14 Feb 07
I do, however, have two criticisms of the 'box: it's easy to catch the overdrive switch with your left knee and it won't hold you easily on a hill in 'D'. It's pleasantly high geared, at 30mph per 1,000rpm, and the laboured sounds that come from the engine under acceleration fade into the background to make cruising relaxed, with a surprisingly lack of road noise, presumably because it has a separate chassis.
It eases up to 95mph quite quickly and feels as if it would show a lot more than the 102mph Mitsubishi quotes. At high speeds, side winds can catch the Elegance in the roomy wheel arches and when you're in a hurry in the wet, you can make the traction control work pretty hard.
But the finer points of driver appeal are a little irrelevant to what this leaf-sprung bruiser is all about. More important is the fact that it's totally undemanding to drive, and everyone - especially kids - enjoys the commanding view out (at least to the front; I find it a bit awkward to park despite the giant door mirrors). It has front seats that warm your bottom (although the passenger one has packed up) and intuitive climate controls. It's about as roomy as a Golf inside in terms of leg room, cleanly executed but still, somehow, unmistakably Japanese.
Reactions to it have embraced the complete spectrum from neighbours who say 'What are you doing with THAT?' to the guy collecting the litter in a Stroud car park whose eyes lit up at the sight of it and immediately offered to look after the keys for me.
However, the most extreme reaction came from a nameless wag who scrawled in the dirt on the driver's door a word which suggests that driving this type of vehicle must mean I indulge in one-person sexual activity. One thing's for sure. The L200 Elegance is not for the shy and retiring.
