SUVs - will we ever get sick of them? Love them or loathe them, the good news is that manufacturers are making them better for everyday driving and kinder to the environment.
The new Outlander '7' marks another step in their evolution. It's a compact 5+2-seater that Mitsubishi is pitting against the Land Rover Freelander in the highly competitive family-friendly SUV market. The Japanese manufacturer has been turning out road-going 4x4s since the 1980s and all this experience shows in the Outlander.
With an exterior that's a stylish blend of angles and curves, the Outlander is bold enough to appeal to wannabe off-roaders yet comfortable enough to entice families looking for an easy-driving commuter car.
Mitsubishi has been busy making the Outlander more road-friendly, better to drive and more comfortable and it's now as family-friendly as any compact SUV out there. Although it doesn't quite have the cachet of its Land Rover counterpart, it is in many respects a worthy rival.
For starters, the Outlander comes with a generous list of standard equipment - from the driving side (18-inch alloys, stability control, 2/4WD transmission, paddle shift and multipoint fuel injection) right down to its mod cons (auto air con, keyless entry, power sunroof and a teenager-friendly sound system). And if you like the exterior, you'll appreciate the minimalist, all-black interior design, both in the standard (HK$265,000) model and the fancier eight-airbag, leather-clad model (HK$330,000) with its trendy 650w Fosgate CD player and rear LCD DVD-player. If you want to keep up with the Joneses, buy the more expensive model - but in reality there's not much between them when you're wheeling around Central.
Both models come with the surprisingly urgent 2.4-litre MIVEC, which has real pulling power at low revs and which, despite not being as fast or as smooth as the Freelander's six-cylinder, will be just as potent off-road. And if the weather turns bad, just flick on the 4WD auto lock for more traction.