America’s Cheapest Three-Row
New vehicle prices continue to balloon with each passing year, making it more difficult for parents to afford a vehicle that can comfortably accommodate a growing family. In a world where a Chevrolet Tahoe can cost over six figures, I believe cars like the 2026 Mitsubishi Outlander are more important than ever. Starting at just $29,995 (plus a $1,745 destination fee), the Outlander is the least expensive three-row vehicle on the sale in the United States.
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Mitsubishi is the only mainstream automaker to currently offer a compact crossover with a third row, so it has the competition undercut but thousands of dollars. The Kia Sorento is the second-cheapest at $32,390 (plus $1,445 destination), though this vehicle is a size class larger. Other manufactures such as Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen previous offered three-row compact crossovers, but do not currently.
Can You Fit People Back There?
There may be a logical reason why no other automaker offers a compact vehicle with three rows of seats; American consumers may not want such tight packaging. Admittedly, the Outlander’s third row is tiny, flipping out to eat up nearly half of the available trunk space. Mitsubishi only quotes 18.7 inches of legroom back there, far less than even the 25.8 inches found in the cramped Tesla Model Y’s third row. Despite being over three inches shorter on the outside, the Mercedes-Benz GLB also has more legroom (29.1 inches) in its third row.
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I’ll admit, the Outlander is a near-impossible squeeze for any human person, let alone an adult, if you leave the second-row in its rearmost position. Mitsubishi does give owners the ability to slide the second-row forward, making the third-row tolerable for smaller adults on shorter trips. Is it roomy? Absolutely not, but it may be handy once or twice a year for owners who know they don’t require frequent use of a seven-seat vehicle. Why spend thousands of dollars on two seats you may never use?
Is Mitsubishi The Budget Infiniti?
Mitsubishi exists in an odd position right now, at least in the US market. The company’s lineup includes the popular Outlander and Outlander Plug-In Hybrid, the Outlander Sport, the Eclipse Cross, and the new Eclipse Sportback (essentially a rebadged Nissan Leaf). There is no clear cut identity among these vehicles, and it’s even murky looking at one vehicle like the Outlander. At the low end, it’s the cheapest three-row crossover in America, but at the high end, it feels more premium than the Nissan Rogue with which it shares a platform.
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I tested the SEL trim, the most well-equipped aside from some visual elements available on the Black Edition. Starting at $40,845 (not including destination), this crossover comes with nearly all of the features you would expect from a luxury vehicle like an Infiniti: diamond-quilted leather, heated/ventilated seats, heated rear seats, power memory driver’s seat, three-zone climate control, panoramic sunroof, and a heated steering wheel.
There is only one major option for the SEL, a $3,000 Premium Package that further elevates the luxury with an outstanding 12-speaker Yamaha audio system, semi-aniline leather, a head-up display, and digital rearview camera mirror. That last feature is important because the third-row has the largest headrest I’ve ever seen, making it nearly impossible to see through the rear window.
Not A Nissan In One Important Place
For the 2026 model year, the Outlander ditches the 2.5-liter Nissan four-cylinder that was borrowed from the Rogue in favor of a Mitsubishi-sourced engine. It’s a new 1.5-liter turbo-four unit with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system producing 174 horsepower and 206 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower and torque were both previously rated a 181, so the former sees a slight decline while the other is a nice improvement.
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In my testing, the Outlander hit 60 mph in 9.03 seconds. That’s behind the Nissan Rogue, which completed the same sprint in 8.41 seconds with its peppier 1.5-liter turbo-three engine that delivers 201 hp and 225 lb-ft. I much prefer the Rogue’s VC-Turbo engine to the Outlander’s four-cylinder, and I wish Mitsubishi would have kept using a Nissan engine.
What Will Happen To The Outlander?
Mitsubishi has seven new models coming by 2030 as part of its Momentum 2030 plan, and the Outlander is surely part of it. Nissan has already shown off the new Rogue, which is set to arrive in November with a new e-Power hybrid system. Nissan’s hybrid system functions as a series hybrid, where the electric motors power the wheels and the engine acts as a generator to charge a small battery.
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Nothing has been confirmed, but this system could work its way into the next-generation Outlander and that vehicle could continue to be one of the last affordable three-row vehicles in the US. This could give Mitsubishi a much cheaper entry intro the hybrid segment because the current Outlander PHEV is pricey starting at $43,245.
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