Oh… THAT mud. ALWYN VILJOEN discovers when tyre choices and turbo lag matter.
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| Before the rain, we could jest mud, what mud? |
FIRST off — a new
Triton is coming.
Earlier this year,
CarAdvice in Australia quoted Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) president
Osamu Masuki at the Sydney motor show saying: “The next-generation Triton is
already in the works and the popular ute is expected to debut in 2014.”
Looking at the concept
lines that Mitsubishi showed at the last Geneva Show, I think we’re in for as
much of a visual feast as when the current Triton first arrived in showrooms
more than seven years ago. For me, it was a case of love at first sight when I
first saw the now-ageing Triton at a dingy Eastern European motor auto show in
2007.
Everything about the
Triton then represented such a radical departure from the conventional bakkie
design that I wondered at the bravery of the designers who submitted those first
sketches.
The Triton is not just
a pretty face either. With its centre and rear diffs, it is capable over the
rocks, as Les Stephenson at sister title Wheels24
discovered on the launch of the face-lifted model in the Limpopo. Stephenson,
being from Cape Town, quickly got “contentedly lost”, and led a pack of Tritons
on an alternative quad bike route that included “two river crossings, one with
an extreme climb out of the water, and a rocky ladder”.
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| After the rain, we discovered the limits of road tyres. |
He was later told this
climb “should have been attempted by experienced drivers capable of rock packing
the route”.
Stephenson said no one
did any rock packing, but all five vehicles made the level five plus climb. “We
didn’t know, either, that the wrong route was intended only for quad bikes …
nobody cared anyway; it was a seriously fun diversion that further proved the
Tritons’ off-road ability,” wrote Stephenson. While he had fun, my test model
came with city shoes.
So I dutifully drove the
face-lifted Triton’s 2,5 turbo diesel with its three 4x4 settings on the N3, all
the while thinking this is not where this bakkie belongs.
To compete with the
Ranger/BT-50, VW Amarok and Isuzu D-Max, the Triton GLX does now come with all
the highway-driving luxuries. There are electric windows, leather seats, climate
control, cruise control, a multifunction steering wheel.
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| Pure 80s nostalgia. Its radio is not the Triton's strongest selling point. |
Our test model had no
USB port and the radio is pure eighties’ nostalgia. The brochure claims “the
audio system consists of a six-speaker system and a radio with CD and MP3 Player
and USB Port. Bluetooth for a cellphone or remote audio input.” We could find no
Bluetooth, and instead parked the Triton next to a Kia and had ourselves a
little radio scroll race.
The Korean’s antenna
picked up even the weak signal of a community station, but the Triton’s crappy
radio found only static. You have to know and manually set the frequencies you
want, or pack a lot of compact discs. Remember them?
The uprated diesel now
has more power, 131 kW and 400 Nm, but it all happens at high revs, 5 000 rpm
for the Watts and between 2 000 and 2 850 rpm for the torque. By comparison,
VW’s diesels kick in from 1 500 rpm and the Cummins in the Foton works from
1 800 rpm. This means you often have to ride the Triton’s clutch when
off-roading.
Having driven the
first-generation Triton in the Kalahari, I know it can go up soft sand dunes, so
I took the new one to my favourite stretch of muddy road.
There I learnt even
though the Triton is and remains a formidable rock climber and an okay sand rider,
road tyres can only take it so far in the wet. The 4H setting, which evenly
divides power between the axles, is no help when there is no traction, ditto the
centre and rear diffs locks.
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| This bakkie only needs off-road tyres, like those fitted on the trucks in the back, then it can go places, said Gary Peacock, champion 4x4 driver in KwaZulu-Natal. |
The sweeper car, a rusty old Land Cruiser, did have shoes to fit its purpose in life and pulled out
its fellow Japanese while idling. Afterwards, the Triton’s ABS light stayed on — 'probably mud on the low-mounted sensor; please bring it in', we were told.
These forums show this errantly shining beacon on the dashboard has been a major issue for years now:
and
www.mitsubishi-forums.com/t24130-abs-light-again.htm and
www.4wdaction.com.au › ... › Model Specific Tech › Mitsubishi › Triton to name but three fora moaning about the issue from around the world.
C'mon Mitsubishi, a serious 4x4 with a sensor that packs up whenever it clouds over a bit!?
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| Still a looker, but getting long in the tooth under the hood. |
At least all Mitsubishi Tritons
are covered by a three-year or 100 000 km warranty, so the light is reset for free, if you ignore the costs of getting there.
At R419 900, a price
comparison of 4x4 turbo diesels will show Mitsubishi is asking an average price
for its ageing trendsetter.
However, you will find at least seven other 4x4
double cabs that cost less, often for more.
This includes Volkswagen’s Amarok,
which offers the same power at lower revs and more payload.
The Triton is still
one of the most striking bakkies on the market, but an updated engine and especially multi-function media console are now
eagerly awaited.
THE
400 NM COMPETITORS
VW Amarok 2,0 Trendline 4Motion:
R370 200
VW
Transporter 2,0 BiTDI 4Motion: R375 400
Mitsubishi 2,5 TD 4x4 Triton Di-Dc: R419 900
Nissan Navara 2,4 dCi 4x4 SE: R454 700
