From the March 1995 issue of Car and Driver.
Let’s be honest here: the reason sport-utility vehicles are selling faster than earplugs at a Michael Bolton concert is not because global temperatures are down and average snowfall is up and Americans need four-wheel drive in order to reach the video store for those adult-education tapes hidden behind that veil of beads. It’s because, in contrast to other roomy conveyances like station wagons and minivans, every SUV projects an image.
The Hummer wears a Gold’s Gym body. The Grand Cherokee is as outdoorchic as an Orvis flyrod. And the Mitsubishi Montero SR, the object of this review, packs all the techno-wizardry of a Sharper Image catalog.
Those who enjoy Pentiums and DirecTV and EOS cameras will feel immediately at home in the SR. The instrument cluster is straight off the set of The Hunt for Red October, with gauges for everything from four-wheel-drive mode to oil pressure to volts to a useful new electronic compass and exterior-temperature display that replaces the frivolous “lean-angle” inclinometer.
Why, the SR has more buttons than a Marine Corps parade. The stereo alone, an imposing panel with a digital display and an elaborate graphic equalizer, looks fully capable of computing the 1995 U.S. federal budget or, say, Burt and Loni’s divorce settlement. The doors and the dash and the headliner brim with controls for everything from power locks and mirrors to a now-standard power sunroof. An optional package allows the driver to tailor the suspension damping to soft, medium, or hard (the soft setting delivers a quite-cushy ride). Or, if the driver grows bored with that, they can tinker with another switch that adjusts the response of the four-speed automatic transmission between “normal” and “power” modes (a “hold” setting is also included to specify second-gear starts in slippery conditions).
Not just space-age, the Montero is spacious—large enough to hold seven adults when the rear jump seats are folded down. This is a tall SUV: the Montero towers ten inches above the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s the sort of height that makes you duck as you pull into the garage. In return, the driver has an exceptional view of the road ahead, and there is generous headroom throughout.
