Talking further on one of the great value buys in the new vehicle market – the small five-door five-seat Mitsubishi ASX SUV – it’s been around for some years now, although it was freshened late in 2018, at the same time Mitsubishi dropping the more expensive all-wheel-drive variants and introducing a price leading ES model – the 2.0-litre manual ES listed at 23,490 plus on-road costs, 26,990 in automatic. However it has been on sale this year from 23,990 drive-away in manual, $25,490 in automatic with a 7-year/150,000km warranty, 2-years free servicing and with $1,000 in free genuine accessories. With these prices and features one can understand why it’s hit a sweet spot with buyers and has quickly become our top-selling small SUV. But as I said earlier, there’s some newer small SUV’s on the market like Mazda CX- 3, Hyundai’s Kona or Honda’s HR-V that are perhaps sharper in engine performance and ride and handling but they don’t offer the extraordinary value of the ASX. One of the traps of being a motoring journalist is that you are constantly being fed a new mousetrap on a weekly basis by the industry and it’s easy to overlook a long standing vehicle like the Mitsubishi ASX. As I said, this small SUV was freshened front and back and gained LED daytime running lights – the ES equipped with a reversing camera, 18-inch alloy wheels, cruise control and emergency brake assist. Some of its newer competitors are more refined but the ASX remains one of the value buys in the market.

I’m David Berthon

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