Test drive Mitsubishi L200 Single Cab 1995 - 2005 pickup

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El is not only a thick English beer. El is the letter of the Latin alphabet. And if two hundred Elya in winter - that the elephant is a crusher, then El two hundred is good in any season.
L200 - pickup from Mitsubishi.
Word and deed
The word pickup has firmly entered the Russian language. Just like the word limousine. And both with the wrong meaning. The limousine is called a large representative of the representative class. And in the rest of the world it is a full -size sedan. The body, which we call a pickupian, is called the station wagon around the world. And the pickup is a frame car in which a passenger interior exists regardless of the cargo compartment.
From etymology we’ll get to the matter. It so happened that, the first hundred hundred kilometers of the test drive we had to do around the city. On that day, as luck would have it, there were a lot of urgent cases: a trip to the bank, visiting several companies located in the very center of the city, and the like. I had to use the pickup as an ordinary traveling machine. And the latter, as you know, should have at least three qualities. Convenient and comfortable interior - to make it warm and comfortable. Accelerated dynamics - to maneuver in a dense city stream. Relatively small sizes - in order not to have a headache in parking.
Constantly pulls to compare the car with Pajero. But this is not lean - L200 was conceived for work, and not for basic. And on the test we got the cheapest, base version. Of the amenities, we have: steering wheel, headlight corrector and immobilizer. If we had an extra $ 1.6 thousand, we would additionally receive ABS and a pillow of safety. Instead of large hours, a tachometer would have appeared on the dashboard. In a couple of thousand, we would have installed electric windows and mirrors, as well as the central door lock. Another thousand with a small - and at our disposal the most sophisticated model - GLS. The others are distinguished by the presence of air conditioning. Well, we are not very sorry about the air conditioner in the cold. And the rest is a completely acceptable level of comfort: not poor, but also not causing tears of tenderness.
Across the accelerated dynamics allows you to move around the city without any damage to pride. With a well-known skill of driving a diesel engine in traffic, you can start off from the second gear and accelerate on it to 40-50 km/h. Then slow down to 20 and calmly crawl in the traffic jam further. The gear rates in the box are generally selected so well that the first and third transmissions can be used only as overclocking - from the first to move, and on the third, accelerate after reaching the operational expanse. For even movement in the city, the second and fourth is enough. On the highway, with the average intensity of movement, the fifth gear is enough, which calmly allows you to stay within 60-100 km/h.
One trouble. It is difficult to park in this car. Although having mastered the ability to ride in mirrors and discarded the false fear of hooking someone with a body, one can overcome this spatial idiocy. The point is in habit, not the car.
We sit well
The Japanese did not equip the usual truck with a cunning system of all -wheel drive 4WD Super Select, which are famous for Mitsubishi Pajero. The class of the car is not the same. For driving on normal road roads, the rear -wheel drive is quite enough. The manufacturer does not recommend using the 4n mode at the same time - this threatens to lead to a breakdown of the hand -box. But you can set it to ignite this machine, which we did on the second day of the editorial test.
Our L200 was subjected to the first test on the Mozhai highway when we turned onto a local road covered with uncleaned snow. The turbocharged diesel played a cruel joke - it is enough to squeeze the gas pedal and the body seeks to overtake the front. We stop and transfer the handle of the handout to position 4n - the uniform movement is restored, despite all provocative attempts to play gas -carriers.
Enchanted by the approximate behavior of the L200, we famously taxi on the snow target in the same mode and - immediately sit on the belly. All attempts to move the car from the place expressed in switching to 4L mode and blocking the rear differential do not lead to positive results. We sit well!
The work is included in the work of the villagers. Mitsubishi pushed by their mighty hands crawls on solid soil, and we are no longer engaged in experiments. The remaining time we move along Snezhnoye virgin land only in reduced gear and with a blocked rear differential. Which allows several times to get out of rather dead situations, where a photographer drives a car in a fit of creative zeal. As a result, one can note one thing - L200 has excellent off -road qualities, but only if the driver is also not a mistake. This machine does not forgive errors.
The art of loading
The calculated carrying capacity of the L200 is a little more than a ton. If we take one piece of red brick weighing 3 kg as a reference point, then by simple calculations it can be assumed that 350-400 pieces calmly climb into the L200 body. For one walk, you can transport building materials for the whole dog cone.
But seriously, in the countries of Western Europe, the entire fleet of small businesses has long been consists of pickups. They are quite capable of providing daily turnover of a small store. According to our rural friends, the amount of hay that we in creative ecstasy piled into the body of our pickupa is enough to feed their entire polyphonic stable for several days.
Mitsubishi official dealers offer several options for a closed body for stripping owners. The simplest is the plastic top, which trivially protects the transported cargo from aggressive environmental effects in the form of acid rains and salt spray from under the wheels. The most sophisticated option is a chrome platform that rises like a hood cover and allows you to lock the open body overnight.
Justice by ...
In one car dealership specializing in trade in American cars, they told the story: the buyer calls and is interested in whether he can order a car like a cool Walker. Judging by the voice and manner, the client was clearly not going to extend justice. Neither in Takhassian, nor in Russian. And Dodge Ram liked him that it was just cool.
The call is symptomatic. In the USA, for example, there are much more pickups than farmers and small businessmen. Not only teenagers with Malibu beaches become victims of stable fashion for cars of this type. Among the fans of the Chuck Norris style there are many solid fathers of families and clerks with Wall Street. All of them act in accordance with the laws of the genre: they will certainly decorate their pickup with a chrome arc with spotlights, kangarines and footboards. You can also paint the hood with fantastic birds, and let the red-yellow flame on the sides. The coolest remove chrome exhaust pipes up along the rear racks of the cab, imitating Kenworth's saddle tractors.
Summarizing the impressions of Mitsubishi L200, you can declare with all responsibility: this inexpensive car is able to satisfy a variety of ambitions - from agricultural to the Piggers. A voluminous body will contain a whole shock of hay. Excellent running qualities of the car will allow you to quickly deliver this hay right on the hay. A comfortable salon will probably like the one you want to overturn to this.
The autopilot thanks Rolf-Holding, (095) 401-3801, 401-2333, for the car provided for the test. For the period of the test, the car was insured in the company RESO-Garantia, (095) 250-3600, 234-1800.
 

Where does the demand for the Japanese truck Mitsubishi L200 come from in the Russian market, even its sellers do not really understand. To give the steepness to its image, the diesel L200 is not suitable for everyone. It remains only to carry all sorts of cargo on bad roads. Accordingly, the main buyers are small businessmen or farmers. But where do they get $ 26 thousand? And even if there is where, while they prefer to buy several UAZs or gazelles instead of one foreign jeep, which is also not clear where to repair. As a result, more or less stable Russian buyers of Japanese pickups have been in recent years only Siberian oil industry workers. Since 1994, when L200 first appeared here, almost every Tyumen company managed to buy several. And one, the name of which the Russian representative office Mitsubishi keeps a secret, took a hundred at once! In Surgut, they even opened a special service center for servicing Japanese pickups.
But this was limited. The year 1996 came, the deliveries of the old L200 ended, and the Japanese were in no hurry to send a new modification to us. The production of pickups at this time was hastily transferred to Thailand, and the plant there could not immediately reach full capacity. The reason is quite objective, but this does not change the essence. The already very sluggish advancement of the truck to the Russian market was completely stalled. Now that the new L200 has appeared with great late, all Mitsubishi dealers do not sell together and one and a half dozen a month. And looking at this figure, they don’t even know whether it is worth investing in an advertising campaign, whether there will be some kind of crook from this.
The last hope remains. L200 passes Russian customs as a truck, all payments for it do not exceed 30 percent. From the price. The cheapness of the L200 leads to the fact that they begin to look at it not as a means of caring for goods, but as a second car in a family designed for country travel. No wonder 90 percent. Russian buyers L200 right at the time of purchase order a plastic top for the car. You can’t put boards and roofing roofs in such a body, but for tents, inflatable boats, etc. It is quite suitable.
Model/Modification Mitsubishi L200 GL
Mitsubishi Motors manufacturer
The country-producing Japan
BODY
Type of pickup
Number of doors/places 4/5
ENGINE
Type diesel, with turbocharging and intermediate air cooling
The location in front is longitudinally
Working volume (cubic cub) 2477
Number/location of cylinders 4/row
Cylinder diameter x Piston stroke (mm) 91.1x95
Compression degree 21.0: 1
Power, kW (L.S.) at about./Min. 73 (100) at 4000
Moment, NM at about./Min. 240 at 2000
The number of valves per cylinder 2
TRANSMISSION
Rear wheel drive connected full
Gearbox five -speed mechanical
Three -stage handout, with lowering nearby
Transporting number, norms/lowering. 1.000/1.925
SUSPENSION
Anterior independent torsion, with a reptile stabilizer
The back is spring
STEERING
Type of steering gear with recirculation balls, hydraulic power steering
Brakes
Front disk, ventilated
The rear drum
ABS option
Wheels
Tire size 205/80 r16
6Jx16 'discs
Dimensions/about EME/Weight
Length/width/height (mm) 4935/1695/1780
Wheel base (mm) 2960
The front track/
ride back (mm) 1420/1435
Clearance (mm) 215
Body sizes:
length/width (mm) 1500/1470
The volume of the fuel tank (l) 75
Dry/complete mass (kg) 1730/2830
The maximum permissible corners
Max. Tangens rise 0.7
The diameter of the turn (m) 12.8
Dynamic characteristics
Maximum speed (km/h) 142
The price of the dummy in Moscow is $ 26 585
 
What else
The editorial office of the autopilot regrets the regrettable fact: the pickup market in Russia has not yet developed. And if the layman no longer turns around, having met Hummer on the road, then the appearance in the parking lot of a real pickup is still able to cause excitement.
Pickups, or light commercial trucks, are present in the lineup of many large manufacturers. As a rule, they are produced in the 4x2 and 4x4 version, as well as with various cabs - simple, one and a half and double.
Through an official dealer today you can purchase Land Rover Defender. The famous English company produces pickups based on models with index 90, 110 and 130. The English pickup will cost the buyer somewhat more expensive not only when buying, but also in operation. Moreover, one must be prepared for the fact that from the point of view of the comfort of Defender, L200 will be conceded. But it is significantly superior to mitsubishi in off -road qualities due to the presence of an interdose differential. There is reason to believe that it will last longer: how they joke in England, Defender is a car that is inherited.
Toyota Hilux is one of the most common pickups around the world. And if you encounter certain difficulties when acquiring such a machine through an official dealer, then the service will not be used due to the interchangeability of many details and consumables with all -wheel drive models that are officially delivered to Russia. For the price, this car, if you buy it in Europe, will cost cheaper than the Land of Rover.
German pickups, the most popular representative of which is Opel Campo, differ from their counterparts the highest level of comfort. Unfortunately, to the detriment of off -road qualities. But you have to pay for comfort - Opel is more expensive in Europe than Toyota, despite the fact that the Campo pickup was developed by specialists from the Japanese ISUZU company. Like many SUVs with an Opel brand.
 
Nikolay Kachurin,
Dmitry Novokreshhenov (photo)

 

A source: "Autopilot"