2020 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport review & buyer's guide
Pajero Sport has, for five years now, been the thinking man’s off-roader. Y’know, for those of you not psychologically married to the LandCruiser. Here’s why…
If at first you don’t Exceed…
When Mitsubishi relegated the smokey old buzz-box Challenger to the pages of 4x4 history, and revealed the Pajero Sport, it was something of a Predator moment… One ugly mother-lover.
But it would be a mistake to see only the aesthetics. This is one seriously well-designed and properly clever off-roader.
With a face only mother could love, Mitsubishi kept at it, offering better equipment (even if questionably named like the Ultrasonic Misacceleration Mitigation System), and to be perfectly honest, it’s sold in decent numbers (six and a half thousand for the last two years) against the ostentatious cultural monolith that is Toyota’s LandCruiser.
The 200 Series sold twice as many units as Pajero Sport in 2019. But you’ll hand over a suitcase full of your hard-earned cash just to get yourself into the Toyota.
It also routinely outsells the gargantuan 5.6-litre V8 Nissan Patrol (1951 reported sales in 2019), the Jeep Grand Cherokee (not even 3000 units), and Ford Everest (which could only manage 5333 sales). Only the Isuzu MU-X, Toyota Fortuner and Prado could out-do Mitsubishi’s five- or seven-seat off-roader.
It’s taken a few updates to get the suspension properly sorted for Australia’s abhorrently broken, bumpy, cracked and crumbling roads, particularly in regional areas where a pothole is more of a navigational tool than pure inconvenience to city types.
Mitsubishi Australia did some engineering work in the previous update a couple of years ago, honing the dampers and spring rates to better handle bumps and undulations, which helped immensely. It was like riding in a dingy on choppy seas. It also meant bashing your knees, hard, against dash plastics (apparently some of the hardest substances known to the automotive industry) which for tall people probably evoked strong emotions at a 1/3 gradient scurrying up a rocky slope. Alas, it’s all sorted now.
There’s also been a re-think of the cabin layout to offer more storage places for simple things like phones, keys, wallets (they’re something old people use to store money, cards and faded fuel receipts in, kids), and your other half’s little bottle of hand sanitiser which is always getting in the way. Reflective materials have also been toned down to beam less blinding light back into your face at intermittent times of the day. So that’s a win.
The value proposition for Pajero Sport - not to be confused with its bigger brother, Pajero - is the fascinating aspect, long before you take it for a drive.
On paper, it’s a three-row, 4x4 with proper low-range gearing sub-set, 3.1-tonnes of towing, a high-4 mode which permits partial, limited on-road driving, and has enough grunt to pull all the stuff you can shove inside and connect to it.
Pick of the range
GLS: 5 seats: $52,490 | 7 seats: $53,990
The best balance of features you need and want, without going bananas on things like lane-change self-help, a smartphone app that is bound to frustrate you (or never get used) and the ultrasonic misacceleration mitigation thing which is designed to stop granddad confusing the throttle for the brake and ploughing into a bakery window.
For those of us who know how to drive safely, who have their mirrors correctly adjusted, their tyre pressure checked regularly and their brains engaged in the risk-mitigation task of driving on the public road, the GLS strides the balance of value best, in my view.
And add:
Leather seats
Rear differential lock
Auto, rain-sensing wipers + dusk sensing headlamps
Dual-zone climate control
Electrochromatic rear view mirror
Adaptive cruise control
Power tailgate
Privacy glass
You get by default on GLX base model:
2.4L MIVEC turbo diesel
8 speed automatic transmission
3.1 tonne braked towing capacity
Super Select II 4WD
Forward collision mitigation
8-inch infotainment screen with CarPlay/Android Auto
Rear air vents with cooler
Brake auto-hold function
The powerplant
It’s common for a manufacturer to perform cosmetic nips and tucks on a model update, call it ‘new’ and never allow its mechanical engineers anywhere near.
But Mitsubishi has lifted the bonnet (hood in ‘Murica’) and actually deployed tools and intellect to the 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel.
Maximum boost on the variable-geometry turbocharger is now increased to 200kPa so it delivers a decent 133kW @ 3500rpm and 430Nm @ 2500rpm.
This engine like the rest of their engines, in case you wanted to know, is called “MIVEC”, which stands for “Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control”. It’s basically marketing speak for variable valve timing as found in most modern engines, which means the valve lift and timing control on the intake camshaft can vary in speed based on the demands placed on it by the driver.
Mitsubishi says its boffins have optimised (made more efficient) the spray of fuel out of the injectors and into the combustion chamber. The results is the same 15.5 compression ratio as the previous unfettered engine. The use of an aluminium alloy cylinder block means a “significant reduction in engine weight” and they’ve added a “Deceleration Energy Recovery” (DER) system that feeds electrical energy drawn from braking back into the battery.
This is a pretty good diesel engine, often underrated among the noise of Ford’s five-cylinder, Toyota’s underdone 2.8 and it’s proven very reliable in both the Triton and this. It works hard without producing stupid amounts of power and torque to its own deficit. Anybody claiming they need more grunt or - more to the point that this is an insufficient powertrain - and that an ego-inflating twin-turbo V8 diesel is more their style, then you’re probably never going to win that rational argument anyway.
More gear
Where most of its rivals are still using six-speed or seven-speed transmissions, the Pajero Sport has done very nicely with an eight-speed epicyclic gearbox since it arrived on the scene four years ago. It kicks down quickly, feels robust under towing, doesn’t rev its face off and is fairly intuitive.
In the updated version, it remains the same, featuring an Idle Neutral Control, designed to reduce load and energy loss caused by a dragging torque converter when stopped at traffic lights, in gear.
A so-called “Sport Mode” offers manual gear changes using paddle-shifters behind and attached to the steering wheel. They’re fairly swift to respond but hasn’t quite shaken the aching delay when shifting gears yourself, which has bugged the computers of many sports-select automatic transmission over the years. You won’t be putting this system in a Formula One car anytime soon, but it’s quick enough for most mortals and driving scenarios it’ll face.
The Super Select 4WD-II drivetrain remains quite a peachy thing to use. You get the kind of drive mode selection - operated by all the stress and endurance typical of flicking a rotary dial at your fingertips - which changes differential locks and splits torque between the front and rear 40:60. This means 40 per cent of the drive torque goes to the front and 60 per cent goes rearward, for those of you still learning.
There are four drive modes:
2H (rear wheel drive) for regular driving on “dry tarmac”, according to Mitsubishi, but to be honest, if you’re getting wheelspin here on wet bitumen, you’re probably burying the accelerator on a slope and driving like a hack.
4H is where this transmission gets clever. It allows for use on tarmac and unpaved surfaces, wet roads and even snowy conditions. It allows drivers to choose to drive in a full-time 4WD mode, unlike the on-demand systems in SUVs which wait for traction loss before engaging, in which case it can sometimes be too late. In 4WDs of old, driving in 4H on bitumen is like opening Pandora’s mechanical sympathy box and sneezing on it because you would bind up the front axles and typically break something unless you drove with two wheels off the tarmac and on gravel to release the tension.
4HLc goes even deeper down the off-road rabbit hole. It locks the centre differential to deliver direct drive to all four wheels and gives excellent traction in deep snow, sand and other low-friction surfaces;
4LLc uses a locked center differential and low gear for driving over rocky ground, muddy roads and other surfaces where maximum drive torque is required. Throttle inputs are reduced to their most dull to minimise over-exertion on tyres and breaking mechanical grip with the surface you’re trying to tame.
Features & pricing
Putting an autonomous emergency braking system (which Mitsubishi can’t resist naming ‘forward collision mitigation’) on the base model is not only smart, but improves the resale value of the GLX. It also helps keep its five-star safety rating in 2020, although it would’ve been a marketing choice not to include adaptive cruise control in that decision. It’s not a luxury, it’s a safety feature.
Pajero Sport GLX - $45,990 driveaway starts with:
Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, Eight-speed automatic transmission, Super Select II 4WD, forward collision mitigation, smartphone link display audio, rear air vents with cooler, LED daytime running lamps, cornering headlights, foglamps, full size alloy spare wheel, rearview camera, rear parking sensors, side steps, electric folding door mirrors.
Pajero Sport GLS - $52,490 driveaway adds:
Adaptive cruise control, power tailgate, leather seat facings, rear diff-lock, auto rain-sensing wipers and dusk sensing headlamps, dual-zone climate control, rear spoiler, electrochromatic rear view mirror
Add third-row seating for 7-seat GLS - $1500 extra.
Pajero Sport Black Edition - $53,990 driveaway throws in:
Black 18” alloys, black nudge bar, black grille, black roof, black tailgate spoiler, black roof rails. Extra $1500
Pajero Sport Exceed - $59,990 includes:
Remote control app, 360-degree camera, blind spot warning, lane change assist, TomTom satnav, Ultrasonic misacceleration Mitigation System (UMS), heated front seats, eight-speaker audio (including four tweeters).
Storm warning
You never have to see yourself driving a Pajero Sport, so you don’t have to be concerned with the love/hate Predator face.
But what you do want to avoid is the look on your face when you’re hit with the bill for repairing or servicing the diesel particulate filter especially when it hasn’t be subjected to the kinds of driving it needs to keep from blocking. What happens when the DPF light comes on? >>
It’s a perfect storm: buying the wrong fuel type for your driving situation, not meeting the needs of the DPF, ignoring the information available to you, then acting shocked and surprised when the dealer slaps you across the face with the bill, metaphorically, and there’s nothing you can do about it, except pay up.
Additionally, you’re going to incur additional costs for tyres, diesel (in ‘Straya) is typically more expensive than petrol (gasoline, ‘Merica) at the pump, and you’re probably going to pay more for insurance than your old car.
If you’re inclined to modify your off-road vehicle, as so many are, then avoid the temptation to let anybody other than a qualified mechanic fiddle with things like EGRs, DPFs, ECUs and, simultaneously, destroy your new vehicle warranty - because that’s what happens.
A soft-roader like Subaru Forester might be more suited to your driving habits.
This is not to dissuade you from getting yourself prepped to smash the outback into a pulp, it’s merely to warn you of what you’re in for.
If you’re up for it and understand what’s expected of you, the responsible 4WD owner, then it’ll be beers and belly laughs all the way to Fraser Island (or wherever) and back.
A bit like having kids, if you can’t meet the Pajero Sport’s needs (or that of any other big, heavy duty off-roader), then perhaps an SUV is better suited to your lifestyle. Let’s think about that, rationally, here >>
Divide and conquer
Toyota, with its legions of lemmings, minions, fanboys - whatever - who mindlessly buy a Prado, LandCruiser, 79 Series or Hilux, has to be the unequivocal king of off-road vehicles in ‘Straya. Right?
Well, just because Toyota marketing tells you this, doesn’t necessarily make it true. Because when it comes down to outright cost, the fistful of your cash you’re handing over, there are plenty of reasons why the Pajero Sport rains on the Toyota-sponsored parade, grand final, and all the other stuff they’re connected to at a corporate advertising level.
Certainly, the Prado is match fit and Pajero Sport isn’t perfect. If you’re going full-fat hardcore off-roading, there are plenty of figures to consider. For example:
Prado’s 2.8-litre diesel gives you 130kw @ 3400rpm and 450Nm @ 1600-2400 revs, for a power-to-weight ratio of 58.0 kW/t - less than the 66.8 kW/t offered by the less powerful but much lighter Pajero Sport. If you think you’re going further in Prado than Pajero Sport, think carefully about that, because Pajero Sport’s weight is 2.1 tonnes versus Prado’s 2.24 tonnes. And weight can be your enemy when you’re elbow deep in slush as the sun starts setting and the mozzies say grace.
Prado can come with a whopping 150-litre fuel tank, or 87L as standard, whereas the Paj does with only 63 litres. Sure, you can add jerry cans to a roof rack, but be aware that will reduce its payload capacity - both the fuel and the roof rack.
Bagging yourself a Paj Sport Exceed with seven seats and the brilliant Super Select II 4WD system that permits high-4 tarmac use is a smart purchase because you get an additional 100kg of braked towing capacity at 3100kg over Prado’s 3000kg, and there’s an additional 250kg kerb weight in the Toyota. The cheaper really is the more cheerful option in many respects.
Paj Sport is 70mm narrower and 40mm less tall than Prado, which means it’ll squeeze through tighter spaces, plus it’s 410mm shorter and with a turning circle of 11.2m versus the 11.6m required in the Toyota which, when navigating tight hairpins and ruts, is better.
Prado does win the boot space battle with 742 litres (third row down), against the 502 litres in Pajero Sport with the third row folded. Third row up however, full-loaded with children, the boot space in Pajero sport wins at 130 litres versus the 120 litres in a occupant-brimming Prado.
The Mitsubishi is 85mm lower to the ground than Prado, so you might be scuffing skid plates the Toyota would lumber over. You can figure out how likely this situation is to actually emerge - I mean, are you really heading up the billy goat’s bluff or driving as the crow flies across automotive hell? Or are you doing the odd river crossing, towing a camper and taking some dusty backroads? I’d wager the latter, in which case, Pajero Sport offers 95% of Prado’s competence, with change.
Scratching a black Prado could be avoided in the Mitsubishi.
Approach, breakover and departure angles favour the Prado if you’re getting that hardcore with your family 4×4, but if you’re not rock crawling through the Snowies, you’ll seldom care and be glad you saved thousands of dollars and still got all the bells and whistles on Pajero Sport.
Both Prado and its bigger brother, the LandCruiser 200 Series, want six-month/10,000km servicing intervals, compared with Pajero Sport’s 12-months/15,000km, which is time better spent not drinking crap coffee, reading three-year-old copies of Big Guns & Ammo magazine in the service department.
Stiff Competition
Before you dump five or more figures on a 4x4 wagon with every intention to load up and haul arse across the great divide, pause for a moment and consider just how likely that scenario is, and if it is, remember there is so much choice and not every carmaker has the consumer front-of-mind. I mean, for starters, do you really need a diesel? Here’s how to decide between petrol and diesel >>
Ford Everest: from $54,490 before on-road costs: Before emptying your savings on an Everest (which you will) because it’s still asking more than $72k for top-spec Titanium, also remember what Ford has historically done with its customers’ trust. Everest might have a bigger fuel tank than Pajero Sport and Trailblazer, noise-cancelling, and three-tonne towing to keep up - but you have to ask if what you’re getting for all that extra cash is worth it. Granted, the Ranger, on which Everest is based, has proven relatively reliable in the engine department, although it’s far from perfect. Oh, and good luck getting any of your consumer guarantees out of Ford Australia in the event something goes wrong.
Holden Trailblazer: from $47,990 before on-road costs: One of just two half-decent vehicles left in Holden’s defunct SUV line-up, along with the Colorado, offering good towing, off-road ability, and storage galore. Trailblazer LT base model gets third-row seating by default, has Chevrolet’s 2.8-litre Duramax diesel engine which offers a Pajero Sport and Everest beating 68.7 kW/t power-to-weight ratio thanks to 147kW @ 3600rpm and 500Nm @ 2000rpm which kicks in earlier than the Mitsubishi and Ford. Substantial Australian suspension, chassis and steering tuning thanks to the talented engineering pool still kicking rocks around Holden’s proving ground in south-east Victoria. Let down by the muppets running the show from the galleries.
Nissan Patrol: from $75,990 before on-road costs: The only petrol engine in this quintuple (incl. Pajero Sport), which seems against the trend, but if your intentions are to actually overtake on the freeway while making the kind of engine noise that soils hot hatches’ pants, then Patrol is your scene with more peak power than LC Sahara. Beaten profusely with the ugly stick (and profoundly not giving a crap about that) Patrol goes anywhere, pulls anything and in U-G-L-Y Ti-L form, will easily go feature-to-feature with everyone else while offering more storage, a greater presence and sackloads more attitude than any Range Rover-clad gangster - for less cash. You’ll also never have to wonder when its DPF will fail. You’ll also save more cash buying the thirstier Patrol over more frugal LandCruiser: Learn more about the hardly-new Nissan Patrol here >>
Toyota LandCruiser: from $80,190 before on-road costs: The (not very hard) thinking man’s off-roader. If you’re like the countless thousands of blind, pack-following buyers out there who can’t acknowledge that no carmaker or subsequent product is perfect, then buy into the underdeveloped DPF system and dusting issues LandCruiser is increasingly known for. Chances are you probably already have. Sure, there’s plenty to be said for its 4WD drivetrain which, from a reputational perspective, is hard to break (unless you’re being a complete moron in terms of mechanical sympathy, pushing its engineering limits). But you’ll pay through the backside for your LandCruiser, even moreso in Victoria which now slogs you additional stamp duty over the $100,000 retail price point. It’ll take LC Sahara 400,000km of driving to reach cost-equivalence with the cheaper, thirstier, petrol-only Nissan Patrol (see Patrol link). Don’t follow the heard and buy a 200 Series without thinking it through >>
Taking the high road?
So you’ve decided you really do need a big, brawling four-wheel drive and you’re pointing the bonnet at the horizon. Understand why you really need differential locks on your 4WD >>
It should go without saying that a brand new 4WD is always going to feel nicer to drive than your old clunker. With that said, it shouldn’t insulate you from the cognitive task of manoeuvring it like a ninja rather than trying to crush rocks into submission because the latter will always win.
Unless you plan on heavily modifying your Pajero Sport - and I’m not recommending you do, because you probably shouldn’t - just remember the term mechanical sympathy. The glamorous, exciting, action-pack press images used with this article should not be used as your excuse to do something expensive and damaging to the factory components beneath that glossy bodywork. If you want a tank, shop elsewhere.
Mitsubishi has also replaced the ultrasonic sensor in its rear parking sensors with a radar type to detect vehicles in blind spots (usually caused by improperly adjusted mirrors). Radar sensors are claimed to be less affected by external disturbances and offer a wider, longer range than the ultrasonic types. It also means two sensors at each end of the vehicle can be removed
There’s also a smartphone app on Exceed models, which is highly likely to annoy anybody ranked below “savvy” in the tech domain.
I would advise Mitsubishi to be careful when embarking down the ‘we can be Tesla, too’ path. The jury remains out on how simple, slick or glitchy it is.
Other tech changes include the front dashboard LCD display which has a much more coherent layout, and for those still living in the early 2000s, you’ll miss the roof mounted DVD player which has quietly disappeared. Because kids use tablets and phones now.
There isn’t even a CD player (rest in peace) thanks to the innovation of smartphone integration.
Conclusion
The Pajero Sport is without doubt one of the best-value hardcore off-road vehicles on the market. It strikes the balance between affordability, reliability, practicality and being invested-in with the right level of features - without forcing you to pay for stuff you don’t need.
In many respects it’ll pull the pants down of the overpriced Toyota Prado and LandCruiser, and offers five-star safety (with airbags all the way to the third row) including autonomous emergency braking on the base model, and lane-keeping features further up the range.
The Triton underpinnings does make for a cabin that is a touch on the cosy side, but you’ll really only notice if you’re horizontally disproportionate to your height, in which case, that’s not the Pajero Sport’s fault.
If you’re pulling tonnes of offspring and the dearly-beloved, tents, trailer, bikes and the rest, Pajero Sport remains an underrated but highly equipped four-wheel drive option for those of you who think before doing.
And for those of you still rusted onto the LandCruiser saying it’s developed in Australia, well, so too is the Pajero Sport. So there’s that.
The anatomy of the most common off-road disaster. Do not let this happen to you. The road to 4X4 hell: so often paved with good intentions. What could possibly go wrong?