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Pick up a tax bargain. Image by Trevor Nicosia.

Pick up a tax bargain
Is avoiding tax a good enough reason to use a pick-up as your family car?

   



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#02#The double-cab pickup has become a popular sight on our roads, combining the versatility of a pick-up truck with the respectability of a car, and all at a considerable company car tax advantage. The best selling pick-up in the UK is the Mitsubishi L200, taking over one third of all pick-up sales, and selling over 12,000 units for each of the last three years. So it's easy to see why the new L200 is so important to Mitsubishi if it wants to keep that sales record going.

Mitsubishi was kind enough to loan us the new L200 in Warrior double cab form. The Warrior is the mid-range trim level of five in a line-up of double cabs that are priced from £13,599 to £20,139 (BRP - double cabs qualify as commercial vehicles and thus are priced less VAT, VED and First Registration Fee). Our Warrior came with leather seats and a price tag of £17,999 BRP. Better still, our loan period coincided with my LMA Euro Saloons race up at Anglesey, on the last ever race meet using the current circuit layout. Just a small matter of a 500 mile round trip towing a race car and trailer with a combined weight somewhere close to 2000kg. Not a job for a wimp.

The Mitsubishi L200 Warrior was more than up to the task, its towing capacity of 2700kg leaving plenty of spare capacity. There is also the not so small matter of the one tonne payload - necessary to qualify with the taxman as a commercial vehicle - and useful because you'd be amazed at just how much stuff even a club racer carries to the circuit. Spare wheels, tools, jack, axle stands, fuel; the list seems never ending and so it was good to know there was going to be more than enough space to carry all my paraphernalia.

#p##02# The L200 Warrior comes with a 2.5-litre DI-D engine producing 134bhp at 4000rpm and 170lb.ft of torque at 2000rpm; this engine is fitted across the whole L200 range except for the Animal which comes with the 165bhp power upgrade (available on all models as an option) fitted as standard. Given that the Animal also comes with 302lb.ft of torque it might have seemed a shame we didn't get one of those, but as it happens the Warrior was more than up to the task.

A Friday night drive up the M40, M42, M6 and then across country to Wales and onwards to Anglesey was hardly something I was looking forward to with relish. The traffic reared its ugly head with a vengeance; sat on a stationary M6 at gone 11pm led me to wonder just where all these people were going. Tempers could easily have been lost, but the L200 was already doing a good job of winning me over. It was dusk as I left home, so soon was properly dark. The headlights were proving adequate on the cross-country section before the motorway and once again when I finally reached an unlit section of motorway. Where able, the L200 was cruising comfortably at 60mph, uphill, downhill, wherever, and until we hit the traffic we were making good progress. When the traffic arrived, so another side of the L200 came into play. At crawling speeds the L200 was perfectly tractable, even with all that load out back, and considering it had a manual gearbox (an automatic version is available) it was still easy to control the L200 with negligible driveline shunt even at less than walking pace.

When we finally arrived at the Anglesey circuit (getting on for 2am) I then realised that all in all the L200 was comfortable. I hadn't given it a thought, but any vehicle you can drive for 250 miles, and over five and a half hours, with minimal stoppage time and still walk upright must be doing something right. The seats had been superb; although I was tired, that was purely a function of the time of night rather than driver fatigue. The ride quality had been better than I expected - sitting a long way up with long travel suspension to soak up most of the bumps - but had been caught out on the M42 when a rocking motion set in (I was only doing 50mph; honest officer) that seemed to be trailer induced, the trailer was having problems with the surface and taking it out on the L200.

#p##03# Coming back from Anglesey, I had the chance to drive the new L200 in daylight (and admire the scenery). With better visibility, I found I had to rein in the L200 which was happy to cruise faster than I really wanted to go. Only when going up motorway hills did the L200 start to slow a little. Stability was good too, and all this in two-wheel drive mode; the L200 Warrior is switchable from two to four-wheel drive, and has a low four-wheel drive ratio set as well. Despite the paddock at Anglesey representing a mud bath, grippy tyres and massive ground clearance were all that was needed to move around; I didn't need to select four-wheel drive. Of course, towing the trailer everywhere during our time with the L200, we never really got a chance to test the handling as such. In a total of 600 miles during the test period, only eight were done solo! Treating the L200 as a commercial vehicle (i.e. not trying to keep up with Elises round roundabouts) showed reasonable body roll, maybe not as much as you might expect sitting so high, and the ability to keep up with everyday traffic, rather than having to cause a tailback at every corner.

The daylight trip home also gave me the chance to take stock of the new L200. The seats look, and are, comfortable, well worth the cost for the added credibility they gave if your L200 is truly the family car as well as the work hack. The climate control worked well, maybe a little too well as it was easy to get the interior too cold! The audio system (a single CD-tuner with six speakers) gave no cause for concern - I'd never have coped with that arduous journey if it had sounded anything but good, so it must have done.

Warrior spec comes with all sorts of extras such as trip computer, the extra speakers, and of course all the butch dress up gear any self respecting truck needs, such as 17-inch alloys, chrome rear bar and chrome steps, wheelarch extensions and privacy rear glass. Our L200 came with optional milled aluminium finish in the pick up bed, which both looked smart and meant heavy objects could be carried without fear of scratching the bed paint. Also, unique in this sector, the Warrior comes with an electric rear screen which means the rear seat passengers can reach into the rear deck. It also comes with an alarm - with movement sensors - as I found out: a club racer's life is not the glamour, girls and large motorhomes of the professional - so having arrived at Anglesey, I curled up in the back in my sleeping bag for a night's sleep. And then woke the whole paddock as the alarm went off when I turned over!

All in all, my introduction to double cab driving went well, much better than I expected. If the new Mitsubishi L200 is anything to go by, it's a viable alternative to a car if your family needs something to double up for work and play, or even to play hard. The final word comes from my fellow racing competitors. Most thought the new L200 looked very smart; one who drives a Ford Ranger suggested that the curvy shape might be a little effeminate for a truck and it would get laughed off the building site! Personally I think the bold shape grows on you and fully expect this truck to be another winner for Mitsubishi. #p##04#
Mitsubishi L200 UK range overview

- Mitsubishi L200 4Work Single Cab Manual: £12,249 (£14,540.58 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 4Life Single Cab Manual: £13,499 (£16,009.33 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 4Work Club Cab Manual: £12,649 (£15,010.58 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 4Life Club Cab Manual: £14,049 (£16,655.58 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 4Work Double Cab Manual: £13,599 (£16,126.83 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 4Life Double Cab Manual: £14,999 (£17,771.83 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Warrior Double Cab Manual: £16,999 (£20,121.83 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Warrior Double Cab Automatic: £17,939 (£21,226.33 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Warrior Double Cab - Leather Manual: £17,999 (£21,296.83 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Warrior Double Cab - Leather Automatic: £18,939 (£22,401.33 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Animal Double Cab Manual: £18,999 (£22,471.83 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Animal Double Cab Automatic: £19,939 (£23,576.33 on-the-road)
- Mitsubishi L200 Elegance Double Cab Automatic: £20,139 (£23,811.33 on-the-road)

Note: Prices are BRP - Basic Retail Price - that do not include VAT, Vehicle Excise Duty and the first licensing fee.

Trevor Nicosia - 9 Sep 2006



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2006 Mitsubishi L200 specifications: (Warrior Double Cab manual)
Price: £21,296 on-the-road (or £17,999 BRP).
0-62mph: 14.6 seconds
Top speed: 103mph
Combined economy: 32.8mpg
Kerb weight: 1865kg

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.



2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 

2006 Mitsubishi L200. Image by Trevor Nicosia.
 






 

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