The simpler Strada

By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BIGGER isn’t always better, having more doesn’t always equate into being merrier.

When was the last time you chose to buy a car because of the number of speakers, cupholders or map lights in the cabin? These things are nice to have but in the end, many brands just do this to overcome their products’ shortcomings. We live in a world where products loaded beyond reason saturate the market. A common marketing tactic is that vehicles that can’t cut it as fundamentally sound products load up on knickknacks for much-needed brochure appeal.

Peeling back all the extras is one way to figure out just how good a product is. Finding a car that is good enough just by merely how it drives, sans all the frills, is a wonderful thing. Better even is when a lower model and trim level still delivers the same amount of satisfaction. But is it more amazing when a product with a smaller engine strikes almost the same chords as its better endowed brethren?

My second time around with the Strada is an exercise in simple comparison. Having already tested the 3.2-liter, 4×4 with the slush box, finding out what the working, blue collar version was all about had to be figured out. Driving the 2.5-liter, rear-wheel drive with the five-speed manual was supposed to show the gulf between the top of the line and the more important every man’s product. This is because pickups by nature are utility vehicles.

The biggest difference on paper between the two trucks is the engine size. The basic genetics of the 3.2-liter and 2.5-liter units are shared. These new-generation common-rail, direct-injection engines continue to change the motoring public’s preconceived notions about diesel-powered vehicles. Truthfully, there isn’t a CRDi engine out in the market today that doesn’t get me all worked up. New, out of the box, there isn’t an engine technology out there that provides the most reasonable engine punch for your hard-earned peso.

On paper, the differences in the displacement between these two Mitsubishi engines should equate into night and day performance gaps. Truth be told, they aren’t very far apart. The 3.2-liter CRDi turbo hints at increased performance but the bar set by the 2.5-liter CRD turbo is already quite high.

Honestly folks, the on-paper differences of 20 bhp and 30 Nm of torque between the two are easy to overlook in daily driving conditions. Anyone who can tell, blindfolded and bound in the back seat, which engine is special in their own way. Insistent human dynamometers should register with the National Center for Mental Health.

The 4×2 version also has two more things working for it. The simpler Strada is spared the automatic gear box and is a much lighter by around 100 kg. The result is a quick product that tip-toes around turns and bends in a livelier fashion. Combine this with the Strada’s road tuned ride character and a truly streetable truck is the final sum. Daily and drive are even two words that come to mind, especially when you take into consideration the imperfect character of our supposedly sealed road national surfaces.

The 4×2 Mitsubishi Strada is a clear and wonderful example of less being more, of not needing a shopping list of accessories to turn a good automobile into a great one. Sound and grounded fundamentals are the basis on which this value-laden vehicle is built on. If your trucking takes you mostly through the metropolis and its environs, this is the pickup that will reward you with moments of decent drive time. Dakar raiders, mud crawlers and rock hoppers should look elsewhere — the blacktop belongs to this Strada.

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