MITSUBISHI L300
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Price as tested: £10,257 (ex-VAT). Engine: 2.0-litre 114hp (85kW) petrol. GVVV: 2,200kg. Payload: 805kg. Fuel consumption (laden): 24.9mpg (11.3lit/ 100km) .
Alittle quiz: could you identify the Mitsubishi L300
with the badges removed? Or the Toyota Hiace? The Nissan Vanette? The Mazda E-Series?
The trouble is that forwardcontrol Japanese panel vans tend to look infuriatingly similar— even more so than European vans, which are all approaching the slope-nosed look pioneered by Renault, The only exceptions are Vauxhall, whose Midi is an Isuzu by another name, and LDV, which will probably join the slope-nosed herd with next year's "Bulldog".
What every manufacturer needs is a unique selling point (a USP for the marketing boys) and Mitsubishi has found one: POWER. The sort of power that would appeal to a car driver who's not too keen on driving a van, but who might be impressed by "16 valve".
The giant manufacturer has given the L300 van a petrol unit derived from its Galant car range; the engine is a catalysed, EGR
equipped two-litre in-line four with a single overhead camshaft, multi-point electronic fuel injection and four valves per cylinder. It puts out 114hp (85kW)—about the same as Ford's twin-cam unit, newly fitted to the Transit. Maximum torque is a respectable 1191bft (162Nm), though it doesn't appear until 4,000rpm and peak power is found at a dizzy 6,000rpm; the Ford's best figures arrive at much lower revs.
• Productivity
Japanese vans have never been renowned for exceptional payload or loadspace volume—the L300 is no exception. The 805kg payload is typical at this price level but the load volume of 4.43m3 (156ft3) compares poorly with the European competition; the most basic Ford Transit offers 5.1m3 (measured by the VDA method) with a similar payload to the Mitsubishi.
The long-wheelbase 1300 offers more carrying capacity; a payload of 1,100kg and a load volume of 5.67m3 (200ft). It's
400nun longer than the SWB model (the wheelbase goes up by 200mm) and 115mm taller; it costs £11,062 (ex-VAT).
So what else has the short-wheelbase Mazda to offer? Well, it has a reasonably shaped loadspace, and accessibility is exceptionally good. Like many an oriental van, it comes with a rear tailgate and two sliding side loading doors. The floor presents a decent load area, with rather puny-looking load-securing eyes, but things tend to fall into the steps formed by the side door runners. The new Severs flat floor sets the standard in this class.
The loadspace is a little short on head room—again, a front-wheel-drive van would be better—but the side doors make loading easy enough.
The L300 lacks a proper bulkhead: the engine hump provides some protection against shifting loads—apart from that all you get is a horizontal bar crossing the loadspace just behind the seats. This is not really acceptable; we would like to see a steel half-bulkhead, if not a glazed full bulkhead.
Road testing round our Kent route was hampered by massive roadworks on the M25; the average speed figure of 63.0 km/h (39.1mph) is acceptable but quite unrepresentative, and a better idea of the van's performance can be had from its hill-climb times: 2min 39sec is one of the best figures we've come across for a laden panel van on our M20 stretch, while lmin 6sec is similarly impressive for the A20 hill. These figures comfortably beat car-derived high-cube vans such as the diesel Vauxhall Combo.
But the petrolengined L300 will win no prizes for fuel consumption-24.9mpg (11.31it/100Iun) is around 25% worse than its diesel rivals. Presumably, if you're determined to stick to spark ignition you won't be put off by this, and you can console yourself with the thought that you need make fewer visits to your main dealer. The petrol 1300 has service intervals at 9,000 miles (14,400km); the diesel model twice as often.
At first glance DIY maintenance might seem a little tricky as the engine lies beneath the seats. The double passenger seat must be folded forward—forming a sizeable table—then folded back (if you see what we mean).But once this is done, the engine is quite accessible.
• On the road
The engine's performance felt tremendout; on our M20 test hill, this is one of very few panel vans that can keep up to the legal limit while fully laden, and in top gear. We were pleasantly surprised, having imagined that the multi-valve engine would only respond well at high revs; in fact it revved freely in top from 30mph to as fast as one dared go. There was plenty in reserve, too: Mitsubishi quotes a maximum speed of precisely 93.8mph.
But the chassis falls a long way short of the standard of the engine. A short wheelbase and long overhangs front and rear make for pronounced pitching, hardly reduced by the suspension; the springs feel too soft and damping is insufficient.
Fully laden on our Kent test route, the L300 showed an alarming twitchiness on the motorway, which got worse and worse as one approached the speed limit. Matters were not helped by the front overhang, which gave the driver a "sat on the front wheels" feeling and a tendency to overcorrect. We were surprised by the van's behaviour, and went back to check its tyre pressures. Sure enough, the rears were tinderinfiated for maximum payload. We reinflated and double-checked with the tyres cold, but things were just as bad on the repeat run. Sidewinds could be most unpleasant—perhaps opening both side doors would help...
At urban speeds the van behaved itself: the short wheelbase, light steering and strong acceleration made town driving easy. The mirrors were OK too. The engine is smooth (it is equipped with a balancer shaft) and well silenced, so you can actually hear the old-fashioned radio. The L300's dashboard is assembled from rather better mouldings than on some Japanese vans, but the interior is pretty basic compared with an up-to-date European van.
Overall driver comfort was about as good as one can expect from a forward-control van (just about acceptable) and noise was pretty well controlled.
• Summary
If you're after a forward-control, rear-wheel-drive, petrol-engined panel van and you aren't going to spend much time on the motorway, the L300 cannot be faulted. Build quality is good (justifying the three-year/100,000-mile warranty); the engine is flexible, and the price is reasonable.
But if your horizons are wider, alternative choices are more than tempting—for around the same price you could buy a basic Transit in petrol form, or a diesel VW Transporter 800 Special. The big-volume Fiat or Peugeot petrol vans cost about the same, while a Renault Trafic or LDV 200 could be had for a fair bit less. Competition in this area is tough, and power can be more of a problem than a solution.
El Toby Clark