Skip to main content

Review- The 2008 Mitsubishi Pajero - The Conqueror of All Terrains


The Indian market is literally flooded with sports utility vehicles.

The price range for SUVs in India varies from Rs.500,000 to Rs.50,000,000.

All of them merely claim to offer ‘sheer off-roading experience’ but unfortunately most of them fail to do it.

While most automakers were busy building timid compact SUVs and expensive luxury SUVs with seductive lines and curves, there was Mitsubishi who stayed with the philosophy of building some hard core, fearless SUVs for pure off-roading and the end result-

The Pajero.

And it can certainly take you to any corner of the planet Earth.



The Design.

The 2008 Pajero has a beefy front and a rectangular body with muscular wheel arches. The lines that flow along the side and neatly wrap up in the tail section, help it to retain a proper boxy SUV shape and also don’t make it look old school and boring.

The large gap between the wheel and the arches just tell you about the purpose of the car and define its off-roading characteristics.


There are chrome garnishes at different places and it is used quite smartly and the car doesn’t look ‘over-chromed’. But as Indians we love chrome, don’t we?

All in all the design is straight and subtle, offering the car a commanding stance and an excellent street presence and perfectly fits the car’s purpose.





Performance and specifications.
The Pajero is equipped with a 2.8 litre, turbocharged inline-4 cylinder engine that churns out a healthy 128 horse power & is mated with a 5 speed manual transmission that delivers a max. torque of 292.2 N-m @ 2000rpm.

It also comes equipped with a differential adjustment lever that allows you to decide whether you want to send power to only to the rear wheels or all four wheels and also offers a differential locking option so that you can get out of the swamp you’re stuck in, with ease.




Engine Description.
2.8 ltr. , 4 cylinder, turbocharged, diesel.
Power.
128 HP @ 4000 rpm.
Max torque.
292.2 N-m @ 2000 rpm.
Transmission.
5 speed manual.
Kerb weight.
2060 kg.
Fuel tank capacity.
92 litres.
Top speed.
152 kmph.


Practicality & Comfort.

Practicality is what most SUV buyers look for and this mighty machine is certainly the most practical vehicle you can buy.

Although Mitsubishi says that the Pajero is built to seat 6 people but 7 adults can comfortably fit in or even 8 people can fit in if there are a couple kids.

The trunk offers a decent amount of luggage space so that you can carry all your mountaineering and rafting equipment along and the things get even better when the 3rd row is down.


It’s not just a hard core dirt machine but the Pajero pampers you with a list of features like front seat lumbar support, rear AC vents, cigarette lighters, ash trays (1 in the front & 1 on each rear door), power windows, full folding 2nd and 3rd rows, decent size glove box, arm rests on both the sides for the rear passengers with cup holders, tilt adjustable steering wheel, convenient grab rails to get in and out, leather seats, front and rear defogger and additionally it gets an altitude and hill climb angle measuring devices!


The thigh support on the front and rear seats is good and there is a plenty of leg room and head room making your journey on plush roads or on undulations, comfortable.





The Verdict.
Thick forests, swamps, rivers, mountains or even the modern day concrete jungles, the Mitsubishi Pajero is ready to face them all and this fearless attitude makes it the conqueror of all terrains!

Citing the traffic conditions and parking issues in our cities, the Pajero is not your daily driver though unless you need to cross 4 mountains, 3 rivers & a couple of marshes to reach your office.

P.S.: The Pajero was built at Hindustan Motors' Chennai facility making it an "Indo-Japanese" car.


Follow us on Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/thedesigarage/

Credits-
Writing-
Anish Kulkarni. (anishkulkarni247@yahoo.com)

Photographs & edits-
Tanay Nandanwar.
(tanay.nandanwar@dskisd.com)
Anish Kulkarni.


Comments

  1. Great work man.......also tanay looking good in the photos.....keep up the good work

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review-The 2016 TVS Apache RTR 160 Hyper Edge

There was nothing exciting about Indian motorcycling until the early 2000s. Motorcycles were still considered as machines for commuting from one point to the other. The bikes that entered into the Indian market were frugal, under powered and focused only on deriving maximum fuel efficiency (pretty Indian!). However, things started changing by early 2000s when Hero Honda (Hero Motocorp now) rode in India's first performance focused 150cc motorcycle, the CBZ. CBZ did not turn out to be a very successful brand but we've got to credit Hero Honda for being the pioneers of change. Soon after the CBZ was launched, TVS hopped into the 150cc performance bike segment with the Fiero, that was jointly developed with Suzuki. Bajaj too joined the party in 2001 with the iconic Pulsar 150. As things heated up, Bajaj's Pulsar emerged as the leader in the 150cc segment and the other brands faded away. The Pulsar dominated this segment and there was virtually no rival to it. To topple...

Review- The 2017 Maruti Suzuki Ciaz

Overview Maruti Suzuki is an Indo-Japanese automobile brand that builds small, frugal yet trustworthy and practical cars. This is the typical image of Maruti Suzuki majority Indians have in their minds. Back in 2014 Maruti Suzuki decided to up their game to shed off its ‘small car maker’ image and came up with the Ciaz-a mid sized saloon. Now, Maruti was trying to get into this segment for the fourth time and had a history of failures with its offerings like the Baleno, Kizashi and the SX4. But the Ciaz turned fortunes around for Maruti Suzuki and became an instant hit, almost out-selling its rivals like the Hyundai Verna and the iconic Honda City in the very first year after its launch. Moreover, the Ciaz also helped Maruti Suzuki to come up with an entirely new premium sub-brand, the Nexa. So what makes the Ciaz such an attractive package? What has Maruti Suzuki put into it that it shook the ground of its strong and well settled rivals. Why is it an important car...