2003 Mitsubishi Pickup L200 Warrior Double-Cab review from UK and Ireland

Rear glass hatch on optional hard-top for pickup bed smashed.

Power delivery deteriorates after each service, roughly after 7,000 miles.

Company vehicle bought due to advantageous tax regulations.

Shocking fuel economy, roughly 20mpg.

Engine needs to be worked hard especially with five people on board and thus hurts fuel economy.

Relatively comfortable in front two seats.

Rear bench placed too high and short on legroom. Uncomfortable over distances and poor view from back windows. Hard-top and tinted windows make rear of cabin very dark.

Poor dash design, but attractive silver trim - chunky switchgear yet to fail at all.

Bad placement of switches and lamps - front fog light switch and lamp are both under the steering wheel.

No illumination of some switchgear, so night driving is precarious when hunting for buttons.

Heater exceptionally quick and efficient and air-conditioning therefore unnecessary, since it also drinks fuel.

Leather upholstery looks good after 40,000 miles, beginning to shine, but not of exceptional quality - well worth the investment though as a great improvement over the cloth. Back seat ripped easily after accident with sharp object.

Appalling visibility - tinted windows at rear do not help, neither do chunky pillars. The hard-top also gets dirty quickly and makes rear visibility very poor - have to rely on side mirrors, which are helpfully large.

Handles badly, and the rear wheel drive can easily catch you out in the wet. Poor off the line performance, but mid-range grunt can catch you unaware on damp roundabouts and country roads.

Coil springs at front so ride is passable, if bouncy (huge tyres help) but rear leaf springs make the ride in the back shockingly bad and rear seat passengers frequently request alternate seating.

Noisy at speed. Very noisy. But I only realised this when I drove a normal car for the first time in 8 months and it was silent in comparison. Wind-noise also intrusive.

Long-range trips are possible in it - I frequently travel between Oxford and Newcastle in it, but it's getting tiring now and I await a normal car next month.

Beware big, big servicing costs (£500 for 36,000 miles) but as of yet no tyre wear. This is not a cheap vehicle to run, especially privately.

Looks immense in black with chrome fittings, but takes hours to wash. Downright macho as well with the pick-up section. I drive it through company insurance (at age 19) but the attention it draws is both desirable (from peers) and undesirable (police, but haven't been stopped yet).

This vehicle is horrendous to park. Phenomenal width, length is impossible to judge, but with a lot of hard practice it becomes second nature. Rear easily dented as a result of mistakes.

Beware of the enormous turning circle - lots of car parks will become no-go areas, and you soon have to park with a mind to how you will get out of the space. If test-driving, don't have one shot at parking this - choose ten difficult spaces before you make your mind up.

Not as practical as you'd think - can carry 1 ton payload, but objects over 1.5m long are impossible (even my old A-Class was better for that) and your cargo gets wet unless you opt for a hard-top, but this doesn't make it anywhere near as practical as something like a shogun. This was only bought as a tax-break, and whilst it's been incredibly fun to have for the year (especially since I won't be able to drive something like this for another ten years due to my age) the A-Class I had previously did the job just as well, and this L200 only came into its own on the one occasion we needed to carry 4 people and a few hundred kilos of cargo.

Question whether you really need a car like this - it's not really a car and how you drive will need to change dramatically.