some form of ‘Protection’ treatment for the seats.

So it’s commodious, well-equipped, relatively family-proof and looks like a Playstation supercar if you squint a bit. Which covers most of what you could reasonably expect. But that it goes quite well and is relatively frugal is a big bonus.

No, it’s not an Evo. But it is pretty lively, at least for a family car. The chassis is also pretty good and feels ‘Sporty’, with decent dynamics and some good efforts at keeping body-roll in check.

The engine is willing enough, although 138bhp means it only manages to get to 60mph in around 9.5 seconds. But a helpful lump of torque – 228lb/ft at 1750rpm – means the Lancer feels lively around town.

“…the boot’s more than a sliver of space behind the back seats. You can actually get a fair chunk of shopping in and still have room to threaten recalcitrant children with exile to the boot (or is that just me?)”

Which is nice, but the trouble is that if you do get a bit fierce it’s quite hard to hold a sensible conversation until you ease off a bit. Mitsubishi needs to take a few NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) lessons to quell the din from the oil-burner.

On the economy front we managed to average 41.2mpg. Which is remarkably close to the official average of 44.8mpg. Normally, we’d have expected to dip below 40mpg with plenty of lively driving, but whether the noise when pushed hard put us off or the Lancer 2.0 litre Di-D is one of those lumps that does much the same mpg however you treat it, we don’t know.

The Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 DI-D Juro is a far from faultless car. But every time we started to have a moan about anything, we remembered how much it was offering for the money.

The Lancer isn’t the obvious choice as a Focus-challenging family car. But with lots of room, lots of equipment, lots of very good build quality and lots of miles per gallon, it really is worthy of consideration.

And if you squint (or you’re a teenage girl) it does look like an Evo.