Mitsubishi Triton GSR Special Edition 2025 Tow Test

The 2025 Mitsubishi Triton GSR Special Edition is made more special by being less expensive than the model it is based on.

Priced at $63,140 plus on-road costs, it is $700 cheaper than the GSR dual-cab ute, which is the flagship of the sixth generation Triton range launched here in February 2024.

Essentially, Mitsubishi has made some styling changes to the Special Edition rather than add equipment.

So, it swaps from a body colour to grey grille, from black to body-coloured fender flares and ditches the GSR’s sailplane for a sports bar and cargo box. It also includes black-pack 18-inch alloy wheels, doorhandles and roof rails, as well as aluminium side steps.

Otherwise, mechanically and in terms of equipment, the Special Edition is identical to the regular GSR, so just about everything you read here will transpose accurately.

It will also be a very good guide to the GLS ($59,090 plus ORCs) and GLX-R ($56,740 plus ORCs) in the driving, but less relevant to the GLX+ ($53,290 plus ORCs) and GLX ($50,940 plus ORCs) dual cabs, which run heavy-duty suspension and different 4x4 systems.

All Tritons come with the same 150kW/470Nm 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine that’s vastly upgraded from the old model (more on that later). Almost all Tritons – including the model we’re testing here – come standard with a six-speed automatic transmission.

Key GSR Special Edition interior gear includes dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, leather upholstery, a power adjustable driver’s seat, wireless phone charging and a 9.0-inch infotainment screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto connection.

Along with the rest of the 2025 Mitsubishi Triton range, the GSR Special Edition gains the maximum five-star ANCAP rating based on 2024 testing protocols. Crucial to achieving that rating was segment-first driver monitoring. That’s the system’s camera sitting on the steering column. More on that later.

Advanced driver assist systems the GSR Special Edition offers includes front and rear autonomous emergency braking – the former with pedestrian and cyclist detection and junction assist – adaptive cruise control, lane change assist/blind spot warning, front and rear cross traffic alert, traffic sign monitoring and intelligent speed alert.

Front and front-side airbags, curtain airbags, a driver’s knee airbag and a centre airbag to prevent head knocks between front-seat passengers are also included. Other safety aids include tyre pressure monitoring, a 360-degree camera, an electrochromatic interior rearview mirror and LED headlights, tail-lights, driving lights, fog lights and turn indicators.

As per all privately purchased Mitsubishis, the Thai-built Triton comes protected by a five-year/100,000-kilometre warranty that can be extended to 10 years/200,000km if serviced through a Mitsubishi dealer.

Service intervals are 12 months and 15,000km. Capped-price servicing is quoted by Mitsubishi out to 10 years and 150,000km and averages $686 per workshop visit.

The first five annual visits come out at slightly more than $500 each, which is more expensive than rivals such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux quote.

There is no doubt the 2025 Mitsubishi Triton GSR Special Edition is a better drive than its 10-year-old predecessor. It has to be, right.

It’s not quite all-new, but this latest Triton has certainly been through the mill. The underpinning ladder frame has been completely overhauled, the diesel engine has added (among other things) a second turbocharger as well as more power and torque, the suspension has been tuned for local conditions and the steering swapped to smoother electric assistance.

All this doesn’t make the Triton the best drive in the class – the Ranger retains that honour with the excellent new Kia Tasman its closest rival – but it comfortably competes in terms of drivetrain performance, ride and dynamics with the likes of the Isuzu D-MAX and Toyota HiLux.

The engine’s extra torque really helps with low-speed response, the handling is predictable, the ride is unsurprisingly niggly when unladen and more soft-edged when dealing with payload. The steering no longer has kickback and is light and easy to turn.

The Triton is also now a class leader in terms of payload. Its braked towing capacity has also been bumped to the segment benchmark 3500kg.

The key towing numbers to take into account here are a 2166kg kerb weight, a Gross Vehicle Mass of 3200kg and a Gross Combined Mass of 6250kg. Once you crunch the numbers based on towing the maximum 3500kg you are still left with a healthy 584kg payload to account for you, loved ones, pets, luggage and accessories like a bullbar et al.

The question is, do you really want to tow at the max 3500kg? Experts in the field are pretty united in their view that dual cabs like the Triton are more suited to lighter loads than that.

With that in mind we took a 2.7 tonne JB Caravans Gator X off-road van for an extended run and found that to be just about right for the standard Triton.

We did so only after having the combination’s weight balance tuned professionally by Richard Jarvie of Pull Your Weight to ensure we had it all set up correctly. Over multiple days of towing we never encountered any sway, pitch or porpoising, so money well spent.

The Triton’s acceleration and hill climbing enthusiasm was understandably dulled with the van on the back, but it never felt out of its depth. It happily settled into an open road 90km/h cruising speed and would even edge its way up to 100km/h on a flat-ish freeway.

Only when towing we found it necessary to resort to manual mode as left to its own devices the auto was too keen to hold shorter gears and rev the engine harder for longer than necessary.

Fuel economy when towing came out at 13.1litres/100km versus a 7.7L/100km claim, which is pretty decent (you normally work on doubling the thirst when towing). Sans van the Triton averaged 10.1L/100km for us, which is in the ballpark for a 4x4 four-cylinder diesel ute.

A 75-litre tank means you’re going to still get comfortably long distances between refuels if that’s your thing.

Unhitch the van and head off-road – or keep it hitched up if you’re game... we weren’t – and the Triton is a very good performer. Much of this is because of its sophisticated Super Select II 4x4 system, which allows it to run on bitumen as both a rear- and all-wheel drive – unlike some rivals which must stay in 2WD on-road.

Off-road it offers 4x4 with the centre diff unlocked or locked and 4x4 low range with the centre diff locked. It also has a rear diff lock and hill-descent control. There are also off-road (and road) modes to set the powertrain and traction system for specific situations such as sand and mud.

Combined with enough ground clearance for the challenges most people would judge to be their 4x4 limit, the Triton is good to go for some off-road adventuring. Just remember tyre selection is critical for such things and the Special Edition comes standard with less-suitable Highway Terrain rubber.

Another key improvement for the 2025 Mitsubishi Triton has been a growth in size. The new generation is 15mm longer at 5320mm, 50mm wider in body (1865mm) and tracks (1570mm/1565mm) and has a 130mm longer wheelbase (3130mm) than its predecessor.

The increased footprint of the 2025 Mitsubishi Triton delivers its most important interior improvement: added space. The front seat passengers sit higher and further apart and there is more legroom and headroom in the rear seat. In fact, rear-seat space has gone from mediocre to among the best in class. The backrest has also been reclined more comfortably rather than forcing occupants to sit bolt upright.

Ambience is further improved in the back with two USB ports, air-con vents, dual seatback pockets, a fold-down armrest with a double cupholder and bigger door bins.

Up-front the new infotainment system taken from the Mitsubishi Outlander SUV is a big improvement over the old offering. While there’s nothing class-leading it is now class-competitive.

Thankfully, Mitsubishi has not gone overboard with this screen update. There are still press buttons and dials for audio and the dual-zone climate control. The instrument panel even retains good old fashioned analogue speedo and tacho dials.

There is a digital speedo within the scrollable information between the dials, so that’s good.

Mitsubishi has made a big effort to lift cabin ambience with more soft-touch materials. However, you can still make contact with hard surfaces pretty easily.

Storage is generous with a double glovebox added for this generation, the front seats are large and comfortable if not especially supportive and the steering column adjusts for reach and rake (as before).

The tub has also grown compared to its predecessor and includes a liner and four tie-down hooks.

Okay, that driver monitoring.

Sadly, it proved a major annoyance. The monitoring has already been retuned once because of its intrusiveness and based on our experience Mitsubishi needs to have another go.

It is simply too reactive to eyes leaving the straight-ahead position. The result are incessant audible warnings. The two systems (short- and long-term monitoring) need to be switched off before you start driving. Doing it while driving is a distraction – the system will bing at you – and therefore a potential safety issue. Talk about counter-productive!

Lane keeping can also be intrusive and you may also want to switch this off.

It’s worth noting the Triton does not come with automatic lane centring, which keeps the vehicle tracking straight and stops it from ping ponging from line to line. Well-tuned, these sorts of systems are very handy during freeway cruising. The Ford Ranger system is excellent.

The fuel saving stop-start system proved slow, crude and intrusive and was inevitably switched off also.

The Triton’s turning circle has grown nearly a metre to 12.7m, which isn’t going to help in carparks or tight stuff off-road.

Also, for cost control reasons, Mitsubishi has elected to retain rear drum brakes rather than swap to discs. On this latter point we experienced no negative experiences while driving, but it is worth noting.

Manual gearchange flappy paddles have disappeared from behind the steering wheel and switching parking sensors off – a necessity off-road – is a process that now requires drilling into a sub menu rather than a simple push of a button.

Unlike some rivals, the rear seat still does not flip up to add storage flexibility. Only the backrest folds down.

The updated tub, for all its improvements, still cannot accommodate an 1165mm x 1165mm Aussie pallet between the wheel arches.

Like the rest of the sixth-generation range, the 2025 Mitsubishi Triton GLS Special Edition is a vast improvement over the old model.

It does almost everything better with only a few irritations – start/stop and driver monitoring – to impede an overall very good impression. It didn’t let us down when towing, either.

As stated several times, the Triton’s not as good as a Ranger, but it’s pricing advantage is a powerful argument in its favour. The fact it’s a darned competent vehicle helps as well.

2025 Mitsubishi Triton GSR Special Edition at a glance:
Price: $63,140 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 150kW/470Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 203g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2024)

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