... was quite the interesting headline a few day ago. This is a shock to me as the Land Rover Discovery Sport is the best selling model since 2017; largely because its the perfect size for most consumers. The Defender was too rugged (plus, its blueprints were sold to INEOS, so it wasn't even a 'real' Defender anymore), the Range Rover Sport was too large, and the Evoque was too small! Land Rover has already announced that they will discontinue the Discovery Sport at the end of this year, with plans of the Freelander to make a comeback, taking over the Compact Luxury Crossover SUV segment in Land Rover's lineup. It has truly been a while since the Freelander name was really mentioned, so I though it would be a good time as any to go back in time to look at the whole evolution to truly understand why it means SO MUCH to Land Rover fans that the Freelander is finally back! "In 1997, the Freelander didn't just join the compact SUV party—it brought the venue, lit t...
In the mid-2000s, if you heard the name Mitsubishi , your brain probably jumped to two things: a Lancer Evolution spraying gravel sideways on a rally stage, or a lifted Pajero chewing through mud in the desert. Mitsubishi built its street cred on hardcore, go-anywhere machines. But back home in Japan’s domestic market (JDM), a completely different trend was taking over the streets. Japanese drivers didn't always want to pretend they were going camping on the weekend. Instead, a lot of them wanted a car that could carry the whole family and look like it belonged at an late-night car meet. They wanted low-slung stances, aggressive front grilles, and proper street presence. Enter the Roadest badge. Rather than giving their vans and crossovers lifted suspensions and knobby off-road tires, Mitsubishi did the exact opposite. They took practical, everyday haulers—most famously the boxy Delica D:5—and slapped a factory-backed urban street makeover on them. The resu...