A festive Quebec road trip in the Mitsubishi Outlander

Award-winning travel and automotive journalist Jay Kana journeys nearly 2,000 kilometres to experience Quebec City and Montreal’s famous Christmas Markets in style, safety and a superb sound system.

I’ve driven over one million kilometres since 1994 in hundreds of vehicles. Perhaps that’s why road trips are my favourite medium for travel. Whether it’s across town or across the country, the freedom and adventure of four-wheeled travel excites me. From solo road trips to ones with a partner and even a group, there’s an unmistakable exhilaration about what it brings both on the journey and the destination. This freedom includes doing a straight shot or going slow with several stops. It really is a choose your own adventure approach.

As one of only two Canadians to be a professionally accredited travel writer via the Travel Media Association of Canada and automotive journalist via the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada for nearly a decade, I’m able to blend my passions and do some really cool stuff. My previous road trip in a Mitsubishi was in early 2025 with the Outlander Plug-in hybrid for a 2,000+ kilometre to Quebec City to experience the Ice Hotel.

For this solo road trip, I used the gasoline Outlander as my chariot to roll into Quebec City and Montreal for the opening of their respective Christmas Markets. Yes, I’d experienced them before, but never on opening day for both. And Christmas is a thing for me. Not in the extravagant way. Rather, my modestly decorated Christmas tree and a sprinkle of other festive decorations around my home bring me joy. Plus, these two Christmas markets are world-renowned.

The plan was this: leave on a Wednesday morning from Mississauga, drive all day to Quebec City and be there for the Thursday opening of their German Christmas Market.

From there, I’d leave for Montreal on Friday morning, catch the opening of their Christmas market and head home Saturday morning. Easy, right? Right.

My Mitsubishi Outlander was an ideal companion in that it blends modern and traditional features, from physical climate controls to a high-tech pair of right-sized screens via the instrument cluster and infotainment system. Add in superbly comfortable heated leather seats on my top-trim GT Premium and a full suite of active safety systems, including adaptive cruise control, and my journey was seemingly effortless. Well, there was a bit of effort, which included not spilling any of my road trip treats from Bulk Barn between the seats.

If you haven’t experienced the Quebec City German Christmas Market, I highly recommend it. There’s a certain festive energy it exudes that’s unmatched. This year, there are more than 100 vendors covering food, fun, art and more. There are lights galore, smiles for miles and the charm of this special part of Canada shines brightly. I booked a 90 minute guided tour of the market, which taught me about its history, German connections and why it’s world-renowned. We also sampled hand-made German pretzels. The big draw for me was the massive wooden and interactive advent calendar, which when you opened the doors, were rewarded with a traditional Christmas image.

One market down, one to go.

The drive to Montreal was filled with rain, freezing rain, more rain and snow, which is expected of late November weather in Quebec. Thankfully the Outlander has a Dynamic Sound Yamaha Ultimate 12-speaker audio system, which is not only the first time Yamaha has created an automotive audio system for the North American market, but it’s so advanced that it has a setting that compensates the volume levels for even sound when the wipers are engaged. As such, my modern blues rock and Christmas tunes were listened to uninterrupted.

Also, thanks to Mitsubishi’s Super All-Wheel Control, which directs torque to not only the front and rear wheels but also the left and right wheels for tremendous traction control, there was exactly zero slippage during my three-hour plus drive at low and high speeds.

The rain carried on into the evening during my Montreal Christmas Market visit. More of a steady sprinkle than downpour. Nonetheless, it didn’t impact attendees as the place was brimming with Christmas spirit. Laughter and cheer were abundant and opening-night festivities went off without a hitch. There’s an array of vendors, an indoor section and much, much more. While smaller in size than the one in Quebec City, the Montreal Market is still an excellent experience. And there’s a huge outdoor skating rink minutes away with the backdrop of Montreal’s majestic skylines.

On the way home, I swung by Montreal’s infamous Olympic Stadium for a quick gander … I still wonder if the Expos would’ve won the World Series in 1994 had the strike not happened.

With both Christmas Market opening days completed, my semi-spontaneous jaunt to Quebec was complete. I settled into the comfortable driver’s seat of the Outlander, set my Christmas Jazz Spotify playlist to shuffle, popped in my address in Google Maps via the SUV’s wireless Apple CarPlay and set out for the journey home. I’m full of festive feelings and just might make this a new Christmas tradition.

The Outlander was a trusty road trip companion. It over-delivered on ride quality, comfort, stability and overall comfort. The adaptive cruise control was well used and my ears are still beaming with happiness with the splendid 12-speaker Yamaha system. Had I opted for company, rear seat space is plentiful, as is cargo space. Over nearly 2,000 kilometres together, the Outlander and I are very close. Perhaps there’ll be a second date…

If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to plan my next road trip adventure in Canada.

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