[Thumping Soul]

I have been a big fan of the legendary Mitsubishi Pajero. A Yellow Pajoero has been my dream for long. If you recall the old Yellow Pajero SFX. That's some nostalgia!

However, there are quite a few of these available in Bangalore. But I was always hesitant to touch one, primarily due to the age. But you give me some confidence on this front.

Watch out for a DM from me!

[drift87]

Congratulations on you new Car. The observations that you have made pre purchase are eye openers to many of us, very good to have such information. All the best!!

[Aakash118]

Many congratulations. Even I have been feeling this itch to get a big pre worshipped SUV Apart from Fortuner and Pajero Sport, I have also kept Storme in my consideration list. Your thread is surely gonna be very helpful for me to inspect the car whenever I go for it. Also I feel that Cars24 is currently the best place for window shopping of cars. What’s your take on this?

[CountryDriver]

Congratulations on your new beast. The Pajero Sport was a dream SUV since it was launched. Hoping that the heating issue is gone for good.

Happy motoring,
Anandakrishnan A

[Schneller]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Preliminary Inspection

• I ran the engine on idle, and watched to see how the oil filler cap behaved when just placed on the oil filler port – it didn’t dance indicating that compression leakage was zero. I reconfirmed this by pulling the oil dipstick out – passed this test

Congratulations on the new rice Vigsom!!
Could you please explain how this works and how do we test this ourselves. Even when i was selling my car the dealer removed the dipstick and revved the engine to 2,000 RPM to check something.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Why did the coolant system overheat?

Post this drive, I also observed that the temperature gauge would indicate above normal temperatures even on drives as low as 15 km within city limits. Once the car picked up speed and ran at a steady 60-70kmph, the temperature would remain in the 70% range but wouldn’t go up unless the car slowed down.

I scheduled a trip to Surat in the next few days and drove the car at 70-75kmph in non AC mode, and was able to do the 170km distance without stopping. The temperature, however would remain in the 70-80% range with the speed steady, and climb a little higher when the vehicle was slowing down or waiting at toll plazas.

On arrival at Surat, the following were checked:
1. Idle run of the car with engine cold and upto 40% on gauge and radiator cap open – no symptoms of a head gasket issue
2. Fan clutch was observed to show resistance and hence a weak fan clutch was ruled out
3. The coolant was finally removed and that showed no signs of degradation OR potential to clog the radiator
4. Thermostat wasn’t seen at the head outlet elbow, we assumed it had been removed since the car would take a long time to attain operating temperature viz. 50% of gauge. It was later discovered that the thermostat is housed at the block bottom elbow (water pump suction side)
5. Water pump circulation was really good

Finally we decided to have the radiator removed and serviced to check for potential fouling – the unit showed no fouling whatsoever when its channels were inspected. So, the ghost that caused overheating could not be exorcised.

However, here came a surprise – we fixed the radiator back, added new Servo Kool Plus long life coolant with a concentration of 50%, and all seemed very well. The car was run in a standstill mode with AC on and the engine rpm at varying levels of idle to 2500rpm for a good two hours – the temperature gauge indication rose to 50% gradually and remained rock steady there. The coolant expansion tank showed no coolant boil over, nothing. I knew there was something unsolved but decided to drive back to Vadodara after this two hour exercise. The return drive of 170km was absolutely uneventful and immediately on arrival, I checked the expansion tank level and found it absolutely steady.

This normal behaviour continued all the way from Nov-2019 into all of 2020, even when the car faced long shutdowns twice – first 50 days from 22 March 2020 courtesy lockdown, and the second 70 days from late Oct-2020 to early Jan-2021 when I was camping in TN. The mystery of overheating, however, remained unsolved and was causing me some worry, although the car was behaving perfectly fine.

Was this the end of the overheating saga?

Stay tuned for Part-2 !!

Very detailed review of the buying process. You did a great job of identifying a good specimen. All of us have lots to learn from your buying process.

I assume your overheating is recurring post Jan. Strange that it is happening even with 15km runs, and yet not happening when running idle for over 2 hours. Waiting for your detailed analysis of what caused that in your Part 2.

[eyeman]

Congratulations on your new acquisition. From your write up, it is evident that you have a very good technical knowledge about cars. No wonder how you manage to get good pre worshipped cars and thus save huge amounts. Enjoy the ride.

[vredesbyrd]

Congratulations! The Pajero Sport is the best looking SUV out there. I've just sat in it for 5 hours and found it insanely comfortable. On that note, how is the service and parts availability (through FNGs, of course)? I own a 11 year old Superb, so waiting for parts is nothing new but wanted you hear your perspective on it. Mitsubishi's handling of the situation is scaring me. Pajero seems like a steal (especially the AT) as prices of nothing is dropping and I don't like the dynamics of Fortuner.

[pugram]

Congratulations on the SUV.

Your post made me search for Pajero sport available in our area. Seems that there are a few examples available. 7 seater with decent space.

Does Mitsubishi provide official service or have they shut shop ?

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

Any enthusiast's dream SUV this

Thank You, @Abhi_abarth. This SUV sure is for the enthusiast. I use only the UV part and not the S.

Originally Posted by AVL500

Would request you to share an approximate purchase price

Thank You @AVL500. I ended up paying close to 8.8L for the car, Cars24 commission, GJ owner transfer tax and transfer fees. Not a steal deal, but not bad either. I had factored in an expesnse of 25k for the radiator and surprise maintenance, which I hadn't incurred till Jan2021.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Good choice of car

Thank You @benbsb29. Except the overheating episode, I've been extremely happy with the car. The NVH and fuel efficiency for this large machine are out of the world.

Originally Posted by vishy76

Having experienced your car, the one thing I can testify is that this handles and rides like no other body on frame SUV of its time. waiting for the second part eagerly.

Thank You@vishy76. Part2 is already in the works. I'm as eager as you to get it up there.

Originally Posted by Superleggera

planning to buy a used Pajero sport Automatic in Bangalore. The asking price is in the range of 13 L to 14.5 L for 2015-2016

Thank You @Superleggera. BLR quotes for used cars are insanely high. Knock off 1.5L from those quotes and I'd say the quotes are reasonable.

Originally Posted by amartyasg

The only issue might be spare parts, but I am curious to see how it goes during your ownership!

Thank You @amartyasg. Yes, even I'm keeping fingers crossed on the spares front. People in India think this car is premium, and hence charge an arm and a leg for parts, which is unacceptable.

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

Watch out for a DM from me!

Thank You @ThumpingSoul. Most welcome to reach out for queries. One point of caution - be extremely careful when going in for an old SUV because most examples are badly used ones. It took me a lot of steel and experience to decide on a 1,36,800km run SUV with a defective left front, but I knew to weight the pros and cons.

Originally Posted by drift87

Congratulations on you new Car.

Happy to help the community, @drift87. Thank You.

Originally Posted by Aakash118

I feel that Cars24 is currently the best place

Thank You @Aakash118. Yes, from among the crop, I'd pick Cars24 as my search engine for used cars.

Originally Posted by CountryDriver

Hoping that the heating issue is gone for good.

Thank You @CountryDriver. Look out for part-2 of my ownership for more details.

Originally Posted by Schneller

Congratulations on the new rice !!
Even when i was selling my car the dealer removed the dipstick and revved the engine to 2,000 RPM to check something.

Thank You for the new rice, @Schneller. Revving the engine and checking via the oil dipstick port is a common way to check for compression leakage viz. Combustion gases breakthrough into the oil chamber.

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Waiting for your detailed analysis of what caused that in your Part 2.

Thank You @Lalvaz. Yes, the analysis is in the works.

Originally Posted by eyeman

Congratulations on your new acquisition

Thank You @eyeman. I try to learn from every buying experience, and am daring too, but not foolhardy.

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

Congratulations! The Pajero Sport is the best looking SUV out there. I've just sat in it for 5 hours and found it insanely comfortable.Mitsubishi's handling of the situation is scaring me.

Thank You @vredesbyrd. Spares aren't an issue if you link up with a reliable supplier from Delhi. Plus you need a good FNG. Forget about Mitsubishi if you can manage these two.

Originally Posted by pugram

Your post made me search for Pajero sport available in our area. Seems that there are a few examples available. 7 seater with decent space.

Thank You @pugram. Like with any other SUV, you've got to be extremely careful to weed out the abused examples and pick the one at the right price point. I've slogged a lot to get to my current stage of experience and daring, and getting a used car is not for the faint hearted. However, given the kind of quality one sees in today's cars, used cars seem to be a better option at a lower risk.

[BlackPearl]

Congratulations vigsom on your acquisition and loved the way you have penned down the report. I am a big fan of the Pajero Sport and regard it as a better vehicle than the Fortuner, at least the older one. I do not have any experience with new Fortuner except a short test drive. The Pajero Sport has a better ride quality and handles better as well. I have several friends who own Pajero Sport and they say that maintenance is quite cheap as well.

My friend Shaswat has kept his Pajero Sport stationed in our complex almost permanently and I get to drive it whenever I go to Kolkata. I absolutely look forward to the drive. Sorry to hijack your thread, but could not stop myself from posting a few pictures of the Pajero on the way to Sandakphu, the highest point of West Bengal.

[RAHS]

Congratulations on your new acquisition! Car looks great. Pajero Sport is one of the most capable SUV we have in India. Timeless design. It's sad that brands like Mitsubishi decided to leave India. They really had some great cars. Remember Lancer?

I am also in market for a used car. I am from Bangalore and I found some nice collection with Cars24. I have few questions.

1. What are their commission charges? They charge both buyer and seller?
2. Do they take care of ownership transfer?
3. I see that, they add their rating to the car based on their inspection. It's in the scale of 1 - 5. Do they really do inspection before posting the ad on their website? How accurate is their analysis?
4. What about accidental and flood effected cars? Do they check all that before posting ad? Is there any warranty?
5. How is their customer care service? Are they any better than the regular used car dealer?

Thanks in advance for your inputs. It can certainly help potential buyers.

Once again, many congratulations on the Pajero Sport and wish you lots of happy miles ahead

Cheers,
RAHS

[Baddychat]

Many congratulations vigsom on a fabulous buy. Wishing you 100xthousands of safe and happy miles with this machine.

Excellent review wherein I learnt of lot of things which I was not aware of. The Pajero Sport is way ahead in terms of refinement vis a vis current gen Fortuner as well.
Looking forward to your updates here.

[motorpsycho]

Great thread, enjoyed reading it and rated 5 stars!

I have a few questions,

1. How do you plan to address the lack of spares availability.
2. With Almost no service center available, how do you plan to get skilled service tech for fixing issues and servicing?

[asit.kulkarni93]

Congratulations vigsom!

That is one heck of an SUV. I feel the Pajero Sport makes a strong case as a pre-owned SUV when compared to the Fortuner. It’s an over engineered car which doesn’t feel like a ladder on frame vehicle.