It was down to the south-eastern tip of Turkey for the first drive of the all-new L200 Pick-up. Instead of the expected moderate Mediterranean sun, we had two days of torrential rain that caused most roads to flood, landslips, collapsed roads, rock falls and boulders in the middle of the mountain passes.

The new Pick-up will be launched in early March with either a single-cab (two doors and two seats) or a double-cab (four doors and five seats), with a Club-cab, which has two doors and two small rear seats due later in August. The new L200 only has one engine choice, a 2.5-litre DI-D common rail diesel engine that is Euro IV compliant and produces a very adequate 134bhp. However, this can be boosted to 160bhp by an engine performance enhancement kit which will be standard on the Animal version. A five-speed manual gearbox is standard with a four-speed automatic as an option. On some of the downhill sections, the manual gearbox appeared to be more in tune with the terrain than the clutch-less version.

The turning circle of the Mitsubishi is much tighter than its closest competitors and this was easily demonstrated on some of the hairpin bends on the flooded mountain roads. It really did go round all of the bends without any difficulty. We drove the new L200 for ten and a half hours on the second day and covered most of the kilometres either off-road or on some of the typical Turkish roads in the area that can be best described as poor and were badly potholed. The off-road drive was truly off-road; not on man-made off-road courses, but the real thing. Some of the terrain was really quite scary at times, with sheer drops, unmade passes and highly slippery surfaces. You had to have confidence in your driving, your driving partner and the vehicle to ensure you got back in one piece - and we managed it.

The new L200 will literally go anywhere, with relative ease, ably assisted by Mitsubishi's Active Stability & Traction Control system (M-ASTC) - a first in the segment. These were not specially prepared pick-ups, with expensive special off-road tyres, and everything about them was standard factory fit. Everybody who drove them in such extreme, and in places dangerous conditions due to the adverse weather, could not praise them more highly.

The new L200 is a great looking Pick-up and will appeal to many new customers who have previously never considered buying what they would regard as a truck but the new one is more car-like in more ways than one. Its ride and handling is as good as most family cars. Its interior is nothing like anything you would expect in a truck and the rear seat room is larger than the current model. Everything is so easy and light to use and the fit and finish is every bit as good as a quality car.

Mitsubishi have certainly put a lot of thought into this vehicle and made it good at everything; comfort, ride, exterior looks, carrying capacity and now with 12,500 mile servicing intervals it is also cheaper to run.

After driving the L200 for an extended period of time, in difficult driving conditions, the most pleasing thing about it was when we exited the vehicle without any aches or pains and as fresh as when we had got into it 10 and a half hours earlier, with an exciting adventure in between.

MARTIN WARD
CAP Motor Research

PLEASE NOTE: These vehicles were driven by professionals - do not attempt this yourself.