I’ve been blogging about some of my cars but I haven’t even touched on the trucks I’ve owned. That’s because none of them inspire me to write about them. My last one was a ’99 Silverado 2500 that I got as a winter beater/home improvement project hauler. But even though I bought it cheap, 12 MPG gets old after a while. It was hard to work on too, what with its 8-lug wheels and every nut and bolt making up the brakes and suspension needing monstrous torque to remove. So I decided to replace it with a mid-sized SUV.
Thirsty 6-liter beast.
Now, I obviously like buying cars (maybe a little too much), but I hate spending money on something that’s not fun to drive. And trucks aren’t fun to drive. So my challenge was finding a truck-like conveyance I could buy cheap and yet stand to drive. I started out looking at Isuzu Troopers. I always admired their honest capability and their nerdy boxiness. But before I got around to test-driving a Trooper, I found its spiritual equivalent: a local Mitsubishi Montero.
Boxy, utilitarian perfection. Credit: Alden Jewell
Known elsewhere in the world as a Pajero, or Shogun in the UK, the Montero was Mitsubishi’s answer to the Toyota Land Cruiser. It was sold in the US across four generations, starting about 1983 and ending in 2006. The final generation, from 2001 to 2006, was the most upmarket. By the 21st century, Mitsubishi had become an also-ran in the US market, but that didn’t diminish the Montero’s heritage as a descendant of genuine motorsport royalty, Mitsubishi having racked up several wins in the Paris-Dakar rally over many years.
My Montero’s racing cousin. Credit: Fastestkid at Wikimedia Commons
Accordingly, the civilian Montero had real off-road chops, with automatic AWD, part-time 4WD with a locking center differential, a hybrid rear differential (combined mechanical and torsen limited-slip) and a low-range, all shifted electronically. (Hilariously, a metal tag on the differential identified it as a “hyblid,” an example of the Japanese confusion between R and L.)
The example I found had less than 80,000 miles with a salvage title. It was for sale at a sketchy used car lot in downtown Columbus. These aren’t auspicious circumstances under which to buy a vehicle, so I’ll just cut the suspense right now and tell you that it worked out fine, save for a minor problem I’ll get to later. The price was fair, and it had been repaired well following a fender bender that damaged the hood, grille, bumper, and front fender, needing only a trip to the Mitsubishi dealer to clear an airbag code. (That Mitsubishi dealer’s showroom was always so deserted, it made the Sahara look like Miami Beach at spring break.)
The Monstero (as I called it) was Memphis Blue, a gorgeous deep metallic blue with a hint of purple. It had three rows, heated leather seats, automatic climate control with rear A/C, a huge sunroof, and two glove boxes. It even had genuine wood on the steering wheel, like your aunt’s la-di-dah Lexus. Mitsubishi was obviously trying to move upmarket with this truck, to compete with Toyota and even the Land Rover Discovery. But the price was about a quarter of what a J100 Land Cruiser was going for.
The Montero’s one-time competition.
One area where it couldn’t compete, of course, was the engine, which was only a 3.6-L V6 with 205 horses, whereas US-market Land Cruisers and Discoveries received V8s. (Although to be fair, acceleration was similar). Overall, the Montero’s luxury trim made for a thin but comfortable veneer over a capable unibody chassis.
My Montero in the Laramies
My first major job for it was to take me out west to camp in the Wyoming desert for 8 days. A signature Montero feature were seats that folded flat to become a bed. You’d remove the front headrests, fold the seatbacks flat until they rested on the rear bench, then recline the rear seatbacks and voila! A bed. (They worked in a pinch, but a sleeping bag on a cot was much more comfortable.) Even with a light foot on the throttle, 21 MPG was the best I could do on that trip, disappointing given how gutless the engine was. On the way back home, I drove without stopping from western Nebraska to Columbus, OH, about 23 hours in all, and the driver’s seat never became uncomfortable.
Above Rock Springs, WY
Also, the headlights were wonderful, shooting a broad, long beam with sharp cutoffs that never elicited an annoyed flash from oncoming traffic. And the fog lights were actually functional in the fog, rather than being the accent lighting that passes for fog on most other cars.
I also made several trips to upstate New York and Nashville. And, pulling a 5-ft by 8-ft trailer, the Montero moved all my worldly goods when I bought a new home at the start of the pandemic.
One afternoon shortly after moving, I was driving home after a snowstorm and a woman coming the other way in her Honda Odyssey moved too far to the right to give me room and ended up sliding into the snow-filled ditch. She was stuck there. I stopped, backed up, hooked my tow strap up to her trailer hitch, and the Montero pulled that heavy minivan out like a puppy yanking on a rope toy. The woman was so grateful she hugged me. Later, I did a similar favor for a letter carrier’s stuck mail truck. (He didn’t hug me, to my disappointment).
I even toyed with the idea of buying a Lancer Evolution just so I could have a matched set of Mitsubishi AWD vehicles. But have you seen the prices on those? It was a fun thought, though.
The Montero was even reliable. The only real issue was that it would run hot in warm weather. Since I rarely drove it in the summer, there wasn’t a huge urgency to fix the issue. Eventually I did end up replacing the entire cooling system and still hadn’t pinpointed the problem. I considered installing a custom, oversized radiator and electric fan, but by and by I began to lose interest. Underbody rust had started to spread and the on-road handling, frankly, was terrible. So I sold the Montero for about what I paid for it to someone who was thrilled to find it. I replaced it with a VW Touareg, which, contrary to reputation, has been dead reliable.
Breaking news: Complex German SUV is actually reliable.
Although it was discontinued in the US after 2006, the Montero/Pajero soldiered on in other countries until as recently as 2022, with only minor updates to the bodywork. The final Montero (and really, Mitsubishi in general) is kind of a sad story. Despite its near-ubiquity in the U.S. during the ‘80s and ‘90s, by the twenty-first century Mitsubishi was burdened with expenses and problems – some of its own making – and they weren’t in a position to continue developing the Montero/Pajero. It was quickly left behind by the Land Cruiser, among others. Accordingly, the aftermarket doesn’t support it nearly as well. On the other hand, a Montero can be had for thousands less than the overheated price of a J100 Land Cruiser.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1989 Mitsubishi Montero – An Off-Roader In A Grocery-Getter World
Mitsubishi vehicles have intrigued me for quite awhile. I really loved the little Colt from the 80s that I owned in the early 90s, and have always been drawn to stuff out of the mainstream. I salute you for finding an unusual and inexpensive substitute to the LC. Now you have me wondering when was the last time I have seen one of these.
Mitsubishi is a real head-scratcher for me. I am kind of amazed that they keep plugging away in the US when they have had no real success here for years.
It seemed as if Mitsubishi’s exit from the US market was a foregone conclusion just a few years ago.
But, then, something surprising happened. A vehicle that seemed like it was just a contractual obligation to keep the dealers (legally) happy until their contracts ran out and Mitsubishi could exit the domestic market as cheaply as possible, the bargain-basement, K-mart of small cars Mitsubishi Mirage, an old-school, craptacular penalty box, actually became something of a solid seller, sort of like a latter-day 1959 Lark when Studebaker was operating on even ‘less’ of a shoestring budget.
So, the few remaining US Mitsubishi dealers are managing to continue to hang in there (somehow).
I don’t know if it’s just my perception or not, but I just returned from a three-week trip to Canada, and I saw a whole lot more Mitsubishis there than I see here in the US.
Here in Virginia, when I see a newish Mitsubishi, I often think “I wonder who still buys Mitsubishis….” but I then I think they’ve got to be more popular elsewhere.
The Outlander is quite popular in Europe with roughly the same sales figures as the CR-V contrary to the US where the CR-V has sold almost tenfold.
A former neighbor of mine, a CFO of a small oil company, and presumably savvy about all kinds of financial matters, bought each of his three children a new Lancer as they turned 16 and got their driver’s license. His logic was that a new car with a warranty should be reliable enough to last through each child’s college years, after which they could replace it with something of their own choosing, paid for, of course, by themselves. This mostly worked, though his eldest modified his Lancer with all sorts of aftermarket parts, causing a catastrophic engine failure. Dad was upset, but did cough up the funds for a used Jetta, with the understanding that no mods would be done until after graduation.
Mitsubishi built some fascinating stuff, there’s no doubt. That’s why their slide into mediocrity its such a shame.
If I recall correctly, this final version of the Montero/Pajero had independent rear suspension, the first BOF sport utility to feature that, before the Explorer and Land Rover went that route. Any issues with it?
The only issue was the adjustment cams on the lower control arms were frozen in place due to rust. So I couldn’t do an alignment. That was on the to-do list when I sold it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No traditional frame (ladder chassis) for these, the manufacturer describes it as follows: ‘the Pajero has a monocoque body (single shell) and a chassis in a ladder frame design’. An integrated ladder frame, so to speak (this applies to the 3th and 4th gen Pajero/Montero/Shogun).
My understanding is it’s really a plain monocoque, with some ladder-ish rails built in front to back. You can’t take the body off the frame.
It’s much closer to a monocoque than a body on a ladder frame for sure.
Picture here, scroll down just a li’l bit:
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.om/en/cars/pajero/safety
Ah, that perennial also-ran, Mitsubishi, the darling of low/no credit new vehicle buyers of Asian products, everywhere, with the primary competition for that market being Nissan (and maybe Kia/Hyundai). So long as one’s standards aren’t too high, I guess they’re okay.
And while I don’t know about hugging one, dancing with a mailman is a federal offense…
In a land (Oz) where Mitsubishi has long been a major player, including a history of ground-up manufacturing until 2007, these things are everywhere. So they made plenty of dough here, at least. And they sold up to the very end in ’22, by which time the prices (about lowest-spec Landcruiser for top-line Mitsu) were pretty bloody cheeky for a 22 y.o. car! Vast majority sold here were turbo-diesel, like all the ‘Cruisers, so the weak acceleration performance angle bothered no-one much. Used most commonly by retirees pulling a caravan round Australia, then by suburban mums for school-run terrorism-of-the-road (not that that’s confined to Pajero drivers).
But they’ve never really been used for the really heavy-duty outback stuff, such as remote mining and such: not seen as tough enough, I think, though they have an excellent name for reliability into the 250K miles range. No rust issues here, of course, or at least, only if used as a boat-hauler or the like.
I’m a bit surprised you call the road manners terrible. Rest assured, they’re a lot nicer than any 100-series Cruiser or Nissan Patrol. I had a friend who was a good (if mad) driver, and he showed me that with the independent suspension, you could actually trust the thing not only not to tip over as it scraped door handles around corners, it was stable, and mildly fun. Just not after a big lunch, mind.
When I say the road manners weren’t good, I’m approaching it from the point of view of someone who drives a VW GTI as my daily. I appreciate what they were able to do with the independent suspension, but time has left the Montero/Pajero behind versus some newer SUVs. Driving it came to feel like a chore.
Hehehe! Not a GTi, no.
And no Toureg either, I’ve no doubt.
Interesting read. A sketchy car lot in Columbus. Hmmm
Doesn’t take much imagination. I was raised in Worthington!
Two weeks ago, after a lovely relaxing Alaskan cruise, my wife and I discussed that our 18 Sierra was really much more vehicle than we needed. And for her to retire in 4-5 years, now was the time to pull the trigger on payments. We have three classic cars, but not really daily drivers, so one go to car was in order.
I looked hard at several Outlanders. I settled on one that really liked, knew what I wanted to pay and where my payments needed to be.
After a few hours of negotiating, we just couldn’t make the numbers work (got my liking)
This same dealer sells Nissan. So I test drove a loaded up Rogue, and the numbers beat my expectations.
I liked everything about the Mitsubishi but according to my dealer, they don’t do well in the negotiating process.
This should suit us fine. Until it doesn’t. And ends up on a sketchy car lot in Columbus!
“Interesting read. A sketchy car lot in Columbus. Hmmm”….
LOL. I’m from Clintonville and in the 70’s there was a sketchy used car dealer on every corner.
Haven’t been back there in years but I hear it is a real “foody” location now.
a buddy of mine bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder with the first real money he was making out of college; this was around 1998 or so. Contrary to expectations, he was a very cautious, careful driver and did not hoon the car out. Well, the engine blew up at 40K (this was after he’d followed the maintenance requirements religiously) and brought it to the dealer to fix. They claimed he was street racing it and denied the warranty claim. He went all the way to the top with the claim and they denied it all the way; he had to keep making payments on the car even after it was totaled. They treated him like crap the entire time. Never a Mitsubishi for me.
Had a 1994 bought off 3 yr lease, fine vehicle, traded for a 1998 Trooper, then 2 Xterras. all were excellent. Daughter in CO had a black & tan 2001 she got used, similar to Mark’s above. She’s notoriously neglectful and beat the crap out of it as she used it for business and drove it all over CO and WY, but it survived until she forgot to check the oil once too many times and blew the engine. She has a company owned car no, much better for her. I liked the earlier less-upscale version that we had, and preferred it to the Trooper it was traded for.