Mitsubishi Did a Great Job of Putting Mini in Minivan

Most of the time when we think about a minivan the image we picture is of the Grand Caravan, Odyssey, Sienna, Sedona, or other vehicles that’s still in this class today. Minivans have found a way to supplant wagons in the North American market to offer us a family vehicle that can take us where we need to go. Even though minivans are dwindling in use, they still have a place on the road, but what we don’t see any longer are some of the extremely small minivans that used to be on the market.

What was the Mitsubishi Expo LRV?

This little car/van is one that was offered by this Japanese company to be a family hauler that sat up straight, gave you a reasonable amount of cargo room, and allows the space for five people to ride along. At a time when SUV models weren’t quite to the unibody build they are today, and minivans came in a variety of sizes, the Expo LRV was truly a small vehicle that could be the right choice when you didn’t want to put your family in a sedan for the drive.

The Mitsubishi Expo LRV was offered in 1991 and 1992 and was a popular model that was widely distributed by the brand. In Japan, it was known as the RVR and in Europe, it was called the Space Runner. The American model was called the LRV, which stands for Light Recreational Vehicles and there were a few actual competitors in the market at the time including the Dodge Colt, Eagle Summit, and Plymouth Colt Vista Wagons. Considered to be the second generation of the Mitsubishi Chariot in Japan, you can see how this vehicle had a strong following and was found around the world.

Going Back for a Look

As we go back and take a look at what the Expo was for the early 1990s, we see there was also an option for a larger model which had seven seats inside. This larger version offered a 107-inch wheelbase that was able to give bigger families what they wanted to enjoy when heading out on the road. In Japan, there was even an RVR Hyper Sports Gear-R, which was a performance-based model that was made only for this market to be fun in its home country.

As an oddity in the market, the Expo LRV was a fresh and interesting minivan that was versatile and powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that offered a paltry 113 horsepower and 116 lb.-ft. of torque. This van could be had with a four-speed automatic transmission and permanent AWD to give you the drive and control you wanted to experience. Take a look at the video below and see what this small minivan was and how it performed on the roads at the time it was offered. The 1990s were a bit strange and the Mitsubishi Expo LRV was certainly part of this feeling at the time.

Looking for something slightly different? Opt for a new or used Mitsubishi Outlander Sport today!