Pure capability: Mitsubishi L200 Barbarian review

The extra kit and leather are enough to make the L200 Barbarian pleasant enough for those who need a true dual-purpose vehicle: tough, good off-road and practical, without feeling like a tractor when it is needed for a quick trip to the shops. It also makes the L200 a more compelling tow vehicle, a task it is more than up to. It has the ability to pull loads of over three tonnes without much trouble.

Both variants get a comprehensive suite of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which are a mixed bag.

The lane-keeping systems are keen to warn you instead of ripping the wheel out of your hands, but the driver attention monitor is downright irritating, and will tell you off for looking at the speedo for too long, or even for tilting your head backwards.

Perhaps realising this, Mitsubishi has made disabling the system the first option in the settings menu, accessed through a button on the steering wheel.

The Barbarian gets a 360-degree camera, which is a useful addition, as the L200 has a boxy front end which can be difficult to place. The cameras are only useful when manoeuvring, though, as they can only be activated at a crawl, compared with other systems that can be used at any point, which help make country narrow lanes much easier to navigate.

Though it is well-equipped, Mitsubishi has not turned the L200 into a luxury pickup truck, and it is all the better for it. The Mercedes-Benz X-Class lasted just three years before slow sales got the better of it, and the Volkswagen Amarok is the only pickup with any sort of luxury chops left.

Mitsubishi has struck a balance with the L200 Barbarian. It is hugely capable but refined enough for daily on-road use. It will not match the average crossover for comfort and road manners, nor should it.

The L200 is not trying to please the pickup truck posers who would not dream of driving their pride and joy over a wet field.

Changing landscape

Since the Series 6 L200 bowed out in 2021, the pickup market has changed. Most significantly, the taxation benefits for double-cab pickups are gone, and a pickup is no longer a low benefit-in-kind (BiK) solution for the savvy company car driver.

International Motors, the UK importer for Mitsubishi, has recognised this, and will therefore offer Commercial variants of both the Titan and the Barbarian, with no rear seats and a solid bulkhead. It offers a similar conversion for the Isuzu D-Max and reported that it has proven popular.

This offers a secure, dry load space, but more crucially, a flat BiK rate of £4,020 and eligibility for 100% plant and machinery capital allowances.

The conversion is not yet available, but is expected to be offered in the coming months. In the time that the L200 has been absent from the UK market, its competitors have not sat still.

Volkswagen and Ford have joined forced for the latest, poshest Amarok and Ranger, while the Toyota Hilux is about to enter a new generation, offering diesel or electric power, with the diesel version wearing a price that undercuts the L200 in its most basic form.

Most significantly, Chinese GWM and Maxus are offering lower cost options, often with more equipment. In fact, even the most basic, £32,495 GWM Poer300 Lux offers much of the kit found on the L200 Barbarian. It is worth noting, though, that these come without the reputation of the Mitsubishi name, and less ‘Poer’ than the L200 in the case of the GWM.

Still competitive

The time where Mitsubishi was the value offering is over – the Chinese brands have seen to that. But the L200 need not trade on price alone. It has carved out its own identity: tough, capable, strongly-styled and fitted with enough kit to avoid feeling compromised.

It will not pull buyers away from £62,000 range-topping Volkswagen Amaroks, but for more than £20,000 less, the L200 Barbarian swims in a very different pond.

The other fish in that pond is the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross, which offers much of the same refinements as the Barbarian, with similar pricing too. But, even with the uprated 2.2-litre engine Isuzu has recently added, the D-Max still falls short of the L200 in terms of torque.

Toyota’s latest Hilux will likely prove a key rival too, bringing a more modern interior than the Mitsubishi, all while leveraging Toyota’s equally legendary reputation for toughness. It matches the Mitsubishi on power and beats it on torque, but cannot match the L200’s 33.3mpg combined figure, despite being a mild hybrid.

With Ford now only offering plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and V6 diesel powertrains on the Ranger, it is considerably more expensive than the L200, although the PHEV offers a lower BiK rate, while the V6 offers more power and torque.

Verdict

The Mitsubishi L200 Barbarian is a pickup that is sure of itself. It is not trying to match a Land Rover for refinement. It is not trying to match a Chinese truck on value. It is not even competing directly with the Ford Ranger, the UK’s best-selling pickup.

But it looks and feels tough, has the capabilities to match and has gained thoughtful upgrades in its five years off sale.

Fleet focus

1. TCO

• Capital cost: The L200 range starts from £36,295 OTR before VAT for the Titan. The range-topping Barbarian we tested starts from £39,995 before VAT.
• Tax efficiency: Being diesel-powered, benefit-in-kind (BiK) is 37%, following last-year’s taxation changes for double-cab pickups.
• Commercial variants: The upcoming Commercial variants, available on both the Titan and Barbarian, will provide a lower BiK solution for fleets not needing the rear seats, for an additional £1,200 upfront. This secures eligibility for a flat BiK rate of £4,020, as well as 100% plant and machinery capital allowances.

2. Fuel Efficiency

• On the WLTP combined cycle, the L200 is rated at 33.3mpg, placing it ahead of diesel rivals such as the 3.0-litre Ford Ranger and 2.8-litre Toyota Hilux, but behind the PHEV Ranger.

3. Maintenance Cost

• Standard protection: Mitsubishi offers a standard warranty of five years, or 62,500 miles. For an additional £450, this can be extended to cover 125,000 miles.
• Corrosion protection: 12 years of cover is offered as standard.

4. Downtime

• Service intervals: 10,000 miles.
• Dealer network: After Mitsubishi’s UK exit, International Motors maintained the aftersales network, which now numbers 106. It aims to grow this to 120 sites soon. Of these, 50 are also retail partners.
• Reliability: Mitsubishi had a strong reputation for reliability prior to its 2021 exit, and the Series 7 L200 uses an engine from the same family as its predecessor, avoiding the teething problems sometimes experienced with new engines.

5. Safety

• ADAS: a suite of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are standard-fit, including Lane Departure Prevention, Lane Change Alert, Driver Attention Alert, Forward Collision Mitigation, Blind Spot Warning and Front Cross Traffic Alert. However, these systems are not as well-calibrated as those offered by other brands and some drivers may find them frustrating.
• Driver support: Adaptive Cruise Control and Traffic Sign Recognition are standard.