Other than its extra power, the V6 Outlander does have a couple of advantages: it has sliding rear seats and a fold-down third-row seat which increases seating capacity to seven people; however it’s a very small seat that’s suitable only for children. As well, the top-of-the-line Outlander GT S-AWC V6 model is available with advanced safety features that are not available in four-cylinder Outlanders such as a more advanced all-wheel drive system called Super All-Wheel Control and a suite of safety features Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Mitigation and Adaptive Cruise Control. If you want these features, you’ll have to buy the top-of-the-line V6 Outlander.

On paper, it appears that the Outlander is outmuscled by its four-cylinder competitors. To the Outlander’s 166 horsepower, the Honda CR-V offers 185, Toyota RAV4 176, Ford Escape (1.6T) 173, Nissan Rogue 170, and Hyundai Tucson 175. The Outlander’s engine is also not as torquey, particularly when compared to the Tucson and Escape’s turbocharged engines. The Outlander’s maximum torque of 162 lb-ft compares to the the CR-V with 181, RAV4 172, Escape 184, Rogue 175, and Tucson with 195.

Published estimates of the 2016 Outlander’s acceleration times (I4, AWD) show an estimated 0 to 100 km/h time of 11.1 seconds . That’s slower than its primary competitors as well as the previous generation Outlander which had a 0 to 100 km/h time of 10.9 seconds.

However, after driving my 2016 Outlander for a few days, I became suspicious of these published acceleration times: my 2016 Outlander seemed quicker. So I decided to do my own acceleration tests with a hand-held stopwatch. To maximize CVT gearing, I tapped the shift lever from ‘D’ over to the right into ’D Sport’ mode. Then, using a freeway on-ramp (to avoid undue attention from cell-phone toting bystanders), I accelerated from a standing start to 100 km/h. My time was just under 10 seconds. That’s better than the Nissan Rogue (10.7 sec), about the same as the Toyota RAV4 (9.9 sec) and Ford Escape 1.6T (9.9 sec), and not far behind the Honda CR-V (9.4 sec). The Hyundai Tucson 1.6T (8.8 sec) is quicker.

The Outlander’s better-than-expected acceleration may be due in part to the Outlander’s relatively light curb weight of 1,535 kg – that’s over 100 kg lighter than a Ford Escape 1.6T and 65 kg lighter than a Toyota RAV4.

During my week driving the Outlander in both hilly and flat territory around Vancouver, I never felt that it was underpowered for typical city and freeway driving needs, and if better acceleration was required, I’d just slap the shift lever into Sport mode to raise the engine revs.

However, like most four-cylinder compact SUVs with limited torque, a full load of passengers and cargo will tax its performance. As well, its towing capacity of 1,500 lb compares to the Outlander V6 with 3,500 lb.

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