The Ultimate Mitsubishi Road Trip

So what’s stopping you from getting out and exploring more of it?

"My car isn’t special"

You know what makes a car special? What you do with it. There will always be someone with more time and money than you, but the most exciting machines are those which are built, not bought. And the same is true of adventures.

Richard Hammond crossed the African sub-continent in an old Opel Kadett. James May crossed the Amazon and Atacama in a 3-wheel drive Suzuki Samurai. Three blokes you’ve probably never heard of just drove around the world in a London taxi. (Google: “It’s On the Meter”)

Is your car decently maintained? Do you trust it to get you to and from on a daily basis? Pick up a set of service manuals and a set of basic tools and hit the road. Plan for the worst, expect the best.

"I’ve never driven like that before."

This is, surprisingly, not as difficult as you might think. Being American I’d never driven a RHD vehicle before, let alone on the left side of the road, yet here I was, jetlagged out of my mind, threading a new Mitsubishi through UK traffic.

If you're an attentive driver who thinks ahead, a little advanced study of traffic signals and signs might be all you need to prepare for driving in any western country. Simples.

"I don’t speak the language."

Neither do I, frankly. But I can’t tell you how incredibly confidence-inspiring it was to walk around England knowing we could easily communicate with anyone we met. I’m sure we sounded like complete numpties with our American accents (you all sound incredibly sophisticated), but what a relief to more or less speak the same language.

After barely five days in England, however, my co-pilot girlfriend and I found ourselves in France, headed for Essen, Germany. The only French I know beyond "Bonjour!" and maybe a couple of numbers is “Je suis Anglais”, thanks to Reverend and the Makers. We stuck to the posted speed limits and proceeded directly out of France.

Of course, I speak even less Dutch! American high school (aka: secondary school) students are required to take a second language, but only so much. In the northeast, French is popular, given proximity to French-speaking Canada, and Spanish is popular just about everywhere else, given proximity to Mexico.

A funny thing happened, though. When we stopped at various services along the way in Belgium and The Netherlands, people would speak to us in English. We didn’t even have to ask! At first, I thought it was just obvious we were Americans, but a very friendly cashier somewhere west of Eindoven pointed out we were in a RHD VW with UK registration so it wasn’t hard to figure it out. Nice!

Do you speak French, Dutch or German? Even if you only know or remember just a little bit, you should be okay throughout most of the EU. From what I’ve seen, with my dodgy-at-best Deutsch, is that most people in the EU speak enough English to communicate and will appreciate you making an effort to try to speak their language.

"Why would I want to go?"

In a word? People.

Back in 2010, my girlfriend and I spent a day with the Baden-Württemberg chapter of the Mitsu-Fruende, a German Mitsubishi club. I found them online and took a chance showing up to one of their events since we were closeby during a visit to Heidelberg. Most of them spoke no English. We effectively spoke no German, but we made it work, and it stands as one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

How incredible? Let me put it this way. I am slowly building a rally car out of a 1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 here in Phoenix. I’m about $3000 away from getting it reassembled and driveable for the first time since 2007. I want to complete and drive my race car so badly I can taste it, yet I spent that US$3000 on 10 days in Europe so I could see old friends again and make new ones.

Yeah. It’s that cool.

When I found out we could save over $1000 in airfare by flying into London instead of Frankfurt, my first thought was, “Who do I know in the UK?” Adnan, whom I met through comments here on Car Throttle, got an email. So did Darin at the Lancer Register, whom I met through his forum. I also got in touch with Cat, a rally co-driver I met through Twitter.

In no time at all, thanks to these fine friends, we had a place to stay which was cooler than any hotel we might have booked. We had a private tour booked of world class motorsport facilities. We had professional contacts at Mitsubishi Press UK we might never have had otherwise. And we had a brilliant, brand new ASX to drive while we were there.

Our German friends would pull out all the stops, too; hotels, trips, the lot!

"It’s too expensive."

We’re all strapped for cash these days. Use your internet connections to explore the world - starting in your own backyard - on the cheap. Many online communities have regional groups which host their own, small scale events. So get a couple of mates together, pool your resources, and strike out in search of adventure.

Start small, perhaps attending an event just 4-6 hours’ drive from home. Reach out to your fellow petrolheads online where you will be headed and ask them if they can help you with a place to stay while you’re in town to meet with them. Offer to buy dinner or drinks one night, let them show you and your mates around. See how much fun it is to hear and tell new stories.

Road trips are turnkey freedom.

Do you still have your keys out? Pick them up. If you love your car and have a desire to get to know others who share your automotive passion, you’ve literally got the whole world in your hands. So get out and explore more of it!

This is a guest post by Brian Driggs. For more motoring musings, check out Gearbox Magazine.