2005 Mitsubishi Endeavor Review

Endeavor sounds like a good name for a space shuttle or a sailing ship. The Mitsubishi Endeavor is a mid-size SUV that was introduced as a 2004 model. In spite of its rugged appearance, the Endeavor is built more like a car than a truck.

Endeavor seats five and it's roomy and comfortable in the front and rear seats. The rear seatbacks flip down to reveal a big cargo area with a perfectly flat floor.

Underway, the Endeavor handles well and offers a nice, smooth ride. Its drive-by-wire setup offers responsive throttle response and its 3.8-liter V6 is delivers adequate power, though the Endeavor won't win many drag races. It's available with front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, but we much prefer the AWD model.

Endeavor's styling is aggressively different. It shouts to be noticed. Mitsubishi calls the design "geomechanical," or "geometric shapes with a mechanical application." But it's not a blend of geometric and mechanical, it's an abrupt meeting: the geometric shapes are all on the top half of the Endeavor, and the mechanical application is on the bottom.

Endeavor is dominated by high, angular fender flares, which in the front are carried all the way up to the hood. It looks like they were designed for tractor tires, as the wheel wells seem to dwarf the standard 17-inch tires. The tires are mounted on either standard five-spoke or optional seven-spoke aluminum wheels, neither of which are memorable. The fenders are connected by a horizontal high beltline.

"Bold" is the word Mitsubishi uses to describe the front end, but it's not as bold as the Endeavor's sides. This is good. There's no chrome or metal, just two body-colored horizontal ribs in openings on either side of a wide vertical center pillar with a big Mitsubishi badge. The headlamp units are fairly ordinary, reflecting a missed opportunity for some drama. This grille section rides on a high bumper fascia which might be the part of Endeavor that best fits Mitsubishi's adjectives and design objectives. Mitsubishi's description, "imposing intake cavities," is a good one. The long horizontal opening gapes so broadly you can easily see the radiator fins inside. Skipping highway stones might be worrisome.

Endeavor looks best from the rear. The back end is simple, smooth and classy, angular on a two-dimensional level, with the tailgate shaped into a subtle stretched hexagon by small taillights. Its elegance creates a small mystery as to how it fits into this in-your-face geomechanical theme. Elegant describes the Limited with body-colored bumpers, at least. The LS has black "garnish" on the bumpers, and the XLS has gratuitous chrome bumper caps.

Because the independent rear suspension is mounted low in order to provide more cargo space, the control arms are oddly visible and catch your eye from the rear. It gives the Endeavor an air of mechanical seriousness, if not a suggestion of fragility from low ground clearance.

Finally, the roof rails are wide oblong tubular aluminum, neither easy to reach nor especially functional, at least not without the crossbars that come standard on the XLS and Limited. These thick aluminum rails may look rugged on the Nissan Xterra, but not on the Endeavor, whose point is that it's not supposed to be the truck-based Montero Sport.