How To Travel On a Dime - Gas Tank Challenge

I was able to test drive a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE AWC for one week for this post. Regardless, All opinions are 100% my own! #DriveMitsubishi

One thing I hear often is, “I can’t afford a vacation.” I totally get it. With tight budgets vacations do not always seem like a possibility BUT I have come up with a new form of “vacation”. The One Tank Gas Challenge! It’s the perfect getaway for anyone who is tight on time, budget or both.

Through our recent One Tank Gas Challenge, we discovered there are 3 things that help make a short vacation like this a success.

Travel Companions You Enjoy

With my husband on his Daddy/Daughter trip my oldest daughter than left my son and me available for a little fun. We invited Shannon and her son to go on a Mommy/Son trip. We all needed a quick break, so it was the perfect trip. Our two boys that are ALL boy got to run free and wild and Shannon and I got to have fun chit chatting the whole trip.

A Destination

My son made only one request. He wanted to collect some leaves that are changing colors and find some pinecones. Pretty simple…except we live in Phoenix, Arizona and needed to find somewhere within a tank of gas that had changing leaf colors. I am pretty sure it was after Christmas last year when I captured this leaf picture of my kiddos here in Phx! 🙂

Luckily, the day we planned our trip was going to be Veteran’s Day and we found out Prescott, Arizona was going to have a parade, …

…they would have our leaves …

… pinecones…

…AND they were within a tank of gas from us.

We were even able to visit a lake!

Perfect!

A Vehicle With a Gas Tank That Can Get Your Destination

When doing a One Tank Gas Challenge, it is extremely important that you have a vehicle that can get you to and from your desired destination. Boy, did we find that with the 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE AWC!

Not only did we get to Prescott 130 miles roundtrip, but I’m betting we could have reached Flagstaff and home again with gas to spare. The mpg on this car was crazy! We got well over 35 mpg on the trip.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport seated 5 comfortably, including 2 car seats (infant and booster) and 1 non-carseat child in the back. The front seat fit 5’2″ me easily but also my 6’4″ husband later with headroom to spare (something that is difficult for him to find). Everything in this car was digital, security, air, radio, etc. It was even keyless! So cool! The sound system was awesome and also well loved by the boys. The seats and floor were put to a serious test of dirt and travel snacks from the boys and cleaned up way easier than I expected and with very little effort. A quick vacuum and it was all clean!

From the moment we first sat in the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport I really enjoyed the large windows and even had a glass roof. The boys’ especially loved this feature! At night, it had LED mood lighting that surrounded the outside of the window and gave just enough light inside to see what you needed without blinding the driver. My son was even able to read by this light.

One other perk that I loved hear about was the warranty that comes with it. You get a 10-year/100,000-mile Powertrain Limited Warranty, a 5-year/60,000-mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty with a 5 year/60,000 roadside assistance (no matter what, they come and get you. Awesome!) and a a 7-year/100,000-mile Anti-Corrosion/Perforation Limited Warranty. All this coverage will definitely keep any owner worry free!

This was my first experience driving a Mitsubishi and so I had no previous good or bad opinions. After a week of driving it, I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it. My only complaint would be the white noise I experienced while on older parts/non asphalted parts of the freeway. Luckily, there are not many areas like that. But everything else driving it was great. It had a nice sense of power as we were driving, it didn’t even feel like it was struggling going up hills. It was very consistent even with a full car!