2026 Mitsubishi ASX Exceed review

In order to fill a gaping gap in its local product line-up, Mitsubishi needed a rapid replacement for its best-selling SUV. The solution it arrived at was a collaboration with Renault.

So while this ASX looks box-fresh to Aussie buyers, it’s actually a rebadged version of the Renault Captur, which has been on sale in Europe since 2019, and which was treated to a facelift in 2024.

It probably won’t have escaped your attention that cars from French companies have often struggled to represent strong value for money in the Australian market.

The ASX, with the Captur as its origin, is no exception, and this ASX Exceed flagship model wears a rather conspicuous price tag of $46,490 before on-road costs.

It’s also a smaller car than its predecessor, albeit one that packs a refreshing amount of talent into a length of just 4238mm – shorter than the Mazda CX-3 light SUV.

Thankfully, Mitsubishi’s exterior styling is deft and well executed. No, the shape doesn’t immediately look like something from the Japanese brand, but it’s well proportioned and neatly detailed.

Given the asking price, the ASX would initially seem to have its work cut out to appeal to either dyed-in-the-wool loyalists looking to trade in or those merely searching for a smartly priced light/compact SUV. But can it manage a decent line in counterarguments?

Mitsubishi has striven to keep the ASX’s ongoing running costs both manageable and transparent.

The 2026 Mitsubishi ASX is covered by the company’s five-year/100,000km warranty, which extends to 10 years or 200,000km (whichever comes first) provided all scheduled services are performed at a Mitsubishi dealership.

Mitsubishi’s capped-price servicing runs on intervals of 12 months or 15,000km (whichever arrives first) and covers the first 10 years or 150,000km.

This level of reassurance represents one of the ASX’s biggest drawcards, with buyers able to take much of the guesswork out of future running costs.

Comprehensive insurance for the Forester Hybrid Sport runs to $1634 per annum, based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

ANCAP has yet to test the 2026 Mitsubishi ASX Exceed. Mitsubishi expects a five-star rating when testing is conducted. 

For reference, the Renault Captur scored a four-star Euro NCAP rating and a five-star ANCAP rating in 2019, but testing regimes have become significantly stricter since then.

You get front, side and curtain airbags, and the ASX also features driver attention alert. This is not a camera-based system, instead using a combination of steering patterns and use of turn signals and pedals to detect indications of fatigue.

In practice, it’s not always particularly accurate. If you have light hands on the steering wheel, it flashes a ‘Take Control’ warning on the dash and sounds a series of beeps that mute the stereo. It can do this repeatedly, leaving you actively weaving in the lane to prevent it from activating.

One notable omission from this range-topping Exceed is a 360-degree parking camera. The rear-facing parking camera isn’t the best of its type either, with a disappointingly low-resolution image relayed to the centre screen.

The ASX scores some serious goodwill by utilising Renault’s personalisation system for its advanced driver assist systems (ADAS). This is genuinely the best of its ilk, allowing users to tune the car’s driver assist systems to their tastes and assign them to a button. 

One press on that button and you get exactly the warning and assists you want and none of the others. It’s so simple but brilliantly effective.

The 2026 Mitsubishi ASX Exceed returns a claimed combined fuel economy figure of 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres. This represents an improvement over the old car of 16 per cent.

On a mix of urban and suburban testing, we were able to replicate this figure on a fairly consistent basis. 

While that fuel figure is a useful step forward for the Mitsubishi ASX, in the context of the larger market, it’s not particularly outstanding. 

It’s lineball with an old stager like the 2.0-litre Mazda CX-3, while something like the Skoda Kamiq 1.5 will return 5.6L/100km – some 12.5 per cent better than the ASX.

Start to factor hybrid vehicles into that comparison and you’ll see 3.9L/100km from the Hyundai Kona, 4.0L/100km for the Toyota C-HR, 4.3L/100km for the Toyota Corolla Cross and 4.7L/100km for the much bigger MG ZS.

One consolation is that the ASX is happy to run on 91RON regular octane petrol, saving you a few dollars at the bowser compared to its more complex rivals, which often require premium unleaded.

If the downside of basing your vehicle on a Renault base is that it’s likely to be expensive when it arrives in Australia, the silver lining is that it’s also likely to be good fun to drive. And so it proves.

For all of its other qualities, the old ASX was something of a dull outing behind the wheel, with outdated and inefficient engines and uninspiring handling. This latest car is night-and-day different.

The 1.3-litre turbocharged engine doesn’t look particularly inspirational when looking at a spec sheet, but it has enough about it to give the ASX a bit of spirit. The sprint to 100km/h comes and goes in 8.7 seconds, which is decent warm hatch territory.

Best of all, it mines a rich seam of low-end torque which, when coupled with the rapid-fire dual-clutch transmission, means that you’re rarely caught wanting for meaningful go.

It’s inevitable that such a small-capacity engine will feel a little pushed at freeway speeds, but otherwise refinement isn’t too bad with competent suppression of wind, tyre and suspension noise. 

The gearbox features wheel-mounted paddles, but by and large the drive logic is good enough that you’ll rarely bother with them. Only occasionally in urban stop/start traffic can the transmission feel a little abrupt. For the most part it’s barely perceptible.

The good news doesn’t stop there either. The 2026 Mitsubishi ASX Exceed also rides well, especially given that it’s fitted with big 18-inch alloy wheels.

Many compact SUVs feel a little wooden and stiff-legged as they attempt to manage the physics of a tall body riding on a short wheelbase. The ASX has a welcome degree of suppleness to it. Yes, you do feel a bit of patter from the wheels on poor surfaces, but overall it’s very well judged.

Body control is extremely good through corners too, and the steering calibration is respectable. You can cycle through three different weightings for the steering in the drive-mode personalisation screen. The changes are subtle and none of the settings feel gratuitous or obnoxious.

Because it rides on a normal passive damper, no amount of fiddling with the drive modes changes how the ASX rides. The default drive modes are Eco, Sport and Perso, and within the Perso mode you can adjust the settings for engine, steering, vehicle dynamics, ambient lighting, light intensity and climate.

The ASX Exceed wears a quality tyre. The Continental Eco Contact 6Q offers low rolling resistance and, in this 215/55 R18 sizing, a decent amount of tyre sidewall to take the edge off minor surface imperfections.

The Mitsubishi also features a full suite of LED lights, with a manual headlight-levelling function.

While it’s not hard to significantly improve on the ambiance of a predecessor that first appeared in 2010, the latest ASX looks and feels neat and modern, if not particularly bold in its interior design execution.

It’s impossible to escape the fact that this is now a small car. It’s smaller than its generously cut predecessor in most key dimensions. While accommodation up front feels reasonably generous, it’s a different story in the rear. 

Leg room is fairly tight, there’s no drop-down armrest, and the combination of black upholstery and the high, rising window line makes it feel a little claustrophobic.

Rear seat occupants get a pair of USB-C ports, shin-level vents and a trio of overhead reading lights. Nevertheless, it’s far from the most inviting place for kids, especially at this price point. Let’s get back in the front.

The seating is fairly comfortable and supportive, the pedal positioning is good, and there’s a comfortable rest for your left foot. It’s a decent driving position and visibility is good, albeit with the rear window being a little slot-like. 

There’s also a sensible mix of physical buttons and screen-based controls, although some of the illuminations on the ventilation controls are very hard to see in bright daylight. The only semi-opaque sunroof blind doesn’t help particularly here.

The flipside of that is that there are no illuminations at all on the gear selector, which is a stubby little tab that could use an adjacent indicator to show when gears have been selected. 

Some of the ergonomic choices are a little odd. There are three rubberised shelves on the dashboard, one of which is an unmarked mobile charger, and none of which were big enough to adequately house my aged Google Pixel 7 Pro mobile phone, which ended up parked in the central cupholders.

The slimline centre armrest betrays the fact that this ASX is narrower than its predecessor. Pop the lid open and the cubby is almost laughably tiny and lacking in any sort of flocking or power outlets.

The glove box, on the other hand, is surprisingly vast, and the door pockets can get a modestly sized bottle into them.

Build quality feels more than acceptable, although there are some hard plastics evident. The heated seats and steering wheel are a welcome touch, although some rivals at this price point also feature vented seats too. 

Exceed-specific extras include a glass sunroof, the option of two-tone exterior paint, a frameless auto-dimming rear-view mirror, heated front seats, electrical adjustment for the driver’s seat, velvet granite paint for the instrument panel, and the inclusion of ‘leather-appointed’ trim, likely a mix of real and synthetic leather.

The boot is generously sized, with 484 litres of space, which is one of the few areas where the new ASX dimensionally exceeds the old model, which featured a 393-litre luggage bay.

Slide the rear seat forward and you can free up a few more litres (for a total of 530L), with 1596L available with the rear seats folded. There’s also a generous amount of underfloor storage for your valuables. 

Beneath that is a lift-up floor panel that in this case houses the optional space-saver spare. As standard, the ASX comes with a mobility kit comprising a can of foam and an electric inflator. Buyers don’t get an electrically operated tailgate, although for such a small car that’s no great hardship.

The ASX’s infotainment system is one of its highlights. Both the 10-inch digital instrument binnacle and the 10.4-inch central touchscreen are bright and crisply executed.

The centre screen is based on Android architecture with Google built-in, which means that you get access to fully ported Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play. 

A number of manufacturers are now featuring Google Maps as their native satellite navigation engine, realising that it’s a significant incentive for users to stay within their ecosystem rather than merely mirroring their phones on screen.

Should you prefer to mirror your phone, wireless Android Auto naturally works a treat, but it’s also perfectly happy to deliver a wireless Apple CarPlay connection.

The infotainment is otherwise fairly slick and fairly self-explanatory. Yes, it’s a light Mitsubishi re-skin of the existing Renault system, but it feels cohesive and easy to navigate. It’s worth noting that ASX models from the midrange Aspire up get the full Google suite.

There are a couple of ways to manually adjust the volume controls and neither of them are ideal.

A small satellite pod mounted behind the steering wheel is the first solution. It’s a little too far from the wheel for comfort and requires groping about behind the steering wheel to find the small buttons. If you’re listening to the radio, it’s easy to touch a scroll wheel instead which can, infuriatingly, send you off to another station.

The other solution is to reach across to the top of the central touchscreen and find the buttons hiding on top of it. They’re a long reach away.

The six-speaker audio quality is nothing particularly special, with no speaker upgrade for the Exceed version over the base LS model.

It’s hard to make a case for the Mitsubishi ASX Exceed at $46,490 plus on-roads. 

To illustrate the point, consider that, in terms of size, it’s a Mazda CX-3 rival; a vehicle classified as a light SUV. Not only does $46,490 buy each and every CX-3 variant, it would also net you most of the larger CX-30 range, half of the CX-5 line-up, and even Mazda’s entry-level big ‘un, the CX-60 G25 Pure.

Or, if you prefer, you’re paying more for a dinky 1.3-litre, front-drive Mitsubishi SUV than you would for a generously proportioned 2.5-litre, hybrid, all-wheel-drive Toyota RAV4. Yes, it’s the outgoing model, but you get the point.

Even if you had your sights set on a well-equipped and perky baby SUV for the city, it’s hard to ignore the slightly more expensive but far foxier $47,550 Lexus LBX Luxury hybrid or even the $49,400 Audi Q2 35TFSI. 

The inescapable truth is that at this price point, the ASX Exceed finds itself facing competition that it’s ill equipped to contend with. 

One suspects that discounts will appear, but we’re still trying to figure out who the buyer tempted to pay full list price might be. It’s all a bit of a shame, as this ASX has the talent to succeed if pitched at the right price.

If you like the look of the Mitsubishi ASX Exceed but aren't so keen on paying full list price, then it's well worth having a look at the new and used ASX stock available at Drive Marketplace.

Alternatively, jump onto Mitsubishi's dealer locator if you'd like to run the rule over a box-fresh ASX in the metal.

The Mitsubishi ASX Exceed is a huge step on from its predecessor. It looks good, it drives smartly and it's well finished. Its warranty and servicing plans are both excellent. What’s more, there’s something intrinsically endearing about it. 

That is until you look at the asking price. At $46,490 plus on-road costs, there are plenty of more talented rivals that have a convincing claim on your custom.

It’s not completely down to Mitsubishi, which has found itself wrong-footed by events. Having to delete the old ASX due to updated Australian Design Rules left a hole in its range; one that it quickly moved to fill with this rebadge of the Renault Captur.

It’s a decent execution, but importing a car built in Renault’s Spanish factory is a costly endeavour. There’s little doubt that existing ASX owners would probably have found a rebadged Nissan Qashqai more in line with their budgets and expectations.

It's rumoured that Mitsubishi has plans to cease developing car platforms for the Japanese market and instead use vehicles sourced from strategic partner Nissan. But if it materialises, that tie-up will arrive far too late to deliver an ASX into Australia in the here and now. 

Mitsubishi has therefore imported this Captur-derived ASX, reasoning that something is better than nothing in the local light/compact SUV sector.

If Mitsubishi could move on pricing, the ASX Exceed has the talent to stand up for itself, even in this tough marketplace. As it stands, it looks set to remain a relatively rare sight on Australian roads.

Tom started out in the automotive industry by exploiting his photographic skills but quickly learned journalists got the better end of the deal. With tenures at CarAdvice, Wheels Media, and now Drive, Tom's breadth of experience and industry knowledge informs a strong opinion on all things automotive. At Drive, Tom covers automotive news, car reviews, advice, and holds a special interest in long-form feature stories.

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