AFTER a less than impressive stint attempting to invade the compact off-roader market with the Pajero iO, Mitsubishi now takes on the popular, RAV4-style soft-roaders with its Outlander. Very bold from the front, but less so everywhere else, the Outlander proves to be an effective, quite spacious all-wheel drive wagon with excellent dirt road manners as well as a sedan-like on-road experience that is emphasised by its unusually low on-road stance. With the longest wheelbase in the class - longer, for example, than a Mazda Tribute - it accommodates passengers and luggage readily. As a soft-roader, it maybe comes closer than anything else of its ilk to combining car-like road manners and looks with reasonable off-road ability.