Powered by
Subscribe to the only car newsletter you’ll ever need

Mitsubishi Triton GSR long term review

 

The MV generation of the new Triton has ushered in a new era for Mitsubishi’s workhorse but how does it stack up against six months of long-term testing?

Launched in March 2024, the dust has now settled on the new-generation MV Triton with thousands now dotting Aussie driveways. Plenty of new owners have embraced the much-improved ute at a time when this segment is only growing with more options.

Our initial assessment found that the Triton had become a much more impressive vehicle across most disciplines, but with a significant spike in price the Mitsubishi ute is no longer the bargain it used to be, with price-busting territory now held by the likes of the GWM Ute Cannon and the LDV T60.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT thumbnail final

Raising prices means you need to raise your game to stay competitive, and while the Triton is significantly cheaper than the segment-leading Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok, there is still plenty of competition in the midfield, with the aging Toyota Hilux and recently updated Isuzu D-Max for company.

This being a ute, it’s not just here for a good time but it’s also here for a long time, which means it will also need the competitive edge to compete with the likes of the incoming BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid and the Kia Tasman.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 forest badge

To find out if the Triton has what it takes to be a truly impressive ute, production specialist Tom Place has taken custody of one for the next six months, so make sure you follow along for our comprehensive assessment of Mitsubishi’s long-awaited ute successor.

Navigate this long-term Mitsubishi Triton GSR review

Month 2: Shut up. Please

The only thing worse than a backseat driver is an electric nanny with a beeper and no licence to speak of, but is living with Mitsubishi’s driver monitoring really the end of the world?

It’s become clear that at some point in the automotive industry, a regulator and a product planner sat in a car together, breathed in the near-silent hum of the engine and simplicity of the cabin and agreed this experience would be far better served with a soundtrack of heinous beeps and bongs.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT driving rear 3

Seat belt warnings, parking sensors, standard mechanical warnings, low temperate alerts and so many more… these alerts have crept in as sensible measures but I’m a strong believer that we are approaching ‘beep saturation’; a point where the driver is audibly assaulted so frequently that they pay attention to nothing at all.

Such a thing only really happens with poor implementation and that is absolutely the case with the Mitsubishi Triton’s driver’s monitoring system.

Fortunately for me, our long-term Triton has been equipped with the latest update that was quickly (in car manufacturer terms) put together by Mitsubishi after an uproar over its poor calibration at launch.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT driver monitoring

Is it fixed now? Well, mostly.

In the past, the Triton’s driver monitoring system had two reasons for sounding its infamous ‘beep’: the first was that it noticed you weren’t paying attention, and the second was that the sensor was obscured in some way, prompting a ‘driver attention monitoring system disabled’ warning bong.

Mitsubishi has dulled the sensitivity on both fronts, with the driver monitoring now disabled in off-road modes (low range and 4H with a locked centre diff) and it’s generally a lot easier to live with day to day.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT driving front 2

It’s not perfect though. The Diamond Brand insists that it must work within the bounds of the guidelines set by ANCAP but, regardless of who is at fault, the calibration is still far too annoying.

I’ve had a few thousands kilometres behind the wheel at this point and I’ve come to a firm conclusion: the system fundamentally fails at its job.

Say you’re using the touchscreen and a warning bong sounds, you’ve now stopped what you’re doing to see what the noise is about and then returned to the task at hand. The end result is that your eyes are taken off the road for longer.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2024 driver monitoring

It also still sounds off for absurd reasons, like checking your speed or looking out of the side window which, last time I checked, is still considered driving!

Again, by sounding an alert and flashing visual warning in the instrument cluster you’re often taking your eyes off the road for longer than you would be if there was no warning at all.

During a recent trip from Melbourne up to Ballarat, in regional Victoria, my wife also discovered that the system perceives her singing along to Tay Tay hits as behaviour indistinguishable from yawning and thus alerted her that she is fatigued and should pull over and rest. Hilarious, really.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT driving front 19

Despite my rage, I do believe this technology has a place, at least in theory. Fatigue is a huge killer on our roads and I’d argue a lack of attention is even more so.

Just take a quick scan around you in traffic and you’ll observe a staggering amount of people who feel perfectly comfortable blindly hurtling a two-tonne piece of metal down the road while their heads are buried in the phone on their lap.

Stricter rules for driver monitoring systems were introduced in 2023 which meant Mitsubishi was forced to adopt the technology in order to earn the five stars necessary to appeal to both family buyers and fleet buyers.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT driving POV

It’s unfair, really, as this means that the likes of the Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok are waltzing around the place with five stars beaming off their chest despite being tested without this latest tech. So to the casual observer, they appear as safe as each other.

However, since Mitsubishi has passed under these latest protocols others have followed such as the new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which has earned little to no criticism for its driver monitoring system, showing that it can be done right. It’s just not there yet.

And here is where my patience and understanding for the Triton’s driver monitoring system has run out.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT driving front 23

I’m of the strong belief that more cars should have this driver monitoring system to combat the flippant manner in which many drivers seem to observe our roads while driving but less is truly more when it comes to how these systems work.

By scaling back the beeps and honing in on the accuracy of the offending moment, such as detecting smartphone usage but not speedo monitoring, drivers will be more likely to take the feedback on board and not write off the warning as a pointless nuisance.

Perhaps this poor calibration is expected as Mitsubishi was one of the first to integrate the system under the new rules. We’ve seen this mayhem previously with Isuzu when they added lane keep assistance to the D-Max to score five stars under ANCAP’s 2020 protocols.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR 2025 LT front 3/4

It achieved that goal but the system was wildly intrusive, prompting further efforts by ANCAP to actually test how these systems work in the real world and not just on a private road. And yes, I am serious about that last point.

The next step for Mitsubishi here is to repeat what Isuzu did with its lane keep: make the system much easier to turn off while also making it more accurate and less intrusive so it only sounds a warning when actually necessary.

Month 1: A new beginning

A new city, a new adventure and a new ute to explore it. How fitting, really. But what else lies ahead for our six-month test?

The move to “Mexico” (Victoria), as my Sydney colleagues affectionately call it, has been a long-awaited change for my family and me, marking a new chapter of our lives in the most literal sense. I anticipated the better coffee and improved appreciation for AFL, but I didn’t expect this place to be so bloody beautiful.

Sitting on the border of outer suburbia and the countryside near Melbourne’s main airport, Tullamarine, the cascade of rolling green hills, skittish kangaroos and sheep grazing on farmland that surround my home all convey the same thing: This…is ute territory.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 grille 2

I love you Sydney, but as an Adelaide boy, the place was a bit crowded for my taste and a one- to two-hour drive out of suburbia to the nearest decent 4WD track a happy weekender does not make.

But it won’t just be all sunshine and long weekends away for this Triton (though those will be woven into the fabric don’t worry) as the ute will also be assuming family duties – a newer task asked of the modern ute but one that is undoubtedly critical in the modern age.

This year I was also lucky enough to welcome my second born into the world, which is bad news for my staffy Buddy who, in his nine-year vintage, has finally worked his way in my vehicle-driven life all the way from the front seat to the rear tray.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 canopy window

It was for this reason, along with preventing obvious theft of prams and such, that we opted for a canopy for the Triton. And right off the bat I’ll tell you that I’ve been impressed with what Mitsubishi has to offer here.

Designed right here in Australia, and charging $5100 for the privilege, you can find cheaper canopies but I would be seriously surprised if you could find one with a longer warranty; with the lid covered by the Diamond brand’s full-fat 10-year warranty.

Naturally, it ties in with the central locking system and features a trio of actuators on the side to pop open the main hatch and the side windows. It’s just a pity that these controls aren’t mounted on both sides though, it would save me some walking.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 button canopy

The rest of the ute it’s attached to has also left a pretty good impression so far in my first few weeks of testing, which have largely been restricted to around-town duties and the odd venture up the mountain for a bike ride while I’ve been on parental leave.

The Triton is a brutish thing, even with the comprehensive advancement of this latest generation, the 150kW/470Nm 2.4L twin-turbo-diesel makes itself known inside the cabin and is probably one of the louder engines in this segment. Personally I find that a bit endearing but we’ll see if I feel quite so attached after an eight-hour interstate trek in the coming months.

With some serious rainstorms smashing the state in recent weeks, I’ve also appreciated the surety of the brilliant Super Select ll full-time four-wheel-drive system that keeps the Trition properly stuck to the road as well as it does the dirt, unlikely other tail-happy part-time systems found on rivals such as the Isuzu D-Max.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 shifter

However, it hasn’t taken me long to note two concerns: the first is the ‘sticky’ six-speed automatic, which seems to leave the torque converter locked up for far too long between some shifts, primarily when lazily accelerating from third to fourth, though I’ve also noticed it from second to third at times.

Given this is the exact same transmission as fitted to the previous Triton and the D-Max, this is truly bizarre but hopefully with a few thousand kilometres into this new ute, the drivetrain might bed itself in.

The second issue is to do with the rear brakes, which are still inferior drums in what is a slightly irresponsible move by Mitsubishi given this generation has raised the payload and with it the towing capacity from 3.1 to 3.5 tonnes.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 tray

Naturally, we plan to conduct tests of both the impressive 1030kg payload and the bolstered towing capacity in the coming months along with quite a bit of 4WDing so we can really find out just how well-rounded the new Triton is.

The new Triton might be a bit of a brawler on the surface but to me, there is reason to consider this ute if its on-paper credentials translate to the real world, it’s not the most refined but it features gear like full-time 4WD with a locking centre diff that rivals like Ford and Toyota either can’t or won’t offer for the same price.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 in car driving 2

At $63,840 before on-roads, buyers of the flagship Triton GSR would be lucky to snap up a midspec Ford Ranger Sport with the lesser 2.0TT engine ($66,140) or the Toyota Hilux SR5 ($60,250), without many of the mechanical or luxury frills the Triton offers as standard.

So does the Triton live up to the promise? Time to get to work.

Why we chose the Mitsubishi Triton GSR

Utes are a big deal in Australia, with the light commercial segment they fall under our second-most popular by sales. Such a thing can’t happen without a vehicle being versatile in nature and versatility is the calling card of utes, particularly in dual-cab form, which has increasingly been assigned to family and adventure duties in recent years.

The outgoing MR Triton had a strong following that rightfully praised its mountain-goat-like off-road capability and sheer toughness. However, the old gen was too compromised in too many areas, with rubbish on-road manners, a below-average towing capacity and pokey, plastic interiors.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 side

At launch, we sampled the new MV Triton, which the diamond brand created with the intention of being a far more versatile machine. And we came away impressed, with caveats around some still concerning ride quality traits and a nagging driver monitoring system that made me want to pitch the damn thing into the nearest tree.

But with so many areas of capability to test such as payload, towing, family duties, off-road ability and reliability, the arrival of the latest chapter to the storied Triton nameplate required a genuine long-term tenure to access effectively and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing over the next six months.

How we specified our Mitsubishi Triton GSR

At $59,090 before on-road costs, the 2024 GLS variant of the Triton lineup is the first grade geared more towards family folk, above the more agricultural GLX and GLX+. But once you tack on the almost mandatory Deluxe Pack ($1500) you’re not far from the $63,840 flagship GSR which really does look the business.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 forest rear 3/4

While not as popular as the volume-selling GLS, top-spec grades like the GSR are where the market is trending and we think the slew of black accents makes the busy styling (particularly at the front) look far more sorted, tough and handsome; like a friendly publican who wins most, but not all of the fights he gets tangled up in.

  • Super Select 4WD-II
  • Terrain Control
  • Hill Descent Control
  • Standard Rear Suspension
  • 18-inch Alloy wheels
  • Bedliner
  • Heated, electrically-adjusted power folding door mirrors
  • Rear privacy glass 
  • LED headlights, front fog lights, indicators and tail lights
  • Additional soft-padded surfaces with silver stitching
  • Dual-zone auto air conditioning
  • Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
  • Keyless entry and push-button start
  • Wireless phone charger

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 forest rim

A standard GSR also tacks on the following:

  • Black 18-inch wheels
  • Sailplane styling bar
  • Black roof rails, wheel arches and front grille design
  • Unique leather seats with orange stitching
  • Two additional cup holders mounted on the dash
  • Power adjustable driver’s seat

Mitsubishi recently announced an MY2024.5 update for the Triton that re-introduces the GLX-R grade equipped with a damped tailgate as standard, which is also now found on the GLS and GSR grades. All other specifications, including price, are the same, however. 

For our long-term test car, we’ve gone with a GSR finished in a fantastic combination of White Diamond paint (+$200) and the two-tone black effect brought on by this flagship grade.

Mitsubishi Triton GSR LT 2024 rear

Our Triton is also fitted with a Mitsubishi genuine accessory canopy, which is designed right here in Australia and will set you back $5100 fitted. A tow bar kit ($1450) with an accompanying Redarc integrated brake controller ($850) is also fitted.

All this means the total driveway price in NSW is around $73,590 driveaway, which ain’t bad for a kitted-out top-spec ute.

$63,840
Details
Approximate on‑road price Including registration and government charges
$67,176

Key specs (as tested)

Engine
Capacity
2442 cc
Cylinders
4
Induction
Diesel Turbo
Power
150kW at 3500rpm
Torque
470Nm at 2500rpm
Power to weight ratio
71kW/tonne
Fuel
Fuel type
Diesel
Fuel capacity
75 litres
Consumption
7.7L/100km (claimed)
Average Range
974km (claimed)
Drivetrain
Transmission
Automatic
Drivetrain
4x4
Gears
6
Dimensions
Length
5320 mm
Width
1930 mm
Height
1795 mm
Unoccupied weight
2115 kg

About Chasing cars

Chasing Cars reviews are 100% independent.

Because we are powered by Budget Direct Insurance, we don’t receive advertising or sales revenue from car manufacturers.

We’re truly independent – giving you Australia’s best car reviews.

Terms and conditions

The estimate provided does not take into account your personal circumstances but is intended to give a general indication of the cost of insurance, in order to obtain a complete quote, please visit www.budgetdirect.com.au. Estimate includes 15%^ online discount.
^Conditions Apply

Budget Direct Insurance arranged by Auto & General Services Pty Ltd ACN 003 617 909(AGS) AFSL 241 411, for and on behalf of the insurer, Auto & General Insurance Company Limited(ABN 42 111 586 353, AFSL 285 571).Because we don’t know your financial needs, we can’t advise you if this insurance will suit you. You should consider your needs and the Product Disclosure Statement before making a decision to buy insurance. Terms and conditions apply.

Indicative quote based on assumptions including postcode , 40 year old male with no offences, licence suspensions or claims in the last 5 years, a NCD Rating 1 and no younger drivers listed. White car, driven up to 10,000kms a year, unfinanced, with no modifications, factory options and/or non-standard accessories, private use only and garaged at night.

^Online Discounts Terms & Conditions
1. Discounts apply to the premium paid for a new Budget Direct Gold Comprehensive Car Insurance, Third Party Property Only or Third Party Property, Fire & Theft Insurance policy initiated online on or after 29 March 2017. Discounts do not apply to optional Roadside Assistance.
2. Discounts do not apply to any renewal offer of insurance.
3. Discounts only apply to the insurance portion of the premium. Discounts are applied before government charges, taxes, levies and fees, including instalment processing fees (as applicable). The full extent of discounts may therefore be impacted.
4. We reserve the right to change the offer without notice.