(Reprinted from Gannett's Desert Sun)

Mitsubishi appears right now to be "King of the Crossover"; that is, they have 3 distinct and separate "car/wagons" on their sales lots, seeming to strongly believe that this segment is the hot one right now and is only going to grow.

If Endeavor is their answer to the mid-sized crossover question, they seem to understand the niche very well. Endeavor is built on the all-new 2004 Galant platform, and both Endeavor and Galant are built in the USA. Galant has been the best-selling Mitsubishi for some time now, and using that car’s platform as the basis for Endeavor makes a strong statement about how important Endeavor is going to be to their sales efforts.

A good move by Mitsubishi marketing people is that Endeavor not only borrows from Galant, which this year comes with a 4 cylinder engine as well as a 3 liter V6, but they also go upscale to their Montero parts bin and use the same engine/tranny in the Endeavor as in the larger Montero. Endeavor comes standard with the 3.8 liter V6 pumping out 215 horsepower and 250 foot pounds of torque, mated to a four-speed automatic transmission.

Endeavor is available with either front-wheel or all-wheel drive. Prices range from $25,600 to $33,100, with three trim levels and AWD or FWD available within each level. In each case the AWD version is about $1,500 more than the front-driver, so as always, I recommend getting the AWD version if you can at all afford that superior model. AWD allows the vehicle to realize all its performance capabilities and holds its value right up to the time you trade it in or sell your Endeavor on the used market. Though in no way is Endeavor a serious off-roader, AWD does add an extra margin of performance and safety, especially here in our Valley, where sand on the road in the lower elevations can be just as dangerous as a thin sheet of ice just ½ hour up Highway 74.

Endeavor weighs anywhere from about 3,900 to 4,200 pounds, depending on the version ordered (AWD adds about 300 pounds). We enjoyed the ease of the automatic transmission, but would like the option of a stick shift, too, especially if we planned on towing with an AWD model.

More and more it is difficult to find a true manual transmission, and the majority of people these days do not know how to operate one. In fact, Lincoln offered a stick shift in their V6 LS model when it was introduced a few years ago, and made a lot of noise about it. But in the newest LS, that stick has been dropped to due a lack of demand (we’ll look at the LS V8 soon in these pages).

Inside and out, Endeavor is nicer then one might expect from what is essentially a big and pricey station wagon. Controls and gauges are all easy to operate and read. Overall handling is about what you’d expect from a crossover this size; more stable-feeling than a comparably-sized SUV, and with four wheel anti-lock disc brakes and front and rear stabilizer bars, this li’l truck provides predictable handling and is comfortable and familiar enough for just about anyone to get in and drive off with no special training (I think any SUV buyer should get extra driver’s training and maybe a special endorsement on their driver’s licenses, much like those needed by motorcycle pilots or big-rig drivers).

Mitsubishi is going through a growing period, bringing out a lot of new products in the period of just a year or so. That can be good or bad, depending on how much money the company has to spend on advertising to differentiate the new cars from each other, and to make sure that each car and truck gets its fair shake in front of the public.

A few years ago, Mazda dug themselves a hole which they are now still climbing out of. They had some great new products for the USA, the most important marketplace for any international car company, but they all came out right on top of each other, one quickly after the other. The company didn’t have enough people with the marketing savvy to make sure the public understood what was going on.

Things were so bad for Mazda that a wonderful car, the Millenia S, equipped with a "Miller cycle engine", an engine which mimicked the power of adding a small supercharger, probably one of the best V6-powered cars on the road at the time, died on the vine. In fact, Millenia S has been deleted from the Mazda line-up in this country.

Coming out at about the same time as Millenia were the MX6 and MX3. I heard some of the top analysts in the world tell me the MX3 was the best-looking Japanese car in the past 20 years. But the public paid scant attention. How could they, what with all the noise surrounding Mazda in general?

Great cars in their segments, but too much for consumers to follow. People have a hard enough time remembering just one new car from a well-known manufacturer. For Mazda, being somewhat obscure outside of performance circles anyway, trying to find out about so many all-new cars was confusing and time consuming for the average shopper.

Today Mazda is attempting a resurrection, this time based around a car called the Mazda6 (reviewed recently in these pages).

Mitsubishi, judging by sales figures and general customer awareness and knowledge of the new models, seems to have avoided the Mazda pitfalls.

Mainly, it appears that a fabulous advertising campaign, breaking new music mostly from European groups unknown in the USA, has worked extraordinarily well for them, as have their very aggressive sales tactics (0% down, 0% interest, 0 payments for a year).

But it’s the product which ultimately makes or breaks any new car introduction. Judging by reaction to the Endeavor we drove for a week or so around the Valley, Mitsubishi has a winner on their hands, if it doesn’t get lost in the crowd.

With mid-size crossovers becoming a hot segment for all manufacturers, Endeavor fits into the category as well-priced, nicely designed inside and out, adequately powered and definitely worth a look.