Opinion on Mitsubishi Pajero

G'day Sonnymac,
The Pajero is a good honest and reliable vehicle which will be more than capable of going where you want to take it.It will be more comfortable to drive than Hilux with more car like qualities.
A friend just bought a '95 model from a pommy couple who were heading back to England.It has many extra's including cruise control,auto transmission and was also a 7 seater till he removed the two back seats.It was the 3.5 litre petrol v6.190,000 klms and he paid 10 grand for it.The v6 auto is smooth but round town gets a bit thirsty.There are many around either as lpg/petrol or diesel.
Cheers Mark

g day mate i own a 97 gls pajero have had it for 4 years 3.5 dohc great truck. you can pick them up fairly cheap now. little bit thirsty about 7k to the litre but hay its a 4 wheel drive. common problems are valve seals harmonic balencers falling off mine did it 3 times fixed now. you can lift 1.5 inches with a new set of springs and wind the front up $300.00. i put a diff lock in the front (great limited slip in the back dont need to touch it) now it will walk up walls. and a good set of wheels (bf all tarains) just got to keep the wife out now.

Sonnyman
I have been driving Pajero's now for over 16 years-had 4 in that time and I think they are great. I have had both petrol and diesel. After driving the diesel, I would never go back to petrol. This year I led a group of friend on a very remote Simpson Desert Trip with over 500kms of no tracks at all, so do not let anyone tell you that they are not a capable off roader, they are.

You will be happy with your purchase.

Stephen

Hi Sonnymac
I service many pajeros and find them quite good.
They only seem to have niggly little things which most can live with.
Examples are, the 4wd/2wd dash lights go regularly, oil leaks on the v6 front the rear cam caps cheap to fix but a pain, the 100 000 km service is quite expensive as it is the timing belt and usually you find the water pump leaking at the first change.
The 2.8 diesel has oil pressure sender unit troubles. Most begin to ignore them after they fail for the 3rd time.
They have 2 manual gearbox's. An alloy housing and a cast iron housing is the easy way to tell the difference. The alloy housing is cheap for rebuilds but not as strong as the cast iron housing one which is strong but very expensive on rebuilds.
I did have some dramas on the early diesels tearing out the centre of the clutch plates but not so much of late. They are an absolute pain to get the gearbox's out of but generally only once in an owners life time so you can probably live with it.
The 2000 models on are very economical in the diesel version if you can get over the looks (my opinion only).
They are cheap on tyres as they only run 15's, have a strong lsd rear end and have a high seating position. The 3.5 DOHC is the most power ful of all but is the most expensive on repairs and maintenance as opposed to the 2.5 SOHC engine. Much better on the pocket.
Oh one more thing on mainly all Mitsubishi V^ engines is the ISC motor (Idle Speed Control) or stepper motor. I am always replacing them to rectify stalling. You can check them when you are looking by having it idle as operating temp and then switch the A/C on and then drop it into drive if auto. Observe the tacho, if it continues to drop with the load on the engine there is a good chance the stepper motor requires replacing but if the idle speed appears to stay level or self adjust it is ok. I think from Mitsubishi the stepper motor is around $360.00 but from after market people such as AFI in Sydney it is about $165.00 exchange.
Hope this helps
120scruiser

In New Zealand the original imports have factory standard rear diff lock. Recent second hand ex Japan do not have the diff lock as standard.

I don't think there is a rear diff lock available for the auto transmission models but it has a really great limited slip rear diff.

I reckon they are a good tough waggon.

Dunno what your budget is like, but the price of 2000+ models has crashed (along with every other second hand 4WD). You might find you can get something newer for less than you think.

Certainly capable vehicles - ours had a workout in Wombat and Lerderderg today, lots of low range stuff.

Sonnymac
Have had a 2000 td 2.8 for a while found it excelent. The standard rubber and ride height were a problem on Fraser Island (trouble following cruisers in deep sand) Had ARB torsion bars and TJm rear springs put in along with a front air locker and long ranger tank and bigger tyre size, the vehicle will now not be left behind by even well tricked up cruisers. Only triuble was a rear main oil seal at 120,000klm and a tired spigot beating (too much water) Had the clutch replaces when the rear main was done. The old one would have done a bit yet but seing I intended to tow a van went with the solid replacement (no cushion springs), so far no more probs at 142,000. Fuel use at 11.5 to 100 loaded, 14.5 to 100 towing 1.5 tonne.
No regrets (from an old shorty cruiser fan)

You could easily pick yourself up something good from about the minimum $9000 mark from what I have seen being sold private and car yards (mainly car yards seem to be around the $12000.00 but definately go private. Am talking here say NH, NJ, (or 93-96 odd) models.
Our Paj will go anywhere we take here and would go even further I am sure, She keeps up with the best of them, comfortable, dream to drive and we get around 10.2Lt per 100kms. have no regrets at all in betting a Pajero.

Cheers
Jo

Depend what u want it for. If for mainly off road stuff, cant beat the NlL. Very capable vehicle, & since fitting the front locker, goes anywhere & more than those so called 'only real 4wd's'. If for on road use & not hard 4wding, NM's on are a nice truck, if you like the look of them

Diesels are harder to find because diesel sales were less than 20% of total sales.
Diesels are also manual only, one reason for the low number of sales.
You can get good economy out of the 3.5l petrol, but you need to be very disciplined and only use a light throttle, drive it on the torque.