Long Term Test: Mitsubishi Barbarian

Date: Thursday, May 5, 2016 | Author: James Dallas

The L200 Series 5 comes with a wealth of equipment at the top of the range but operators should think carefully about what they really need, advises James Dallas

Now that we’ve been living with our Barbarian for several months we’re becoming familiar with the usefulness (or not) of its arsenal of features.

As the flagship model in the L200 line-up the Barbarian comes served up with all the trimmings such as leather touches on the arm rest, doors and dash, blue LED mood lighting in the interior – a favourite with the kids – a soft opening tailgate damper that helps to stop the heavy tailgate clunking open dangerously, illuminated door entry guards, a tailgate handle cover, door handle recess covers, a fuel filler cap cover and a good deal of exterior chrome.

Most of the kit we’ve been happiest to see included however, is added in lower spec versions.

DAB radio for example, which greatly enhances the in-cab entertainment, is included in the Titan Double-cab, the lowest but one of the four trims available.

From a more practical point of view, the touch screen satellite navigation, which we’ve found to be simple to use and reasonably accurate in finding destinations by punching in the postcode, is added in the Warrior derivative, which sits below the Barbarian in the line-up. When giving audible instructions the sat nav lowers the volume of the stereo so that the driver does not have to take their eyes off the road if it is not convenient to do so.

In a vehicle of the L200’s length (5285mm), including a rear of 1515mm behind the double cab, some sort of reversing aid is essential to avoid bumping the tailgate and, more importantly, to make the driver aware of pedestrians on the street or workers on site. Like the sat nav, the rear view camera joins the L200 on the Warrior. The camera on the Series 5 L200 is a considerable improvement on the one fitted to previous generations of the truck, which tended to give a distorted, fish-eyed view of what’s behind the vehicle.

The new version provides a grid framework to enable the driver to line-up the truck accurately in parking spaces, including a red line to warn you when to stop.

One gripe we do have however, is that there is no audible parking alert, which means you have to keep your eyes on the screen rather than use the side mirrors to prevent mishaps. This is a particular problem in heavy rain when the camera view can become obscured.

Mitsubishi L200 Barbarian

Mileage

Official combined consumption 42.8mpg

Our average consumption

Price (ex VAT or options) £23,799

What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide