Hey there, Bob Aldons, The Car Guy with my review on the popular Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLX SUV.
“MITSUBISHI Motors has been building a passenger SUV based on the Triton ute since 1996 – 22 years. In some parts of the world, it was called a Pajero Sport or Montero right from the start. But things can be different down under. Initially, it was called Challenger but with the advent of the new generation Triton in 2015, it’s now the Pajero Sport. Arguably the Challenger name and recognition wasn’t as high as it should be so relying on the full sized Pajero’s reputation, Pajero Sport as the badge was the answer.”
So, one of the first questions I’m often asked is what these SUV’s are suitable for and where they won’t go. To summarize, the Pajero Sport is a 4WD equipped with a low range capacity. Think hill climbing and heavy sand driving. Think bush and beach and outback. There are only a few of these type of 5 or 7-seater 4WD’s on the market.
In the range of bigger (read much more expensive) you’ve got Nissan Patrol, and Infinity QX80, Land Rover and Range Rover as well as the Mitsubishi Pajero and Toyota Landcruiser, but that’s another story entirely.
What is it? I’m going to use Mitsubishi’s words from their website. ” Combining style, luxury, cutting-edge technology and genuine four-wheel drive performance, the sleek Mitsubishi Pajero Sport fuses elegance, space and safety for urban driving with agility for off-road excitement.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? (In The Car Guy speak, the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is an on-road/off-road vehicle.)
“With 5 and 7 seats, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is the versatile family 4WD built to help you escape the every day and ignite your spirit for adventure.”
Competition: Holden Colorado, Isuzu MU-X, Ford Everest, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Prado. There’s also a few others, but they don’t really compare with these 6 entrants
How Much? Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLX $44,990. Isuzu MU-X LS-M $44,990, Ford Everest Ambiente $47490 Toyota Fortuner GXL $51,990, Toyota Prado $64,502
Front and Under the Bonnet
Down The Side
The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is a pretty large vehicle. Parked side by side with my wife’s Suzuki Vitara, it’s really big. And it’s size is no doubt to accommodate the 7-seat configuration for the GLS and Exceed models, but with the 5-seat GLX you’re getting a HUGE cargo space for everything from prams to golf clubs, groceries, luggage – in fact, you could probably fit it all in and still have space remaining.
So with that much space in the back, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of rear overhang – the distance from the rear wheels to the back of the vehicle. So that doesn’t easily please the eye, but if you ignore just that, it’s still a damn fine vehicle.
I’ve listed some of the passive and active safety features of the Mitsubishi, but if you’d like to investigate the total specifications, click through to the Mitsubishi site by following this link
Mitsubishi Pajero Sport – Specifications
Apart from the somewhat noisy diesel engine, Pajero Sport’s full-time 4×4 is more sophisticated than a lot of the other competitors.
It offers a better grip on wet or gravely surfaces along without having to think about what method of 4WD you’re in. There’s no doubt that the Pajero Sport is smaller than vehicles such as the Isuzu MU-X or Ford Everest, but the offset with that is that the Pajero is more agile in how it steers and feels.
If you really want to get off-road in heavy conditions, you can change the standard 18″ wheels to 17’s. Swap the tyres to a more aggressive off road tyre and there isn’t much terrain that the Pajero Sport can’t handle.
The ANCAP organization, funded principally by the Federal Government, has become a vital source of information for new car buyers.
Sometimes I even wonder whether customers care so much about the safety aspect of the car they’re looking at?
The best and most recent example of that is the Ford Mustang. In its recent form, Mustang achieved an ANCAP rating of 2 stars and even the current updated model scored only 3 stars.
Yet the Ford is proving to be one of the more popular sports cars on the market in 2017 and 2018.
This Mitsubishi Pajero Sport was tested in 2015 and achieved 5 Stars. With the introduction of new criteria for 2018, I suppose it’s a fair question to ask whether it would still achieve the same rating?
In my opinion, it should. The updated Pajero Sport for 2018 is fitted with significant safety technology including the vital adaptive cruise control, 7 airbags, autonomous emergency braking and that’s a critical element in achieving a 5-star rating.
Towing
Warranty and Service
Mitsubishi was the second company after Toyota to offer a capped price service program. But that’s a long time ago now and the program hasn’t been updated. Mitsubishi advertises 3 capped price services as follows.
15,000km/12 Month $400
30,000km/24 Month $475
45,000km/36 Month $550
After that, you’re at the mercy of your Mitsubishi dealer to offer a competitive service price. Mitsubishi Diamond Advantage offers a 12-month Roadside Assistance including Club membership with all new eligible Mitsubishi vehicles. With the Mitsubishi Club Membership Offer, you will not only have peace of mind wherever you go, you will also receive the benefits of being a motoring club member.
If you plan to continue to service your Mitsubishi with a dealer, ask your roadside club whether there’s a discount to keep your membership current. RACQ in Queensland do offer a discounted plan if they are the provider to the manufacturer.
Eligible Customers will receive 12 months Roadside Assistance including Club Membership from the vehicle’s first date of registration (warranty start date). They will then receive a further 12 months Roadside Assistance including Club membership each time the vehicle is presented to an authorised Mitsubishi Dealer for a scheduled service under the Mitsubishi Capped Price Service Program.
Mitsubishi’s warranty is 5 years or 130,000km.
The Pajero Sport has a fuel tank capacity of 68 litres and I’m not so comfortable with that if you’re planning on towing a 3-tonne caravan on an extended holiday. There are companies that provide an extended range fuel tank for around $1500 and I’d investigate that if you’re concerned about the distance between fills.
That being said, even around the city, using the urban economy figures, you’ll achieve about 600-700 kilometres to the tank full.
I generally use RACQ Insurance to give you a guide as to what you’ll pay for your annual comprehensive car insurance. Conditions precedent for this cover are:
- A male driver over 60 years of age, having held a license for over 10 years
- Bronze member of RACQ with 2 other insurance policies
- Has paid cash for the car for private use with the car parked in a garage overnight
- The driver resides in postcode 4019
- The car is fitted with an engine immobilizer
- 1 at fault claim in the last 3 years, with no license suspensions
- Rating 1 currently having held that rating 1 between 5 and 9 years
- No driver under 25 will use the vehicle.
The premium quoted online by RACQ Insurance is: Private Use – No Finance: $453.94 with a $750 excess
Variations from the information above may result in different outcomes. Check online with RACQ Insurance for your own particular quote.
What I Like
- Great Driving position
- Plenty of room for all passengers and an acre of load carrying space in the back
What I don’t like
- No Heated Seats
- No Dusk Sensing Headlights
- Diesel Engine is somewhat noisy
Independent Opinion
Whenever possible I like to solicit the opinion of an actual owner rather than just giving you my thoughts. Glenn Evans is a member of my golf club and purchased his Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS through car broker company, Car Business, over 2 years ago. Here are Glenn’s thoughts on his Mitsubishi.
I’ve been a proud Mitsubishi Pajero Sport owner since April 2016. My experience to date has been excellent in all facets of the car. I will outline my driving experiences to date as follows. Since owning the car I have completed about 46,000 km of varied driving conditions.
This includes city country and off-road driving. The car in city driving is a responsive quiet and fuel-efficient vehicle. The eight-speed gearbox provides pleasurable driving at any speed in any traffic.
In 2017 I took the vehicle to Cape York. We were towing a fully equipped off-road camper trailer and with all the challenges of the Cape York roads and environment can provide the Pajero never missed a beat.
I was travelling with a group of five other vehicles which were all V8 powered, the Pajero was able to maintain the pace that was set by the other vehicles over the whole trip and also covered the rough terrain with little difficulty.
My wife and I are currently on a trip around Australia pulling our caravan. We left Brisbane about six weeks ago and We are currently enjoying the coast at 80-mile beach in Western Australia.
Once again these travels have provided varying road conditions and the Pajero has met these challenges. To summarise the capabilities of this vehicle I would say that it provides safe, reliable and strong motoring in any road conditions.
Regards
Glenn Evans
Redcliffe Q
My test vehicle was provided by Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited. I don’t receive any payment from the manufacturers who supply vehicles for review. The opinions in my reviews are my own.
If you’re in the market to buy a Pajero Sport, take care in selecting your dealer. When I want to check out the ‘worthiness’ of a dealer, I use Google. Google reviews provide a generally impartial assessment of dealers by their own customers. In the search bar, type in Mitsubishi Dealers (The brand) and Brisbane (or your particular suburb or area). You should be presented with a list of dealers.
Typically, I only list dealers who have achieved a minimum of 10 reviews with Google and then only those with 4 stars or higher. You can see from this list, that the dealers mentioned have a fantastic reputation with their customers.
From a South-East Queensland perspective here are the dealers I’d visit.
Northside Nundah Mitsubishi 4.2 Stars from 178 reviews
Eastside Bartons Wynnum 4.8 Stars from 672 reviews
Southside Motorama Springwood 4.4 Stars from 116 reviews
Westside Blue Ribbon Mitsubishi 4.1 Stars from 55 reviews
Sunshine Coast Cricks Nambour 4.5 Stars from 90 reviews
Gold Coast von Bibra Nissan 4.9 Stars from 55 reviews
I’m Bob Aldons the owner and founder of The Car Guy, and Car Business. I review cars, reporting on car industry matters, car tech, motorsport but particularly Formula 1 and the automotive world at large. I’ve spent over forty years immersed in the automotive industry from salesman to the owner of a 7 brand multi-franchise dealership. I know cars.
I also appear frequently on National Nine News as their Brisbane based car expert. Here’s the latest story on Takata Airbags
Find One
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