If Mitsubishi doesn’t get its designers some sharper pencils, not to mention sharper imaginations, the world of sport-utility vehicles is going to pass it by.
The 1998 Mitsubishi Montero is a prime candidate for the before slot in any photo of what sport-utility vehicles used to be and what they have become.
Montero is a crude, gruesome-looking machine from the days when styling was secondary to four-wheel-drive function. Montero needs to freshen up its appearance.
When you could count SUVs on your thumbs, Montero was a four-wheel-drive treasure.
Now that you need a pocket calculator to list all the SUV rivals, Montero loses much of its appeal.
A makeover is sorely needed, in sprucing up its bland body panels and in adapting its ride and handling to the demands of today’s consumer who favors the four-wheel-drive function in a package that acts more civil and car- rather than truck-like.
The Montero we tested sits very high, which gives you good down-the-road visibility as well as off-road sight lines to avoid dangers lurking ahead.
On the open and clear highway, however, Montero sits so high you feel a tad top heavy from the raised center of gravity and, therefore, wobbly in the twists in the road or on the off ramp.
In a recent snow, though 4WD was engaged, we found ourselves backing off the accelerator because Montero didn’t feel as stable of foot as a Lincoln Navigator, Chevrolet Tahoe or even a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Adding to the discomfort factor are narrow bottom seats that need wider, softer cushions and wider side bolsters.
And when Mitsubishi does get around to a makeover, we hope it also will turn an eye to the 3.5-liter, 24-valve V-6 to squeeze more fuel economy than just 16 miles per gallon city/19 m.p.g. highway out of it.
Of course, Montero is big and bulky and that means heavy and that doesn’t make life easy for the 3.5-liter V-6. Montero needs to slenderize for greater comfort, ride and handling and fuel economy.
One other gripe is narrow running boards that fill with snow and ice. Being narrow, you tend to lift your leg over them to enter or exit rather than step on them, and in trying to avoid using them, you rub pant legs against the snow and ice.
Positives include wide outside mirrors that provide good side and rear view, outside temperature reading and a compass in the dash, an easy-to-use transfer case to engage 4WD with a diagram in the dash that lights up two or four wheels to signal what mode you are in, an in-dash power plug for accessories and a swing-out rear door with spare tire (plastic cover optional) attached so you don’t need to move the spare to get at the rear door.
Montero comes with dual air bags, four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock, AM/FM with cassette, air conditioning, fold/tumble second-row seats and fold/recline third-row seats, cruise control, digital clock, toolbox, 15-inch all-season tires, power mirrors, rear window washer/wiper/defroster.
Optional upgrades are expensive. The luxury package that adds leather seats, power sunroof (over the rear seat passengers) and power driver’s seat runs $2,787; the cold-weather package with heated seats/mirrors, rear differential lock and headlamp washers runs $774; the premium package with adjustable shock settings for softer or firmer ride (we noticed little difference) plus chrome-plated alloy wheels runs $1,110; and the value package with floor mats, roof rack, CD changer, keyless entry and spare-tire cover runs $2,439.
That’s more than $7,000 in convenience features added to the $33,530 base price–plus $445 in freight.
1998 Ford Windstar
If Ford Motor Co. had it to do over again, the Windstar mini-van would have had more doors than cupholders.
But, the automaker insists, when it surveyed consumers about their wants and needs in the early development years of its rival to Chrysler and General Motors mini-vans, most folks said they saw no need for a slide-open door on both sides of the van.
So Ford left one off the driver’s side.
Better Ford leave off a wheel or seat or window, because Chrysler, the industry’s mini van-sales leader, and GM, one of the followers, added a slide-open door on the driver’s side of its vans.
GM went Chrysler one better and offered the option of a power-operated driver-side slider.
So Ford goofed and won’t add the door until 1999.
We tested the 1998 version with its stop-gap feature aimed at atoning for a lack of a driver-side slider–the King Door.
The driver-side door is bigger than usual to allow the rugrats to scoot into the back seat through the driver’s door.
First, however, the driver must get out, which he or she doesn’t have to do with the Chrysler and GM sliders, since most kids can open the door on their own–and those that can’t are aided with a power door at GM.
The Windstar’s driver’s seat also slides farther forward than usual to allow easier access to the back seat.
While Ford goofed on doors, it came up with a really nice feature its rivals failed to think of, a
mirror in the center of the roof above the dash that allows driver or passenger to check out the kids in back without having to loosen their belts, slip sideways in the seat and gawk over the headrest.
The Windstar has lots of goodies, such as a stowage bin in the left rear wall to serve back-seat passengers, a couple of power plugs for added accessories, cup/juice-box holders, a coin holder in the roof (out of the way, but an in-dash or in-console unit would require less time taking your eyes off the road to come up with the correct change) and a lock button in the rear cargo area, which we would love to know what it locked or unlocked.
Safety hardware includes dual air bags, rear-wheel anti-lock brakes, but not traction control and not four-wheel or all-wheel-drive.
Base price of the Windstar GL we drove is $20,655. Sprucing it up with the “preferred equipment package” added $4,405 for such things as speed control, tilt steering, rear-window defroster, AM/FM stereo with cassette and clock, luggage rack, power windows/ locks/mirrors. Floor mats ran $90 and remote entry $175. With $580 in freight, the sticker ran almost $26,000.
As is so common with Ford, you then are awarded a discount on the high-content option package, in this case $1,300 to bring the package down to $3,105 and the final price to $24,575.
You spend $3,105 to save $1,300. Why not just lower the sticker to begin with?
1998 Lexus GS300
We recently tested the all-new GS400 sedan from Lexus and
now have spent some time in its less-expensive, less-powerful GS300 stablemate.
The rear-wheel-drive sedan was most impressive because it arrived about the time Ma Nature had a hissy on the roads.
Excellent foul-weather handling thanks to vehicle stability control, fancy name for a traction-control system that distinguishes itself getting out of snow-clogged driveways onto snow-clogged roads without stumbling. You can use this RWD machine to give friends who own Mustangs and Camaros/Firebirds a lift to work when it snows.
The major difference between the GS300 and the GS400 is the reason for the 300 or 400 moniker. The 3-liter, in-line 6-cylinder develops 225 horsepower in the 300; the 4-liter, 32-valve V-8 develops 300 h.p. It means about a 2-second difference in a 0- to 60-m.p.h. run. It also means a 20-m.p.g. city/25-m.p.g. highway rating from the 3-liter versus 17/23 with the 4-liter.
One major gripe, however, is the key fob with its power lock/unlock controls. The fob has “unlock” and “panic” buttons to unlock the doors or flash the lights and sound the horn in a panic situation.
But where’s the “lock” button?
Unless you have a salesman explain the fob or you read the owner’s manual, you don’t realize that you press the panic button once to lock the car–or just walk away if you have taken the keys out of the ignition and the car locks on its own. Nice touch–once explained.
The GS300 starts at $36,800 ($44,800 for the 400). Dual front and side air bags and ABS are standard. Add $1,020 for a power slide/tilt sunroof, $1,710 for leather seats and $1,050 for upgraded sound system with compact-disc player.
