2023 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport review: 7-seat GLS 4x2

Can a ‘4x4’ SUV present a compelling case for ownership when only two of its four wheels are actually driven? That’s the question posed by the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, along with other rivals in this segment like the Isuzu MU-X and Ford Everest. All offer cheaper versions of their rugged, off-road-capable, separate-chassis SUVs that ditch often complex four-wheel drive systems in favour of simpler, cheaper rear-drive layouts.

And it seems ample buyers are responding with an emphatic ‘yes’.

But it does raise a bunch of questions and demand that you properly consider your real-world usage before making what is, at the guts of it, a budget-led decision on a likely long-term purchase.

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After all, the Pajero Sport, which shares its engine, transmission and much of its platform with the Triton ute, has been engineered from the outset to be capable off-road. Its ground clearance, approach and departure angles and tyre choice are all intended to enable it to tackle terrain too gnarly for most ‘unibody’ SUVs. Obviously, this compromises on-road performance.

But what if your driving ambitions don’t involve dirty weekends deep in the scrub or conquering inland Australia’s toughest tracks?

This third-gen Pajero Sport was first launched in 2015, and while it’s been updated, most recently in 2020, we want to know if it still stacks up when driving the rear rubber only. Or does losing the four-wheel drive system simply miss the point?

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Pricing and features

Our seven-seater Pajero Sport GLS 4×2 on test here retails for $48,690 before on-road costs, which represents a saving of $5000 over the four-wheel drive equivalent, the GLS 4×4.

Competitors in this segment also offering rear-drive include the just-released Ford Everest Ambiente at $52,990 and the Isuzu MU-X LS-M, priced at $48,900 (both before on-road costs).

A Toyota Fortuner in GX spec is priced into this mix at $49,715 plus on-road costs, although it’s four-wheel drive.

The SsangYong Rexton (also four-wheel-drive only) trumps all of these for standard equipment and is keenly priced from $48K drive-away. That’s life as a challenger brand for you.

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In GLS spec as tested here, the Pajero Sport includes automatic wipers, dual-zone climate control, integrated satellite navigation, DAB+ digital radio, a power tailgate, leather steering wheel, electric parking brake, rear privacy glass, auto-dimming rearview mirror, keyless entry with push-button start, auto-folding mirrors, 18-inch wheels, a 220V power outlet in the middle row and LED front foglights.

For more premium upholstery, a digital instrument display, electrically adjustable heated front seats and a more comprehensive safety suite (which we’ll get to) among other gear, you need to step up to the Pajero Sport Exceed at $59,190 before on-road costs, but it’s not offered as a rear-driver.

White is the only no-cost colour; all other colours add $740 with the exception of White Diamond, which is a $940 option.

Our test vehicle also included a Mitsubishi genuine accessory bull bar, priced at a hefty $3879.

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Equipment list

Comfort and space

If you feel that the interiors of current cars have become too ‘screen heavy’ and bafflingly complex, where an algebraic equation is easier than adjusting the air vents, chances are you’ll find the cabin of the Pajero Sport a welcome, uncomplicated respite.

There will be no requirement for a 15-year-old to walk you through the operation of anything in here. The centre console presents a clean, uncluttered layout with simple ventilation controls and an 8.0-inch multimedia screen controlled by straightforward icons in a logical menu structure.

It’s not especially bright or high resolution, nor is it as swift to respond to the touch as some rivals, and the graphics look dated. But at least it doesn’t bury commonly used functions under multiple submenus. There’s inbuilt navigation as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto via cable connection.

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Our main gripe is the lack of a volume knob for the average but acceptable six-speaker audio. There are knobs provided below for the climate control so it’s clear the interior design team wasn't totally allergic to anything that’s not a touch panel. So why relegate the most commonly used function to the most fiddly control possible?

Granted, the driver has the convenience of a volume rocker switch on the steering wheel so it’s more likely to be an inconvenience to the passenger, but it’s a case of dumb design where elsewhere there seems to be an emphasis on logic and simplicity.

We also found the lack of a mute control either on the wheel or the fascia an annoyance, while the voice command button on the steering wheel has zero understanding of anything it’s asked.

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Lack of a digital speedo is also a demerit, although thankfully the analogue dials are crisply legible and sensibly graduated.

Hard plastics are used throughout the cabin, though the use of faux leather trim on areas like the centre console does up perceived material quality slightly.

Both front seats are manually adjusted, with the driver’s providing only adjustment for the base angle (not overall seat height). The driver also gets electric lumbar support. Overall bolstering is okay, the seat doesn’t attempt to grip you too tightly because there’s probably no real need to. 

The only shortcoming from my point of view in accommodating my 182cm frame is that the seat base is a bit short to provide optimum under-thigh support. The pedal box, too, is a little more snug than some competitors so longer-limbed drivers may find their legs splayed out to the centre console and door trim.

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The steering wheel is adjustable for reach and height, but that reach adjustment is limited to 50mm. I would’ve preferred to have been able to pull the wheel a little closer, but no dealbreaker. Less great are the bulky A-pillars, which can obscure important stuff like pedestrians, but the Mitsu is hardly on its own here.

Interior storage space for an SUV in this segment ranks only as adequate. The centre console bin is modestly sized and access into it is blocked by a removable top tray. There is, however, storage on a shelf tucked underneath the centre console.

Door bins are a useful size and accommodate one-litre drink bottles. There’s also a sunglasses compartment in the ceiling but overall, no real surprise nor delight in terms of thoughtful touches or thinking outside of a very conservative box.

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Life in the second row is fine for kids, but tall adults may find the seat base is set a little low, requiring more bending of the legs than most people would prefer. There are two USB sockets, a 220-volt outlet and air vents.

The rear door bins accommodate a standard drink bottle and there are pop-out cup holders when the centre armrest is folded down. No problems with headroom as you’d expect in an SUV with a conventional roofline like this.

Access into the third row is reasonable on both sides of the car thanks to the folding and flipping mechanism of the 60:40 split rear seat. But accommodation of the seats themselves is, no surprises, a small kids zone, or short adults for whom you have no great affection.

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But what about the all-important folding of the third row when you want to use that space for cargo? Pulling on straps unlatches the sprung third-row bases, while another pair of straps allow the backrests to fold flat. The re-erecting process, however, is not quite as seamless.

Popping the backrests upright is no problem but you then need to lean over them to reach the folded seat bases, which requires a bit of muscle and is a reasonable stretch, potentially a challenge for shorter owners.

With all seats in use, cargo space is just 131 litres; small for the segment. Fine for groceries or school bags, less great for an airport run. With the third row folded, this bumps up to 502L, while folding the second row liberates 1488L.

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Safety

The Pajero Sport has a five-star ANCAP rating from 2015, and yes, it gets the basics right, but there are some omissions that you will find on competitors in this price bracket.

What is included are seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, a reversing camera, and rear parking sensors.

But no front parking sensors, which seems mean in the extreme, no blind-spot monitoring, no lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, or rear cross-traffic alert.

For these, you need to step up to the Exceed grade.

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On the Road

First inescapable fact of life behind the wheel of Pajero Sport: the 2.4-litre diesel engine insists on being a vocal contributor to the driving soundtrack. This is not a quiet unit. Nor is it especially smooth, imparting a light layer of vibration through the steering wheel at idle, as it does in the Triton.

It is sufficiently responsive to the throttle in the step-off phase, helped in part by sensibly short first and second ratios of the eight-speed automatic transmission, which shuffles up the gears quickly and smoothly.

Urban performance then is perfectly adequate even if acceleration numbers show the Pajero Sport is around a second slower to 100km/h from a standing start than a couple of its swifter segment competitors.

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Yes, this is of questionable relevance to the target audience but it is indicative of the fact that the 133kW engine does need to be worked harder with a full complement of passengers on board in hilly terrain on the open road.

There are no paddleshifters to allow the driver to take manual control of the transmission, and granted most won’t miss this omission. If you really insist on overriding the eight-speed auto you can move the selector over into the manual gate, though its shift pattern is the reverse of what is largely accepted as the preferred layout.

It will hold a selected ratio against the engine’s limiter, although quite why you’d want to is another question altogether. Above 4000rpm, the engine is making a very vocal protestation that it’s not thrilled to be working in that zone. Like most diesels, it’s happiest in the band from just off idle to around 3500rpm, with peak torque (430Nm) produced at 2500rpm.

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As for motorway cruising? At 110km/h in eighth gear, the engine is turning over at 1900rpm so still audible, but with the addition of light wind and tyre noise, it’s no longer the dominant soundtrack.

The steering is slightly lifeless just either side of centre, which is not ideal in around-town driving but does make the Pajero Sport feel less nervous and more planted at touring speeds. It’s not light, but the weighting remains consistent across the full span of 3.6 turns lock to lock.

So not a fast rack by SUV standards, but at least it does have a reassuring self-centring action as you straighten up out of roundabouts or intersections, avoiding that leaden, manual unwinding of the wheel required by some competitors in the segment.

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Under the Pajero Sport’s back end, the live axle is located by a three-link system with coil springs and a Panhard rod in lieu of the leaf springs under the Triton on which it’s based.

This does benefit ride comfort, but again, it’s important to make the distinction between the ride comfort of a 4x4 (sorry, 4x2) on a separate chassis and not be lulled into comparisons with unibody SUVs that have neither the ground clearance nor the towing capability of the Pajero Sport.

Fact is, a slightly lively, reactive ride is an almost inescapable reality of this vehicle design. The Pajero Sport does telegraph constant information about what’s happening at road level, however, it’s rarely intrusive or properly uncomfortable. More a jiggle you learn to live with.

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But you’d never call it quiet. The Toyo Cross Country tyres are designed to hold their own both on the bitumen and unsealed surfaces so the chunky tread pattern tends to slap audibly over expansion gaps and thrum on coarse-chip bitumen.

Backroad undulations taken at 100km/h cause a bit of heave as the chassis tries to contain the mass.

On wet roads during our testing, judicious throttle applications in tight conditions did trigger some benign wheelspin, quickly snuffed out by the traction control. Not a big deal, but no question that the ‘4H’ setting in the four-wheel drive version of the GLS does give a useful traction advantage on wet or greasy roads.

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As for ability away from the bitumen? We didn’t have an opportunity for a proper off-road test, but past experience suggests that relying on drive to only the rear wheels means the real limitations come in sand, or when the terrain turns steep and/or muddy.

If you can avoid slimy 10 per cent gradients and deep soft sand, you may actually find that the Pajero Sport copes pretty admirably without four-wheel drive.

Ground clearance of 218 millimetres combined with decent approach and departure angles mean that it’s quite capable in deep ruts and washaways that would have drivers of most SUVs grounding out and potentially looking for a friendly 4x4 rescuer with a snatch strap.

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Towing

If you plan on using the GLS 4x2 as a load hauler, its listed maximum tow ball load is 300kg (10kg less than the 4x4 version) and its towing capacity is 750kg (unbraked) or 3000kg braked, which is 100kg less than the 4x4 version of the Pajero Sport.

So the Pajero Sport's max towing capacity is excellent, but not class-leading. That title is claimed by the Isuzu MU-X 4x2, which boasts a 3500kg braked towing capability.

However, it's crucial to calculate gross vehicle mass when towing a trailer that is at the limit of any vehicle's braked towing capacity. In the case of the MU-X, it would be limited to a remaining vehicle payload (passengers, luggage, etc) of 315kg when towing a 3500kg trailer.

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For the Pajero Sport towing its max 3000kg, vehicle payload is over 100kg greater at 420kg.

Regardless, it's clear why Pajero Sport remains a popular choice for heavy hauling when comparing it to a unibody SUV. For example, Mitsubishi’s Outlander SUV is rated safe to haul a little more than half that of Pajero Sport – 1600kg (braked) – while a Hyundai Santa Fe is rated at 2500kg braked.

Our tip: seek out specific professional advice before hitching anything approaching these weights to any of these vehicles.

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Ownership

This is an area in which Pajero Sport strengthens its case. Mitsubishi’s 10-year/200,000km warranty is the industry’s best – although it is contingent on the vehicle being serviced at a Mitsu dealer, otherwise, the warranty becomes five years/100,000km.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. The first five years of servicing totals $2495, which is slightly more than you’ll pay for the Isuzu MU-X ($2315) but usefully cheaper than the Toyota Fortuner, which has shorter intervals of six months or 10,000km and costs $3558 to service over five years.

The Pajero Sport doesn’t mind a drink, however. On our urban loop, including plenty of typical stop-start traffic, it consumed diesel at a rate of 12.6L/100km, a fair bit up on the official urban claim of 9.8L/100km. Our second, longer, loop with more suburban and open-road driving, dropped this to 9.1L/100km, closer to the official combined claim of 8.0L/100km.

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VERDICT

There’s no question that the age of Pajero Sport’s mechanicals and underpinnings put it at a disadvantage compared to more modern rivals, especially in the area of noise and vibration. Likewise, its cabin feels a generation behind.

But for anyone who puts a greater emphasis on utility, simplicity and a long warranty, there’s still appeal here. The more specific issue is whether the lack of four-wheel drive in a vehicle so clearly engineered for off-road capability makes complete sense.

As we said from the outset, that’s something that can only be addressed on an individual user basis. If you need a robust seven-seater with generous ground clearance and hefty braked towing ability, put it on the shortlist that includes the Everest and MU-X, and, for value and equipment, a SsangYong Rexton.

But if your off-road requirements are for light-duty trails only and your towing life is more box trailer rather than trailer park, you’re likely better off looking at Mitsubishi’s Outlander, or seven-seaters from Hyundai or Kia; all of which deliver quieter, smoother, less compromised on-road performance.

2023 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS 4x2 specifications