Mitsubishi’s compact SUV finally received the turbocharged engine we requested. So what’s there to find fault with? Quite a bit, actually.
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Pros
Comfortable, stylish seats
Crystal-clear 12-speaker audio system
Excellent warranty coverage
Cons
Loud, weak engine
Outrageous price for the top trim
Impractical third-row seat
When we last evaluated the Mitsubishi Outlander , we were straightforward about its main flaw. The compact SUV built on Nissan Rogue underpinnings underwent a modest update last year that featured interior and exterior styling changes, retuned steering and suspension, and a 1,650-watt Yamaha audio setup. That’s all fine, but what we truly desired was more acceleration. “Our main complaint about the previous Outlander was the lack of power, and we’re still complaining,” senior features editor Aaron Gold wrote in his First Drive of the 2025 model .
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So when we learned that the 2026 Mitsubishi Outlander was gaining a new engine, we felt vindicated in a way that usually only occurs in a licensed therapist’s office. The old Nissan-sourced four-cylinder, a 181-hp sluggish heap of laziness, was being swapped out exactly as we had hoped. “Surely Mitsubishi has a few spare turbochargers lying around somewhere,” Gold wrote last year. Indeed, Mitsubishi discovered extra turbos attached to complete engines at the Japanese plant that was already producing the 1.5-liter turbo inline-four for its smaller Eclipse Cross. Our pleas had been answered.
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Introducing the New, Less Powerful Mitsubishi Outlander
Or at least that’s what we thought until we read further and discovered that the new engine generates less horsepower than the old one. Yep. The Mitsubishi Outlander’s new engine produces 174 horsepower. Despite that troubling development, we didn’t dismiss it outright. The new, turbocharged engine boosts torque from 181 to 206 lb-ft, and we held onto hope that the added punch combined with bursts of electric assistance from a new 48-volt mild hybrid system would give the Outlander more liveliness.
Unfortunately, after spending two weeks behind the wheel, we’re still complaining. The new engine propels the Outlander from 0 to 60 mph in 8.6 seconds, a modest 0.3-second improvement over the 2025 model. Admittedly, that puts it in contention with some of the compact SUV segment’s slower contenders, including the Nissan Rogue and the Honda CR-V with their own 1.5-liter turbo engines. However, hybrid versions of the CR-V, Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, and Toyota RAV4 (where the hybrid is the standard engine) leave the Outlander in the dust with times in the low seven-second range.
Our main issue isn’t just about the figures, either. Under any type of acceleration—from a stoplight, up an on-ramp, or during a passing maneuver—Mitsubishi’s 4B40 engine is as loud and powerless as a dachshund at a dog park. One driver dubbed it “the little engine that couldn’t.” The 12-hp motor connected to the engine does smooth out stop/start events and improves city fuel economy by two mpg to 27 mpg compared to last year’s 2.5-liter engine (highway efficiency remains unchanged at 30 mpg), so it is an improvement of sorts over the old engine. We were hoping for something more spirited, though.