mitsubishi pajero diesel

The Latest Generation Pajero Looks Better Than the Last, and Goes Even Better

Way, way back in the annals of history, just between the period where the last dinosaur bit the dirt and a monkey thought it would be a good idea to get down from its tree and take a good walk around, my family owned a Pajero.

At the time I was bitterly disappointed, because my father had test driven a Range Rover and chosen instead this slow square Japanese thing. The joke was on me of course, because the Pajero, while being only slightly quicker than continental drift, lasted decades without anything else

than regular maintenance, while the Range Rover would have spent more time at the dealers than actually fulfilling it’s role as a family wagon.

Sure, the paint eventually decided to depart large sections of the body, but mechanically the first generation Pajero carried on as if nothing had happened, despite teaching three children to drive and being stored within walking distance of the beach for a large proportion of its last days.

But here’s the kicker – the only Pajero I have driven since then is the absolutely brand new one you see here.

I don’t really know how it happened. I’ve been a motoring journalist for over ten years, worked for a newspaper and magazines, and yet never actually got behind the wheel of a Pajero younger than Zsa Zsa Gabor. So it’s with some tongue in cheek that I must announce that progress has been made with the fourth generation LWB Mitsubishi Pajero.

For a start it’s bigger and quicker, and more comfortable, with seven proper seats rather than the ability to carry two extra children in the boot amongst the luggage (ahh, those old days when no one really gave much of a damn about crash safety).

But I’ve also avoided the unfortunate generation where the front wings of the car were huge lumpy wings, joined by swollen rear wheel arches, and this latest Pajero really does look good. Someone at Mitsubishi has obviously decide that SUVs have to look butch and this one does, with straight lines and a design that makes it look bigger than it really is.