- Lets rain in near front doors, usually avoided by parking on a slight incline where possible.
- Some rusted holes in underbody, sign of insufficient metal thickness for a 4x4. Fixed those with metal filler.
- Seat heater switch falling out of driver's seat. This is a problem in many late 80s Pajeros, and is therefore a design flaw. Superglued it back in.
- Replaced substandard heater sparkplugs with genuine Mitsubishi ones.
PLUS
- Great visibility on road.
- Lots of space for passengers, dogs, gear, etc.
- Inclinometer is a nice feature, amuses passengers!
- Big Kumho tires have great roadholding and are excellent in rain.
- 2.5 TDi is an economical engine for pulling such a big vehicle, excellent economy on long journeys.
MINUS
- The underbody metal is as thin as on standard Mitsubishi cars. Should be thicker for Mitsubishi 4x4s because they are subjected to more rough treatment.
- When 4x4 traction is on, turning a tight circle is very stiff to steer and the vehicle is prone to jumpiness when doing so. This should have been designed out from Day 1 - it is a 4x4 after all.
Would like to see a survey of 1985 Mitsubishi Pajero 2.4 turbo diesel. I own one of these and I have struggled to find any reveiews, can you help?
Swray@dimon.co.zw.
How much does it drink? About 10 ltr per 100km? Perhaps even less?
I am probably going to by one 1986 model, but we'll see. I really would like to know how much diesel I have to plan to buy during next year or so.
I guess this is anyway a good choice for me. Before this I have been driving Landcruisers and few times Land Rovers. They were quite nice, but I've heard Pajero is even better, more like a normal car instead of Landcruiser type of a tractor.
Reply from original poster: First, sorry for the very late replies, like years late!
I still have this 1987 Pajero 2.5 TD. It's in daily use and has 580,000km on the metre! But it's going this year for something more car-like with AWD.
Regarding fuel consumption, 10 litres per 100km is about right, it's around 700km per tank of diesel. But that's with 2WD on.
With 4WD there's a penalty - you can knock 100km off what you drive from a full tank.
Things I replaced on the past 5 years:
-Leafsprings upgraded to heavy duty L200 pickup springs
-Turbo (most expensive replacement at €500)
-Tires (4 Cooper Discoverer tires size 205 75 R16)
-16 inch wheels (IMO 16" should be standard rather than 15")
-Alternator.
That's all really apart from usual service parts replacement like brake pads, filters, etc.
So I've been getting free mileage more or less for some time.
The new Pajero DI-D looks great, it's a huge beast (maybe too big for me and I now worry more about carbon footprints, but I read it's very reliable as can be expected anyway from Mitsubishi.
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