Whereas Europe is best explored by navigating the affordable and scenic high-speed railways, there’s no better way to explore America than by car.

The United States was built for road trips, for flying down wide highways to chase one city after another, winding down dirt roads to find hidden local ice cream shops and treasures, and getting to understand the nuances of this vast country at the street level.

Growing up, my family vacations always involved a road trip, and I’ve been fortunate enough to drive through 46 states.

But my all-time favorite state for a road trip is California. From fog encrusted San Francisco, looming red wood trees and the pine scented shores of Lake Tahoe in the North to sunny coastlines, dry deserts and the eclectic settings of Los Angeles in the south, the state is packed with must-see destinations.

I recently paid a visit to my home state and had the opportunity to do a mini road trip around the Los Angeles area in a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport.

Road Trip LA Style

There’s a certain attitude about Los Angeles that is intimidating. Whether it’s the fact that the area is home to so many iconic landmarks that fill the silver screen or that its also home to many people who grace the silver screen, aspire to grace the silver screen or talk about their limited experiences in a way that makes you think they grace the silver screen, there’s no denying Los Angeles can be intimidating and is a place you want to show up to in style.

The sights of Los Angeles and nearby Orange County are spread out and public transportation is slow and rare. If you are visiting the area, you will need a car to be able to experience the destination fully.

With this in mind, the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport is the perfect car to drive around Los Angeles.

Misubishi Outlander Sport

The 4-door SUV has a sleek design and comes in a variety of modern colors. I drove a pearl white vehicle with black leather sears and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. The car looks really cool, and looking cool is ninety-percent of the battle when it comes to fitting in in Los Angeles.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport drives beautifully. It’s the kind of vehicle which makes traffic feel like a party (as long as you aren’t running late) and hills made for climbing. The vehicle has a 2.0L MIVEC DOHC 16-valve 40cylinder engine. Ok, I’ll admit that that doesn’t mean much to me, but the electric power steering, Front-Wheel Drive and steering wheel paddle shifters were noticeable to me and made my drive more enjoyable.

There is no avoiding traffic in Los Angeles and no rhyme or reason to when it occurs. Traffic is just a fact of life here and that means so is changing lanes.  The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport has dual-visor vanity mirrors with illumination. I’ve never driven a car with such large side-mirrors, which made it very easy to be fully aware of my surroundings and make safe decisions about when to weave in and out of the stalled cars on the 101.

My favorite feature inside the vehicle was the color LCD multi-information display. The touch screen allowed me to find directions to my next destination, see maps of the local area and access music on the radio, Sirius and my ipod. Yes, I did rock out to A Whole New World on my way to Disneyland.

On another safety note, the LCD multi-information display also has back-up camera that makes it easy to see how much space you have to back up. Parking in Los Angeles is tricky and tight, and this camera made it easier for me to maneuver out of these parking situations.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport also gets great gas mileage for an SUV, which will helped me save as I drove many miles to take in all the famous sights in the area. The fuel economy is 32 MPG on highways and 25 MPG in the city for a combined total of 28 MPG.

While I was in Los Angeles there was a heat wave and temperatures climbed as high as 105 degrees, but inside the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport I stayed nice and cool thanks to the automatic air conditioning climate control. This powerful air conditioning system cooled the car down in minutes so I didn’t spend long suffering in the heat after the car first turned on.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport was a great vehicle to road trip around Los Angeles and I would definitely use one for this purpose again and recommend it to anyone who is thinking of purchasing a SUV.

More posts on the places I visited in the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport are coming to Something In Her Ramblings so be sure to check back next week.

Note: I was provided with a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport to review. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.