Vans of the Year Awards 2011

Vans of the Year Awards 2011-Pick-Up

Pick-Up of the Year
Mitsubishi L200
pick-up

Farmers, landscape gardeners, builders and even active sports participants love pick-ups. It would be fair to say that the winner of this category changed the shape of the pick-up market in the UK. Available in three body configurations with specification levels to suit all requirements, the L200 has been target marketed by Mitsubishi for over ten years and the results speak for themselves.

All L200s feature a selectable four-wheel drive system whether they are a single, club (a stretched single cab with occasional rear seating) or double cab, and share the same 2.5-litre turbodiesel at either 134hp or 175hp. A five-speed manual gearbox is standard, but there’s the option of an automatic on some models.

Spec levels go from the basic 4Work all the way up to the all singing & dancing Barbarian. Naturally there are a host of optional bolt-ons available to macho-up even the more utilitarian versions.

Load length varies depending on cab configuration, but a couple of years ago a Long Bed option was introduced which extended the double cab’s useable load bed by 180mm, taking it to 1,505mm. Payloads are all in excess of 1,000kg which means that business users can reclaim the VAT on models with rear side windows.

When the current L200 was introduced it showed that it was possible to engineer a pick-up to be rugged and very capable off-road while at the same making it civilised to drive on the black stuff. And it still shines in this respect.

Highly Commended
Nissan’s Navara is one hell of a pick-up with a very torquey 2.5-litre turbodiesel; or there’s even the amazing 3.0-litre V6 mated to a seven-speed semi-auto ‘box. It’s just a shame there’s no single cab model.