In the course of this long-term test, I had to relocate my office, and I'm truly thankful for having the Outlander's cavernous boot at my disposal.
You could lose someone in there!
After nearly two years of attending events and collecting an assortment of car-related paraphernalia, I filled more boxes and bags than I care to remember.
It took several trips down the lift to load it all, but the Outlander's 882 litres of boot space swallowed everything - and had room for more.
If you're not intending to ferry more than one passenger, the second row of seats can also 'fold-and-tumble' forward to create a whopping 1,691 litres of stowage space.
Loading up is easy with the split tailgate
The split tailgate is also a god-send when loading big items like bicycles. I think I would be pretty compelled to buy a new bike if I owned an Outlander.
Ah well, another excuse not to exercise.
ICE-BREAKER
My ride certainly made an impact at the new office as well.
Some of my new colleagues were keen to try out the 'outlandish; Outlander, given how it's probably the loudest vehicle in the parking lot - literally (thanks to the booming sound system) and figuratively (thanks to the dozens of decals). **
Loudest one in the lot
Offering rides to lunch isn't a bad way to get to know people, so I offered four new friends a ride, though technically two more could have fit in the two collapsible seats in the rear.
That's seven people you can haul around at any one time, in case you're not counting.
BAGS OF SPACE
That very same day, I gave a friend a lift into town, and she was quite enthralled by how the Outlander's boot space could accommodate her plans for embarking on the mother of all shopping sprees during the Great Singapore Sale.
Not that I'm not helpful or anything, but the thought of battling hordes of weekend shoppers and scavenging for elusive parking lots just gave me the chills.
Yours truly then "hem-ed" and "haw-ed" while struggling to come up with some plausible cop-out excuse. The best I could manage was "The Outlander is too big for shopping centre carparks."
The stoic Outlander on the top floor of IMM
That statement is complete rubbish of course, as I had already driven to malls like Vivocity, Ngee Ann City, Novena Square, Funan IT Mall, IMM, Centrepoint, Marina Square, and Suntec City without incident.
The only gripe I have is that when drivers don't parallel park within the confines of their lot, which accounted for the only incident where I had trouble docking the Outlander.
See? No problems here!
So, whether it's a party of seven you're looking to ferry, or a truckload of stuff you need to move, the Outlander doesn't break a sweat doing either.
NEXT: ADIEU OUTLANDER?
** The Outlander has been vandalised! Someone has ripped off the Channel 5 decals from its C-pillars!
