Nissan V Mitsubishi

All depends on what type of 4WDing/drivivng you do. The Nissan has live axles, separate chasis and is built like the proverbial brick dunny. The Paj has a very sweet engine, independent suspension, monocoque chasis and a lighter overall construction.

If you spend your time pounding the corrugated gravel roads and traverse the deepest, gnarly hil climbs or river crossings, then the nissan would more likely survive the pounding. However, if you spend a lot of time on the blacktop and only occasionaly go 4Wding (like most of us really do if we are honest) , then the Paj will also last. It also has MUCH better road holding manners to boot.

The Patrol is a heavy duty 4WD while the Paj is a medium duty. Choose the one that suits as IMHO they are not directly comparable (similair yes, but different emphasis about on/off road bias).

I have a GU manual 3.0TD and chose this for its off road bias. Neither are "better', just aimed at a slightly different market (how many pajeros are in the mining industry compared to Patrols/cruisers?).

Cheers

Mark

IMHO the Pajero with IFS is great on flat dirt roads including corrugations. The IFS has its limitations with articulation on rough tracks. Your choice should depend on where you are going to spend most of your time driving.

Just one major consideration that hasn't been mentioned is that the Pajero will almost certainly give you many thousands of trouble free kilometres. The Patrol will almost certainly give you many troubles. Just check the posts regarding Patrol troubles on this forum alone. The Pajero is also much more capable off road. It's a modern highly developed 4wd. The other is a "yesterday vehicle".

I also found the DDi Pajero to be a good handler and powerful. It was also noisy in the engine department and there was a lot of road noise on all surfaces. My personal conclusion was that if I were using in mainly on road I would go the Paj in petrol.

I agree with the previous poster in that the Patrol and Paj are not really directly comparable. One is designed for roads built this century, the other for ones built in the last, where you need a "yesterdays car".All aboard!

mate i work for a large land and forestry surveying company that gives vehicles a hiding
i look after the vehicle fleet and 2 years ago they started buying pajero instead of patrol and landcruiser wagons
mate we do less repairs and less breakdowns on pajero and the surveyors like them better all round
the 3.2 engine is bloody great mate go for it

Just because the Pajero doesn't have a chassis don't be fooled into thinking it's a flimsy light weight vehicle. The diesel GLS weighs in at about 2140Kg, a Patrol is not much over 2200Kg, the difference is less than a tank of fuel. From the weight there is obviously alot of metal in the Pajero somewhere.

The Pajero's are excellent cars and four wheel drive machines. They may not have the advantage of super axel articulation but with standard traction control right across the range the pajero will go in 90% of places the crusiers and patrols go. In some situation I have know the pajeros to be better offroad than the heavy weights, but the opposite is also true. Personally unless your a serious hardcore offroader then don't waste your time or money on the patrols or crusiers. These machinces gussle the petrol and have high maintance costs. The Pajero or Prado are the way to go especially if you spend most of your time on road, they offer the best of both worlds. The new DID Pajero will tow just about anything with easy. A recent test showed the DID Paj had the best torque to weight ratio up against the toyotas or nissans. There monocoque body was put to the test and came out unscratched. The test included single point snatch recovery from a variety of situation. In one snatch recovery the forces measured was said to have distorted conventional chassis four wheel drives, pajeros body didn't even flinch.