2006 Mitsubishi Raider Pickup Reviews & Ratings

Simplicity is the catchword for the interior. Blessed, practical, clean simplicity. The instrument panel is like the way trucks used to be: everything you need, and nothing to confuse you. The cabin itself is not like trucks used to be, however. Instead, it's comfortable, and there are places galore to store things. It's also very quiet inside. Daimler-Chrysler has been working hard to deliver quiet trucks, starting with the new Durango, and has been succeeding.

You look down from your driver's position, and there's a big square in the center of the panel (with nicely rounded corners), with clearly labeled knobs and buttons to control the radio/CD and heater/AC. Whether it's polished aluminum in the XLS, or simple black in the LS, it's tidy and fail-safe. It was a hot day when we tested the Raider, and we found the AC to be pretty good, with a strong fan, although unable to match the fantastic cold blast of the Honda Ridgeline.

The gauges themselves are lovely to look at, an off-white background with sharp black numbers and lines: speedo in center, tach on right, gas and temp together on left. Three circles, perfectly balanced. The gauges appear to be the same as in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and other Daimler-Chrysler family vehicles, and we've got nothing but praise for component sharing in this case. The driver peers down through a nice four-spoke steering wheel, leather-wrapped in the XLS, which is the right thickness and diameter, and feels nice in his or her hands.

There are storage bins small and large within easy reach of the driver, including the doors. Twin cupholders tucked under the radio, and a third giant one that can be used for big drinks or other stuff. Under the driver's elbow, the center hatch is one big compartment.

We drove Raiders with both cloth and leather, and both materials were of high quality. A buyer who doesn't want to spring for leather could be quite happy with the basic cloth. Options in the Extended Cab include nothing but a storage space behind a front bench seat, or a small bench seat.

The rear bench seat in the XLS Double Cab was relatively spacious, with a decent 36.4 inches of legroom, although the headroom was pinched by the roofline at the top of the windows. There are two cupholders and door pockets back there, too, as well as a third seatbelt for a small person to squeeze in the center.

Our Mitsubishi Raider Double Cab XLS had the 4.7-liter V8 engine, and we wouldn't even consider owning the 3.7-liter V6. There's a big difference in performance, a small difference in price, and an insignificant difference in fuel mileage: 15/19 mpg for a 4WD V6, and 14/19 mpg for the V8. The single-overhead-cam V8 and the V6 are the same basic engine, but somehow the extra two cylinders add good power with zero downside. And the V8 runs on regular fuel, unlike some of the competition, for example the Toyota Tacoma, whose 240-horsepower V6 engine requires 91 octane.

The V8 makes 230 horsepower and a class-leading 290 pound-feet of torque. We had the opportunity to tow around a trailer carrying a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and the Raider had plenty of power for the job, with good acceleration.

In normal driving without the trailer, the V8 feels surprisingly fast, for a relatively modest 230 horsepower, a benefit of its strong torque. The engine has a nice exhaust note, and Raider is quite happy to run with a driver having a heavy foot.

The five-speed overdrive automatic is the only transmission available with the V8, but it's all you need. It has some specific electronic workings too complicated to explain here, but their object is to quicken the shifts and make them smoother, and apparently they work because all the shifts, up and down, felt seamless to us.

With the DuroCross you can get regular 4WD, but our XLS came with full-time all-wheel-drive, with two transfer cases that allow the front and rear axles to spin at different speeds, thus offering more versatile traction. Mitsubishi says the cases are put through rigorous tests equivalent to 150,000 miles of driving.

We would have liked to take that trailer carrying the Evo off into the mountains, and come blasting down a long hill; that's what separates the excellent truck brakes from the just-OK. The Raider uses vented 12-inch rotors with dual-piston calipers in front, and drums in the rear.

We took our AWD XLS through an off-road obstacle course, challenging the traction on a couple of steep dusty slopes, and it never blinked. We noticed how nimbly the Raider turned in the tight areas, using its power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering. We were spinning the steering wheel from full lock left to full lock right, and it never resisted. Such ease will be appreciated in parking lots.

A lot of work went into the suspension, front (coil-over shock) and rear (multi-leaf), and a nice compromise came out. However, the suspension was clearly not ready to be brutalized on the obstacle course; we could have easily hit bottom if we had half tried. But we had earlier driven about 100 smooth miles on a twisty and undulating two-lane highway, where the suspension was at home. The moral to the story is you can't have it both ways, at least not at this time with the XLS Raider. Try the DuroCross with heavier gas shocks, if you have a need for the boonies.

The Mitsubishi Raider lineup is simple, with the LS and XLS in either Extended Cab or Double Cab. All models have the same wheelbase and overall length, so there's no parking liability with the Double Cab, only a difference in the length of the bed: 5 foot 4 inches, versus 6 feet 5 inches.

The LS comes with a V6 engine that makes 210 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque; it uses a six-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission, with either 2WD or 4WD. Standard features in the Extended Cab include 16-inch steel wheels, air conditioning, radio/CD with four speakers, and 40/40/20 front bench seat; an option package includes a rear bench seat, power windows, power mirrors, keyless entry, cruise control and tilt steering column.

The LS Double Cab includes those options, while the rear seat is a 60/40 fold-down.

The XLS models make the 4.7-liter V8 engine available, with a five-speed automatic transmission. The XLS can be had either with 2WD or electronic AWD. Standard equipment includes larger power sideview mirrors, fog lamps, rear window defroster, 17-inch chromed aluminum wheels, leather, power driver's seat with lumbar support, hands-free phone, heavy-duty battery and cooling system, class IV trailer hitch receiver with seven-pin harness, Sirius satellite radio, and all the power stuff.

There's also a DuroCross model, with features including 16-inch alloy wheels, fog lamps, sliding rear window, power heated sideview mirrors that fold flat, dark tinted glass, fender flares with mudguards, side steps and a box bedliner, heavy duty cooling system and battery, and some trim enhancements.

The DuroCross 4WD (only the XLS is full-time AWD) adds BFG All Terrain tires, gas shocks, a skid plate and limited-slip differential.