Mitsubishi REALLY wants you to know that car or sports utility vehicle behind you in traffic is a Mitsubishi.

Hence the fact that all of their vehicles now carry a big triple diamond star emblem square in the middle of a now very prominent, uh, nose. And the most prominent, connected to a body design that was drawn specifically for the U.S. market, is their midsize Endeavor.

Built on the Galant sedan platform, this sports utility is a soft roader or crossover, aimed at folks who want a tall station wagon with some truck-like proclivities like high seating position, lots of interior room and four-wheel-drive for those rainy days.

What makes the Endeavor different from the other Mitsubishi SUVs of the past is that it was conceived at the Mitsubishi Research and Development Center of America in Cypress, Calif., for the U.S. market, to do battle in a midsize SUV market filled with vehicles like the Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot, and Nissan's new Murano. It's also built in the heartland -- Mitsubishi Motors' plant in Normal, Ill.

The center's chief designer, Dave O'Connell, said the team had a few key objectives when it came to designing a product to replace the Montero Sport. It had to look "bold, rugged and sporty." And it had to carry a lot of people and stuff. In design-speak, the 6-foot, 4-inch designer said it had to be "an authentic SUV," with "really stand-alone" looks.

That means a prominent nose with room for the diamond star badge, a different kind of grille, a powerful hood design and above all, fender flares that become fenders in design.

"Our mantra, our task in design, is to make bold, distinctive statements. There are a lot of SUVs on the market, and you can't bring sand to the beach. It has to be distinctive, not just a big black grille with a badge," O'Connell said. " You can tell it a mile away that this is a Mitsubishi. We built it with a badge pillar [the wide nose] and split the grille. That badge pillar waterfalls back up and into the hood into a power dome. The flares -- most SUVs have a body with flares. One the Endeavor, the flare is the body brought all the way out, and again, to make it as wide as possible, we put the lights right on the corners."

The look sure is distinctive, especially with a bright sun glowing on the Dover White Pearl paint job. The headlights curve up and around the front fenders, which rise up to almost level with the power domed hood before slashing down to the front door's leading edge. The twin-vane grille seems to fly into the wind, while the big lower air intake is flanked by two fake brake vents with fog lights almost lost in the black vanes.

The body tucks in above the side sills, and moves even further inward at the character line, before it flares up and around the rear wheel arches in a slightly less subtle flare. The taillights are almost as big as the headlights. The roof rack is no wimp either -- two buff alloy tubes connected to the roof with meaty black anchors, while the seven-spoke pewter and silver alloys wear P235/65R17-inch Bridgestone Turanza radials.

The Endeavor's overall look is very different, with a sort of caricatured Jeep Grand Cherokee fender flare design that certainly stands out in a crowd. No one seemed to look at it one way or another, but it began growing on me as the days went by.

O'Connell's designers didn't leave the interior simple either.

Since the Endeavor is on the Galant sedan platform, it doesn't take any step-up to haul one's self into the driver's seat, where you face a stylish four-spoke (tilt-adjust only) steering wheel. The driver's bucket seat is comfortable if a bit flat, its leather-clad shape aided by six-way power back and bottom adjustment and manual lumbar support. The padded buff black-grained dash top stretches far forward, with a gently curved cowl over a pewter-rimmed 150-mph center speedometer, with 7,000-rpm tach arcing off the left side and gas and temperature gauge on the right. Then gaze at the buff silver center section and the slim color LCD display above it that houses all the fun stuff.

Turn on the ignition, and the LCD screen slowly forms a drawing of the Endeavor in blue. It fades to become a multi-function display with outside temperature, compass, stereo station/function, air vent position and fan speed. That blue lighting carries over to the buttons and knurled knobs on the control panel below, which looks like a stereo boom box with the air vents looking like speakers. The AM-FM stereo includes a six-disc CD player and sounded very good indeed.

"The center stack -- we wanted the image of a high-end audio system," O'Connor said.

Unfortunately, the fog light button fell into the dash when we pushed it, and the sunglass holder overhead was cheap in feel. But there were twin seat-heater buttons and two 12-volt power outlets above the wide center console with lots of storage under the flip-up center armrest, plus two cup holders. The rear of the center console has two air vents, a fan speed control and 12-volt outlet for the rear passengers, who sit in a commodious bench seat with center arm rest and lots of adult-size head and leg room for two. Overhead, there is a flip-down DVD player/screen with two cordless headphones, but only a mesh pocket behind the driver to hold the headphones, which takes away knee space.

The rear cargo area is big and easy to load, with cargo tie-down hooks under the optional cargo tray and cargo net. The rear window opens independently. But the rear wiper motor housing sticking up, and DVD screen sticking down, meant a pinched view of the rear world from the driver's rear-view mirror. O'Connor said they designed cargo space instead of a third-row seat like the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot.

"We bench-marked a 36-inch TV box, so if you went to a store you could carry it home, or a 4x8-foot piece of plywood also," he said. "Three adult mountain bikes will also fit with the rear seat folded."

The 2005 Endeavor's 3.8-liter V-6 has 225 horsepower and 255 pound-feet of torque, with front-wheel or our test model's full-time all-wheel-drive with a four-speed automatic transmission with manual shifting. Our 7,900-mile-old test vehicle managed a decent 0-60-mph trip in 8.5-seconds, a little slow off the line, but decent torque for passing. The engine worked for a living with three on board, and we heard a hum from the drivetrain at highway speeds, plus some wind noise.

The ride was very comfortable on road, no surprise since this is a passenger car platform. Body roll was minimal in turns for a sports utility, and the all-wheel-drive system worked well, keeping understeer at bay in turns. It's no sports car, but the Endeavor drove well, with little of the top-heaviness some bigger sports utilities offer. Off-road, the suspension was capable of absorbing bumps with aplomb, although it was a bit bouncy on rutted tracks. The all-wheel-drive offered secure grip in sand and grass, but the underside rubbed going over some gentle humps.

The all-wheel disc brakes had a nice pedal feel and decent stopping power, although there was some nose dive under heavy braking. We didn't feel much brake fade after some heavy use.

The base price of the Mitsubishi Endeavor Limited AWD is ,1999, with standard front airbags and front seat-mounted side impact airbags, roof rails, towing package, full-size spare tire, driver's power seat, 315-watt, AM-FM-CD audio system with steering wheel controls and six-CD changer, and cargo area tonneau cover. The only options are a headliner-mounted DVD player (replacing the standard Limited's sunroof if ordered) and two sets of wireless headphones for ,200, and a cargo tray/cargo net/trailer hitch/chrome exhaust tip package. With destination, our Endeavor had a manufacturer's suggested retail price of ,463.

Bottom line -- the Mitsubishi Endeavor endeavors to be the funkiest SUV out there, inside and out, and it sort of succeeds. It isn't an all-out off-roader, which means it has enough on- and off-road capabilities to please its buyers. It's decently built, drives well and holds a family that doesn't need a third-row seat. Slot it in the "I want an SUV, but don't need one really" column, and it will do just fine.