My family and I spent this past Christmas together in Costa Rica. We have three adult children, and the two boys are 6’4″. So, we needed room for five and all the luggage.
We had a fair amount of ground travel planned. My wife and I would arrive first, and drive 90 miles north to the Lake Arenal region for a three night stay at a “couples” resort. We had a trip up the road to the volcanoes planned, and a swinging bridge park hike. We would then return to San Jose, collect the three kids off of two different flights over the course of about 12 hours, and then drive 90 miles south to Manuel Antonio for an eight night stay. Then, back to San Jose, for the five of us to depart on three separate flights as our group would be dispersing to California, New Jersey and North Carolina.
We could have booked a turismo van, which is a common mode of transport there. However, the logistics of arranging all these various van trips seemed a little much. We also wanted the flexibility to take side trips and leisure strolls around various points of interest. Despite rental car rates in Costa Rica being pretty steep, a rental car seemed the best option.
Rental agencies at the San Juan airport are the usual chains. I went with Sixt, because in my international travels, they seem to be one of the larger operators outside the U.S. and my last experience was a good one. I was in Greece in the Summer of 2023, and had a three cylinder BMW 120i hatchback from Sixt, which I loved (a MINI, I think, in a BMW suit).
I booked the largest vehicle class, not knowing what I would actually receive. I was pleasantly surprised when I was handed the keys to a 2022 Mitsubishi Montero Sport, a vehicle we don’t get in the U.S. since the second generation exited the market in 2004.
Though it seemed pretty worn in places, it only had about 40,000 kilometers, or 25,000 miles. It had three rows, sat up high, and seemed quite wide to me.
The Mitsubishi Costa Rica website fills in some of the specs (and I played with the available colors): 4WD, a 2.4 liter turbodiesel four cylinder with 178 horsepower, 189 inches long on a 110 inch wheelbase. The wheelbase and overall length are almost identical to a Toyota 4Runner according to Google, but it felt larger than that to me (though it has been many years since I have been behind the wheel of a 4Runner). The build tag under the hood announced it was built in Thailand.
For my wife and I, it was a quiet and borderline luxurious conveyance. It had the basic goods: automatic, leather, power driver seat, heated front seats, two zone auto climate control, wired CarPlay, and power windows/locks/mirrors. No sunroof, lots of hard plastic everywhere, no power hatch which I prefer anyway. Costa Rica had experienced recent flooding, so the main road north was closed. The 90 miles north to the Lake Arenal region took five hours over twisty, barely two lane roads with one lane bridges appearing without warning. In the dark, in a driving rain, after a long day of travel (Charlotte to Miami, change planes, then Miami to San Jose).
Arriving to our resort about 8pm, I was reasonably pleased with the vehicle. The heated seat with a very aggressive power lumbar support felt good on my back, we felt safe in the vehicle, and the fuel gauge barely budged off full. The Sixt agent told me to use Waze, instead of Google Maps or Apple Maps, which was a good call given we had no cell service after leaving San Jose.
This was also the first time I have ever rented a car where I got a detailed explanation of the spare tire stowage, and jack use. Must be a common problem there, though we had no issues.
The drive back to San Jose was the same road, but in dry conditions, and during daylight. It was very slow going again, since this time it was packed with tractor trailers using the same detour. We saw a beautiful sunset,
and got to enjoy the views and small towns that had been obscured in the rainy night drive. We parked and walked around La Fortuna for a few hours, and enjoyed the best ceviche I ever had.
At the San Jose airport, we stayed in a Holiday Inn at the entrance. There was a Denny’s across the parking lot (as well as a casino), and a WalMart down the street, so this was a convenient place to fuel up for the trip to a house we had rented. We weren’t sure what the shopping options in Manuel Antonio were going to be. It turned out there were a couple of small groceries in the town proper, and a surprisingly well stocked store beside us crammed into about a 100 square foot space.
Getting five adults, all their luggage, and a large WalMart run into the Montero was something of a game of Tetris in the WalMart parking lot. The third row is split, which made it possible. The boys had the second row, which the kids pronounced as too tight for three of them across. Our daughter had one half of the third row, and everything stacked beside and behind her in a way that it would not shift or topple onto her.
There was a surprising amount of cargo room behind the third row, despite the Montero being 20 inches shorter than a Tahoe. The leg room throughout is pretty limited, though. I am 5’10” on a good day, and I moved the driver seat up to give the son behind me some room. I still felt his knees in my back.
Fully laden, the Montero struggled quite a bit. On the Costa Rican “interstate” the speed limit was a maximum of 80 KPH, about 50 MPH, but that required flooring the accelerator on any decent incline. There were frequent toll booths, with a strained effort to merge back into traffic since we didn’t have a transponder. Passing on two lane roads was an option only a couple of times.
The ride was pretty nice, though. Smooth and not what I would call truck-like. The steering was pretty vague, but I think the worn all terrain tires had a lot to do with that.
We were on foot most of the time in Manuel Antonio, but did use the Montero to go to the resort beachfront, for store runs, and a day at Manuel Antonio National Park. There’s not parking per se at the Park, so you pay $5 (about 2,500 Colons) to park behind businesses and homes that line the road up to the entrance.
After we returned to San Jose, I filled up for the first time; we averaged an impressive 28mpg (this took some mental gymnastics, since I was sleep deprived, buying liters in Colons, and the dash trip computer would only give metric readouts). When I returned the Montero to Sixt, I actually felt a little sad, like I was leaving behind a friend. It kept my family safe through some pretty trying conditions without a whimper.
As I waited in line, I overhead an Australian father in front of me, pleading for something larger for his 30 day vacation with his family than the Geely Coolray hatchbacks they had lined up (which were good looking, by the way). I spoke up to the attendant, “Hey, I’m bringing back that Montero, it’s full of diesel and I cleaned it out”. We did return it with a cleaner interior than when we picked it up, but the exterior was a mess. The other family drove off in it without so much as a wash, as I waited to get shuttled back to the terminal. Off for another family adventure!
Ahh, Costa Rica he says while looking out the window at snow and -8C. I’ve seen lots of those Monteros in CR but never rented one because a smaller vehicle does it for our family of 4.
We’ve rented out of Liberia a few times, the insurance always doubles the quoted cost and there’s always some guy arguing at the counter that he doesn’t need the insurance.
I assume that’s a stock photo of Arenal, since in our experience it’s constantly shrouded in cloud and they take all the tourist photos the one day of the year it’s clear. 😉
Too bad Mitsubishi has retracted so much in North America, they seem to have compelling enough offerings.
The whingeing Aussie would’ve been familiar with the car: they’ve sold it here as the Pajero Sport for over 9 years now, albeit with a few frontal facelifts, and its always sold fairly well.
In truth, I think it’s possibly often a slightly begrudging purchase, being substantially cheaper than the desired Toyota equivalents, but with diesel, low-range, and ladder chassis, it’s a proper off-roader or tow car.
The somewhat cramped interior is in part a product of it being built on the previous-gen Triton ute chassis (but with coils at rear). All the dual-cab Japanese utes have the seats fairly close to the high floor. I assume your daughter isn’t 6’4″: at 6′, I literally wasn’t able to sit in the rearmost row of one of these.
They’re not quite Toyota-quality, like all Mitsubishis ever, but they’re reliable enough, with only DPF filter, EGR valves and turbos eventually failing, though that is common to EVERY modern turbo-diesel-engined anything. They have a tow-rating of about 3 tons here, though that is outside common sense to me if fully used. Not at all fast, they go quite well in my experience, certainly being able to maintain our 62 mph limit up hills without flattening the throttle, so I wonder if your particular one was a bit off-color?
I found that with the live rear axle and vague steering and tall C.O.G. that they’re a bit tipsy to drive, and absolutely not to be rushed round bends. It doesn’t sound like you had much chance to try that!
A reliable – if perhaps slightly dull – friend is a good way to describe these cars.
Here’s a trivia fact for everyone. Did you know that the utes from ALL Japanese makers, including the Ranger and HiLux , are made in Thailand?
Interesting about Thailand. I’ve read that some Hiluxes are produced in Thailand (and many other places), but didn’t know about others, such as the Ranger, or this Montero.
Interesting review – definitely hitting the rental car jackpot when you get a model that’s not sold in your homeland. Sounds like this was a good fit for your trip.
I’m curious whether Mitsubishis seemed more prevalent in Costa Rico than they are in the US. Here, when I see a newish Mitsubishi, I often think “Wow, people are still buying Mitsubishis.” But I’m sure someone in the world they’re more competitive.
Seems we are missing some decent alternative SUV choices here as some of them fully or partially withdraw from the US market. Our ’94 Montero was excellent back in the day as was our ’98 Isuzu Trooper, another missing choice.
When we were in Jamaica last year we rented a Suzuki Grand Vitara, another one once sold here. It was quite decent and big enough for 4 adults and a 3 yr old grandkid with car seat. It too would be a good choice for those not wishing to pay Toyota or Honda prices.
We had a similar scary ride in the dark and rain for 3 hours from Montego Bay to Treasure Beach, over the mountain, taking the shortest route. Returning by another longer route featured an excellent new road for much of it, and we later found it had just been built by China (!) for access to a mine of some sort. Much better than the route taken on our first day.
As they drive on the opposite side from what we do in the US, I was surprised to find out from the groundskeeper of our AirBnB that many of the used cars are Japanese imports – as in actually imported directly from Japan – as used cars there also have R side (wrong side!) driver position and are sold off rather young due to stringent inspection laws in Japan. We saw several types of largish Toyota vans never seen here used as public transport.
I’m really sorry to see Suzuki leave the US. I love our little ’03 Tracker (Grand Vitara) as it has a full ladder frame and genuine 4WD with low range. I really like its compact size; I just don’t like large vehicles, especially when negotiating rough and off-road situations. I’d really like a modern replacement.
I don’t know if it’s still relevant, but Mitsubishi was a first Japanese car experience for a lot of Americans, owing to the fact that they were sold at Dodge and Plymouth dealers (and with those nameplates) in the 1970s. This made them the most accessible Japanese cars in the parts of the US where Honda/Toyota/Datsun dealers were few and far between. Also, because they wore American nameplates, they were (perhaps) less subject to scorn than other “foreign cars” in areas where that was an issue.
I have a cousin by marriage whose first new car was a Dodge/Mitsubishi Colt, and has owned nothing but Mitsubishi vehicles since.
Overall design/layout, typeface weights, and colour scheme of the Costa Rican licence plate, is not that far removed from the Ontario ‘Keep it Beautiful’ plate from 1973.