Our annual trip to Washington, DC began with a really early, but easy flight considering we were traveling with a 3 year old, into the heart of the city at Reagan National airport. Reagan’s one of the more convenient airports to get your stuff and get on the road, and within 20 minutes we had our bags and were in our rented 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE AWC.
We were headed for a week of spending time with family, old friends, birthdays, an unexpected, but welcomed snow storm and many other adventures, but first the 45 minute drive through the city at lunchtime. Fortunately I used to live in the city and “knew” that the fastest way to our destination was to take the local. Yeah, going through the city at lunchtime had been a mistake.
We had hit the lunch rush and not to mention endless traffic circles, to the likes of the Griswold’s in European Vacation “Hey kids look, Big Ben, Parliament.” And from these endless circles and crazy swerving drivers I came to be amazed by the handling and smooth maneuverability of the so called “SUV.” The Outlander Sport was smooth and in control in some super tight spots.
Don’t get me wrong, DC drivers aren’t bad, they’re just distracted, like everybody else these days. There were literally 5 people in a half an hour stint that swerved into our lane to then just swerve back into theirs for no reason. The more I drove, or I should say the more I was cut off, almost run into, and the less and less people paid attention, whether on phones, texting, or reading the paper, the more time I had to enjoy the fast response smoothness of the 2013 Outlander.
I fell in love with the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander during our week in DC, and realized that a family car can be cool, and function well
I say “so called SUV” because as a family car, even the sport version, that fits five and has a roomy trunk, you would expect more of a rigid clunky drive. This clunky drive did not exist and to my surprise actually made me feel like I was motoring around in a compact car built for the hustle and bustle of a busy city. This feeling was again reinforced the next day when I parallel parked, in a tight spot, with ease in front of the National Gallery. If you’ve ever worn high tops for sports and then changed to a mid or low top and found that the support is the same, well the Outlander was kind of like that, but better.
A few nights before we had to leave DC got hit with a wicked Chris Farley style El Nino. Everything closed except the grocery store, and everyone had the day off. My 3 year old was able to see snow for the first time, build a snowman, and throw snowballs at me, it was awesome! Later that day the house was packed with hungry kids and adults, so we hopped in the 4wd SE, with roads covered in snow, but didn’t even need to engage it. This little joy ride was for the dads, ok, we were going to get pizza for everyone, but we turned into high school students as we jammed out on the Rockford Fosgate Punch system and opened the panoramic glass roof complete with LED illumination, which literally went from the front windshield to the trunk, it felt like it was snowing in the car. Heated seats, and heated sideview mirrors also added to our geek factor as we warmed our butts and watched snow drip off the mirrors. Truly a winter wonderland that smelled like pizza!
Our 2013 Outlander SE, equipped with Sirius XM which had the Disney princess channel for my daughter, and the amazing panoramic roof, made her and us all actually feel like we were in a movie, a Disney movie where I was the coachman and was chauffeuring the princesses around everywhere we went. We also felt like royalty, because basically everywhere we went we were met with “welcome” and “enjoy.” Well, ok, that’s because almost everything from museums to memorials are free in Washington, DC.
I fell in love with the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander during our week in DC, and realized that a family car can be cool, and function well. The handling and overall comfort did it for me, but the Outlander went a step farther with a slick roomy inside and a sporty compact outside.
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Jake Filan
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