Still, many drivers today favor a big rugged, crunching 4WD that gives them a certain feeling of command and security-the kind offered by one of those definitive terrain-busting bruisers such as the Mitsubishi Montero, SR.

Motive doesn't matter much here. The Montero might be destined to crawl around cedar-studded hills in Minnesota's Boundary Waters area, or the driver may be interested only in tooling down the interstate, Walter Mitty-like, pretending as though the expressway were a dirt road outside Kuala Lumpur. What matters isn't always terrain, or even the possibility of chest-deep snows or freakish mud.

What matters is what the vehicle does for your psyche-as well as for your sense of security-which, in the Montero SR's case, is make you feel downright invincible. For a base price of $31,475, you expected something genteel?

Drive it to church if you want, but understand that the Montero SR, is built for just about anything this side of travel on the high seas. One tribute to its mettle: It has won the 5,000-mile annual Paris-to-Dakar rally that traditionally has its share of non-finishers. Credit there goes to the Montero SR's 3.5-liter, 24-valve, 215hp V6, with four-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and Active Trac 4VVD system.

It shifts on-the-go with grace and provides precise power at the instant a situation calls for it. For a price tag that will exceed $34,000 when a host of desirable options (such as the $1,800 leather-and-wood package) are added, it's probably the least that should be expected.