2001 Mitsubishi Montero, No Reserve on 2040-cars

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Maine is actively deregistering imported Mitsubishi Delicas — but why?

Some weird things are going on in Maine. The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is actively deregistering Mitsubishi Delicas that were imported to the United States and previously registered in Maine under the well-known 25-year federal import rule. The folks at Crankshaft Culture brought this news to our attention and published a fairly detailed report at the beginning of the month. Ever since seeing that, we’ve been trying to track down more answers from the Maine BMV and Maine Secretary of StateÂ’s office. HereÂ’s a summary of whatÂ’s transpired so far. Crankshaft Culture did the digging on the Mitsubishi Delica Owners Club Facebook page, and uncovered that Maine has been sending letters out to folks in the state who currently own Delicas. Those letters unequivocally state that “this vehicle is not eligible for motor vehicle registration in Maine and may not be operated on the public highway.” It then goes on to demand owners remove the plates from the Delicas and return them to the BMV. Furthermore, it states that “the registration may not be used as proof of ownership to sell this vehicle as an automobile.”  So no, Maine is not exactly mincing words. Of course, the question here is: Why? Why is Maine deregistering Mitsubishi Delicas? These vans were imported under the federal 25-year import law. We know this rule, but hereÂ’s a quick refresher from the Customs and Border ProtectionÂ’s website: “A motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported into the U.S. without regard to whether it complies with all applicable DOT Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.” Theoretically, thatÂ’d make any Delicas over 25 years old legal to import here, along with pretty much any other contraption you want to bring that is old enough. Maine told us that itÂ’s only targeting pre-1995 Delicas, so thereÂ’s no time discrepancy. We went to the Maine Secretary of State to learn what is going on. The answers are slightly confusing, so bear with us. In short, Maine considers the Delica to be an "off-road vehicle." MaineÂ’s law — Title 29-A — is very clear with “off-road vehicles.” It reads: “Off-road vehicles may not be registered in accordance with this Title.” OK. Next question. What does Maine consider to be an “off-road vehicle?” And how does the Delica qualify? HereÂ’s where a brand-new modification (LD 1433 Sections 1-8) to Title 29-A comes into play.

Mitsubishi could add 'Evo' crossover

You should have done this years ago, but in case you haven't, open your dictionaries to the word "Sacred" and tear the entire page out. Done? Good. Now, to continue... With the traditional sedan-based, gas-powered Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution using its four driven wheels to enter the grave at the end of this year, Auto Express reports that it's possible that Mitsubishi could use the "Evo" appellation on a high-performance, all-wheel-drive version of the Outlander Sport (called the "ASX" in Europe). This has been more than a year in the making, in truth. Last year Mitsubishi said that another "high-performance four-wheel-drive gasoline-powered sedan" wasn't going to happen, and that what did come would be a result of exploring "the possibilities of high-performance models that incorporate electric vehicle technology." As Auto Express sees it, the next-generation Outlander Sport will launch initially with four-wheel drive, followed by a two-wheel-drive, plug-in hybrid model. The company's UK chief said that an Evo-worthy model "isn't a huge jump" from there, once the bread-and-butter segments are satisfied. Mitsubishi is doing much better financially, and this would be one of the experiments it could now afford to try out. An Outlander Sport Evo isn't done and dusted - there's no business case for it yet, and who knows, a potential Evo version could be a UK- or Europe-only trim - but "a lot of senior management" is discussing it.

The Mitsubishi Outlander third row has actually been far worse

It's rare for a compact SUV to have a third row, and there's a good reason for that: Few humans can actually fit in such a tiny space. And sure, there are obviously kids, but they usually require some sort of child seat that's not fitting back there, either.  In other words, the use case is as tiny as the seats themselves. No wonder, then, that there are only two three-row compact SUVs: the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan and the 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander. While I have yet to witness the Tiguan, the above photo is the result of fitting a 6-foot-3 automotive editor into the Outlander's third row. It ain't pretty. And that's with the middle row pushed all the way forward. Also note that it's just not a matter of legroom — headroom is terrible, too.  Obviously, this is an extreme and ridiculous test. In the end, the need to accommodate the third row almost certainly allows the Outlander to have more cargo space than average (and the mechanically related Nissan Rogue) even if it's presence is also likely the reason it doesn't have as much room as the CR-V, RAV4 and Tucson (more on that coming soon in a luggage test). It's basically a bonus feature, and if you can in fact use it, great! It's also exponentially better than the original Outlander third row. Specifically, the second-generation model that had a shockingly flimsy design that would've been rickety for the 1980s let alone the late 2000s. It consisted of a mesh fabric pulled over a tube steel ring. It was more like a beach chair than something that belonged in a moving vehicle.  Here are two period videos of me demonstrating it in a 2010 Outlander. In the first, I raise the seat, showing how difficult it was to do and how rickety it was once in place. The second video shows the mesh seat bottom.  Video 1: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Video 2: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.