Road test review: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

Tuesday, 25 February 2020

**MITSUBISHI PAJERO SPORT VRX

Base price:** $68,990 (currently $58,990)

Powertrain and economy: 2.4-litre inline four-cylinder turbo-diesel, 135kW/437Nm, 8-speed automatic, 4WD, combined economy 8.0 L/100km, CO2 208g/km (source: RightCar).

Vital statistics: 4825mm long, 1815mm wide, 1835mm high, 2800mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 131/502/1488 litres, 18-inch alloy wheels.

The Pajero Sport now looks like a slicker, more refined Triton.

We like: Comfortable and refined for a ladder-chassis SUV, impressive transmission, high levels of tech and equipment, it's brown!

We don't like: Quite a lot of hard plastic in the cabin, stereo is only okay, would it kill you to have a physical volume knob Mitsubishi?

A new face that includes the distinctive 'combination' lights is a feature of the Sport.

Mitsubishi has gone full 'Beast mode' on the Pajero Sport for 2020, giving it a new, more Triton-esque face and jamming in a whole load of new equipment, as is the Mitsubishi tried-and-tested way. And, you know what? It works very well indeed.

So they've made the Pajero Sport look more like an angry robot out of a sci-fi movie?

Well, it hasn't quite gone full-on Triton - rather, think of it as a more refined, urbane version of the Triton's aggressive Transformer face. A larger grille, smaller headlights and new LED combination indicator/cornering light/fog lights bring the beast, while tweaks to bumpers and other exterior trim (plus the addition of a rear spoiler as standard) make the Sport look lower, wider and more squared-off than before.

The Pajero Sport shares the Triton's 2.4-litre diesel engine, but keeps the super-slick 8-speed transmission all to itself.

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The newly squared-off rear now has taillights that are 20 per cent less droopy. That's our estimate, at least.

The polarising tail lights have come in for a refresh too, with a bolder, squarer look that sees them looking far less like clocks in a Salvador Dali painting now.

The new bumpers make the Pajero Sport 40mm longer than before, but it has lost around 20kg, with a decent chunk of that coming from the new aluminium bonnet that shaves 7.8kg off its weight.

Shaving millimetres off here and there inside the Pajero Sport has seen an increase in interior width of 25.6mm, while storage space has also increased, but the big news inside is the all-new 8-inch multi-information display that replaces the traditional dials behind the steering wheel, which is its first appearance in a Mitsubishi.

This, along with the addition of an electric tailgate, a revised and enlarged touchscreen infotainment display and remote control access via a phone app make the Pajero Sport one of the most high-tech vehicles in the company's line up.

Switching between 2WD, 4WD and 4WD low is a simple matter of twisting a dial in the Pajero Sport.

Okay, so its got a bunch more tech and equipment and it looks tougher, does it drive any better?

Little has actually changed on that front, but to be honest, it really didn't need to - the Pajero Sport has always ridden and handled at least as well, if not better than anything else in the large ladder-chassis ute-based SUV segment anyway, and it continues to do so.

Okay, so if you're coming from a monocoque car-based crossover-style SUV, then it is going to seem a bit agricultural in comparison, but in essence, the Pajero Sport rides and handles like a particularly impressive ute with better rear suspension - which is essentially what it is anyway.

There's plenty of space in here: close to 1500 litres with all the seats down.

On the open road it has a comfortable, loping ride quality that absorbs the worst of things, only occasionally getting a little brittle around the rear over broken surfaces at lower speeds.

Around town it feels firmer - like a ute - and occasionally jarring over the likes of speed bumps, but is generally a very comfortable and effortless-feeling big thing.

And make no mistake - it is big. At close to 5 metres long the Pajero Sport faces the same parking challenges that the slightly longer Triton does, plus it is also now 30mm higher than the old model too.

Still, that doesn't prevent it from being an eminently practical thing to live with, particularly thanks to its massive interior space that includes three rows of seats.

So it's still a useful thing off road then?

Oh, yes. The increased length from the new bumpers hasn't affected the approach angle (still 30 degrees), while the departure angle has only been fractionally affected (up 0.2 degrees to 24.2) and ground clearance remains 218mm.

Mitsubishi's excellent Super Select II selectable 4WD system remains a thoroughly effortless thing to use, with easy selection via the chunky big dial in the centre console.

This is also an area where the Pajero Sport has an advantage over the Triton ute - where the Triton has an admittedly very good 6-speed automatic transmission, the Pajero Sport sticks with its utterly excellent 8-speed unit.

While the transmission is a very good thing at low speeds off the road (although it does occasionally become indecisive at on teh road lower in its torque band), it truly shines at open road speeds by being remarkably fast and smooth in its shifts, and while the 2.4-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine isn't exactly bristling with power, it does have nice fat spread of torque that matches it nicely with the transmission.

No-one ever really takes these things off road though, so what's it actually like around town?

That is true, but it is nice to know that you can. Particularly if that off road ability is paired up with a comfortable and civilised on-road demeanour, as it is in the Pajero Sport.

The newly refreshed interior is a comfortable place, with wide, welcoming seats and pretty much every modern convenience you expect in a new vehicle.

While it is a big lad, the Pajero Sport is bristling with cameras and sensors to make life easier, including a 360 degree camera, rear cross traffic alert and blind spot monitoring.

This all helps to make the Pajero Sport fairly effortless to live with on a daily basis, with its commanding seating position being a particular bonus in traffic, while its excellent adaptive cruise control also helps here.

Any other cars I should consider?

While ladder-chassis ute-based SUVs were an endangered species about a decade ago, there have been plenty more choices of late, with the most obvious competitors for the Pajero Sport being the related (albeit now more distantly) Isuzu MU-X and Holden Trailblazer, although the Trailblazer obviously won't be around for much longer...

Toyota's Hilux-based Fortuner is also a direct rival, while its more luxurious Land Cruiser Prado also features, albeit at a higher price point.

Ford's excellent Ranger-based Everest is a challenger, particularly in terms of comfort and equipment, but at $79,990 is also considerably more expensive than the Pajero Sport, particularly when you take into account the special offer that Mitsubishi is currently running that lops $10k off the asking price.