Mitsubishi Shogun Sport (2018) Review

The Shogun Sport comes with a decent level of standard equipment, with leather seats as standard, which is a nice touch.

They are the stand-out highlight when it comes to the materials on offer, though, as there aren’t many other premium or soft-touch elements.

Scratchy black and silver plastics are more common, along with buttons and dials that lack the feeling of solidity that you would hope for in a rugged vehicle that costs approaching £40,000.

Both versions of the Shogun Sport come with a standard-fit seven-inch touchscreen with a good array of features. These include Bluetooth, USB connectivity and even an HDMI input – somewhat of a rarity in any car. If you go for the higher trim then you don’t get anything extra in terms of screen or functionality, but you do get an upgraded amplifier and an eight-speaker setup, which is an improvement on the standard model’s six speakers.

The actual system is not as sharp or intuitive as the setups in some rivals, with the slick version in the Skoda Kodiaq much more user friendly for example. However, the standard-fit Apple Carplay and Android Auto are welcome inclusions, which means you can bypass the in-house operating system and use your phone instead. 

In fact, you’ll have to do that if you want any form of satellite navigation – it isn’t offered even as an option.

The Shogun Sport isn’t a particularly economical vehicle to drive, as it sits in the second-from-top bracket for the first-year showroom tax, and the top band for company car tax.

It’s also a thirsty vehicle, with an official fuel economy of 32.8mpg, which is poor versus the likes of the Hyundai Santa Fe and Skoda Kodiaq.

Even if you go for the four-wheel drive version of the Skoda then you get an official economy of close to 50mpg. If you use the Shogun Sport in its natural, off-road environment then that official economy might be hard to achieve, too.

Insurance wise the Mitsubishi compares favourably to its rivals, though. The cheaper trim sits in group 43 while the increased levels of safety kit on the 4 trim means that it is five groups lower in group 38. This is similar to the Hyundai Santa Fe, although it lags behind the Skoda Kodiaq once again.

Talk about the key engines and how they’ll suit different buyers (1.0 petrol good for town driving, 1.5 for more out of town, diesel for motorway miles etc).

The single engine is another thing shared with the L200, but even the L200 has a more modern unit – this is the older 2.4 litre diesel whereas the L200 gets an updated 2.2-litre.

It is slow, despite a decent amount of power (181PS) and torque (430Nm) with 0-62mph taking 11.0 seconds. That torque does mean that it is capable of a decent overtake, though. It’s not a quiet engine, as it is vocal at lower speeds and under harder acceleration, although it does settle down at a cruising speed.

The only gearbox is an eight-speed automatic, which is smooth and easily operated with the paddle shifters. It does sometimes hold onto a gear longer than you might expect, which builds the revs up, but you can encourage it to shift with those paddles if that’s an issue.

The Shogun Sport hasn’t been crash tested, although the L200 on which it is based did pretty well back in 2015 when it picked up a four-star score. The extra equipment on the Shogun Sport is a bonus, too.

Kit like brake assist, a trailer assist system, hill start assist, rear parking sensors and active stability control all come as standard, while the 4 trim gets blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control, front parking sensors and a 360-degree camera as well.

Optional towing paragraph if appropriate. Stick to facts and figures: towing capacity, kerb weight, 85 per cent of kerb weight figure.

The Shogun Sport is a strong towing vehicle, with a top towing capacity of 3100kg on both models. The standard-fit trailer assist system, which can sense when a trailer is starting to sway out of line and then control individual wheels to bring it back into line is a bonus, too.