[genopv]

Reason for Change!

My outgoing car is Scorpio Turbo [2004 model] and I wouldn’t say it faithfully served me last 11 years - but rather would say it was a fantastic ride! Drove about 1.4L kms. Especially, after all, this was an upgrade from Maruti 800. Put together I possibly would have driven about 2lakh kms. Even thought here were several issues post 5 years, this car was close to my heart and wasn't easy for me to sell. Kept pushing to keep the car with me as long as possible!



In Scorpio, the first issue I came across was thick black smoke in the third year. Luckily I had extended warranty and the Euro-2 unit was replaced under warranty. Some time around the second year I had put in more powerful lamps [in ASS], but they missed upgrading the electrical components for the same! Had badly burnt wires. It took quite some time for me to figure out a good mechanic. Then followed him across the ASS!

First thought of replacing Scorpio came over when it broke down practically [no start] while being 300kms away from Bangalore. But M&M did a good job of starting the vehicle successfully and I rode it non-stop all the way to Bengaluru. Only to see that it stopped and never started once I parked at home! From this time on, I had to get several work done [replacing the starter unit, fuel injector overhaul, A/C condenser replacement, suspension ove haul etc]. My friends who bought around the same time never had any of these issues! So observed that every year my expense was more or less 50K [20 - 30K towards some repair and 3-4 services at the authorized service costed another 20 odd thousands]. Note - I never serviced the vehcile in a place other than A.S.S not even in subsidiary ASS.

Around this time, decided to run the Scorpio for some more - got the windshield replaced, headlamps changed to next edition and added roof rails. Fixed a C-Track carrier as well. In this period also moved to Michellin tires and then last year to Yokohoma Geolandar. Car worked fantastic with Michelin and then no complaints on Yokohoma as well! Yokohoma had a better look on the car though. Battery was replaced some three times.

With all these, I had another breakdown recently -- again some 200kms away from Bangalore. This time I realized the parts are no more easily available [one of the pulley’s] and its difficult even for the A.S.S to get the same! I was asked to take the car away without being fixed! If these aren’t available in smaller towns, then there was no point in running this car anymore! There were talks of Company car lease plans as well - so the plan started shaping up.

Planning for the New Car

Criteria’s was very simple - a fantastic car with 7-8 seats!

Other Criteria: 4X4
Had two scary events in the past - once when I tried to take out the car in a resort in Chikmagalur and the other time when I was down the ramp in one of the restaurant where I was warned that the car wouldn’t enter and I had to pull back! These times made me think that a 4X4 would have made the life easier. Luckily no untoward incident happened both these times.

Sun Roof - was on the kids wishlist

My regular commute isn’t high - even if I take the car it would be about 20kms per day for the current place I’m working at. Plan was to use the Duke most time and use the Car for weekend plans and outings. I would hardly be doing any off-roading unless it happens to be in my way!

Initial plan was to buy XUV500 4X4 Automatic. First thought of buying a PS was planted by my colleague / friend who bought an AT sometime last year. I did like the looks of the car. Never thought it was a 7 seater! Following were the cars I was looking out for:

XUV-500 - has been my favourite in the last few years
Honda BRV - budget vehicle, looked very good. Was looking at this since it was a possible 7 seater, but actually is a 6 seater; cheaper; can hand over to a driver to ferry kids / people around
Pajero Sport - thinking of the huge EMI’s made me think about it several times

Tryst with XUV 500 / Rexton

Had liked XUV-500 since launch, but the test drives have never been pleasant. The very first time when they launched, the Clutch was so hard, I could hardly press it! Hence rejected it. Recently attempted an automatic version [2015 New Age XUV] - the breaks were pathetic. And then tried a MT, the electric driver seat adjustment made too much squeaky noise and the recline button was broken! When I attempted to take a U-Turn the clutch almost took a U-turn and my feet was rotating with it! How can this be possible in a great car? This made me feel that the car is too delicate and if one is bought, I might see the same state in few years! I know this is a favourite soft off roader for many. But some how it didn’t cut it. The last seat was a bummer too [not that others had a great one, but this was too straight for our liking] But it had 4X4 automatic and most importantly a Sun Roof which my kids were interested in!

Rexton was practically a no show since the last seat was just simply non-existent.

Pajero Test Drives

By now pretty much there was only one dealer in Bangalore. The dealer websites hardly had any details. Google started following me with the Pajero ex-showroom price. It was very hard to find good reviews on the web (of course except for Team-Bhp!). Any search I made reported only the 2016 edition.

Very first time took a test drive with AT 4X2 version. Got into the car and straight away felt the difference in the seat height. Felt I was sitting too low. Wife sat on the middle row and felt the same. Kids were in the last row, though they were ok, they were missing the sun roof. Tried driving the car in traffic around Golf course. Tried the paddle shift. All felt good from the driving perspective. I could easily adjust to the car. By now I had already started liking the PS!

Meanwhile there were reports of false mileage certifications / Nissan taking stakes in Mitsubishi etc. I personally thought Nissan taking a stake is a good thing to happen. One of the concerns I had was that the current model is already more than 5 years old and there has been primarily exterior changes except for introduction of AT version.

It was slowly and steadily sinking into my heart and mind! During the ride I was told stuff like this car is all mechanical and it’s all good for off-roading unlike the fortuners and others. I wonder whether they took a look at the new Pajero with all those in loads!
[took the XUV new age AT TD immediately after Pajero AT]

The sales guy called me couple of times in the next 2-3 weeks. Then he said he would call me for an event. I sent reminders, but it went cold.
By now pretty much it was clear I had to take the car on my own and not through a company lease plan. Was having a discussion with my friend/colleague about the lease plan and buying the car. He spoke to the sales guy who dealt with his car and he agreed to do another test driver the following day.

By now had read up all the Ownership threads here - Anshuman / Satpal and few other. Also most of the expert comments from Devdath and others. Got to look at the dual color pics from Aroon’s posts. Also went through all legendary dakar rally and other videos suggested by friend.

TD was suppose to happen at 3:00 - but the guy couldn’t come on time I was also stuck at work all the way through 7:00 and when I was about to leave at 8, he turned up. This time again a AT - drive through St John’s hospital road / Kmgla. I also had to rush to a party, so scheduled another appointment for Sunday. The ride again was pretty good, could easily wade through the traffic.

Come Sunday, pulled along a friend, my brother in law and kids for another AT test drive. The paddle shift / engine breaking everything was good and easy to use again. My friend drove a small distance and thought the turbo lag is very high. Meanwhile I wanted to try out the MT as well. Somehow never thought of it till this point in time. So decided to take a ride once we reach the Showroom. But unfortunately, I was told that the TD car was in a bad shape post the last event and it needs to be serviced. I was told that the clutch and steering are hard. And it indeed it was. So there was no point in driving it. Still took a very short ride to just get the feel of it. Felt even the 4wheel lever was too tight at this point in time.

Decided to do MT drive again by the following week. Did a short TD again and found the clutch to be hard! At this point in time, I was more contemplating as to why buy an AT which doesn’t have 4X4 whereas, Pajero’s USP itself is 4X4! So far I never test drove anything else. So wanted to do a quick check at this point, though I had pretty much finalized Pajero - to decide whether AT or MT.

Other Cars Checked out

When Fortuner was first launched, I thought that would be my next car. But over the period of time, I felt the looks were more mundane and awkward. Anyways, decided to do a test drive of Fortuner. Got to test drive a 4X4 MT. The gear lever was awkwardly forking out and I had to practically lift my hand to operate it! Drive was good, but the looks didn’t interest me. IMO the bonnet/scoop was ugly. There was too much of cladding around. The seats were very comfortable. The third row was good as well due to sliding second row [why did Pajero remove it?]. Also liked the handle bars in the driver side - it does help in getting in/out of the car.

Checked out Innova Crysta. Everything was comfortable - almost like my current Scorpio. Just that even at the highest driver seat position, somehow I thought I couldn’t see the road well. Though the dashboard looked beautiful, things like electrical seat adjustment etc were missing. Didn’t TD. Guess electrically adjustable seats are only in higher end models.

Next went to Ford to checkout Endeavour. It wasn’t available for TD since it was out for a corporate event! Checked out the 2.2L version parked in the showroom. Everything was nice. But I was apprehensive of all those automatic stuff like parking assistant. I’m an early adopter of technology - but didn’t want to take a risk in this. I think we need to await more improvements in these. And anyways with my mighty scorpio I had become a punter in parallel parking. FYI, never had a rear view camera ever. But the last seat was really the hardest! I didn’t even try to get in. Last row seats were critical and hence this was shot down.

Honda BRV

Honda BRV was good! Looked solid and felt solid. The second seat had sliding feature and hence the third row too was good. I felt it was a good 6 seater MPV - probably more value for money. I liked it better than Innova.

But by now the mood was all set for PS and had to decide whether it is AT or MT!

Meanwhile …

In this period, I had sold the Scorpio and was mostly using a Fabia (diesel) to drive around. Btw, Fabia it’s a fantastic car except that I had to come down to first gear many times in the traffic. The pick up was pretty bad in traffic. But the highway rides were amazing!

Further Pajero Test drives / finalization

Next did a test drive of a MT version - still felt the clutch was very hard. Meanwhile another TD car had arrived from some other city to Bangalore. Sales person thought the car had much better clutch. So took another test drive and this time did a bit more longer driver - tested 4X4 on highway as well. The clutch was much better, but felt it’s still a bit hard.

The AT version is suppose to have a recurring expense of changing break pads almost every 10K kms (costing about 10k?). Whereas MT would have a recurring expense of changing clutch - Rs. 25k every 25k kms?

Went ahead and made an advance payment this time (June 16). But still hadn’t decided the edition to buy. Wanted to show wife and kids the color options. Wanted to see a black color - luckily their MD had one and we went and checked out. I was very happy to meet their MD who was down to earth and was overlooking the Service floor. This gave us more confidence in the after sales service.

After checking out White, Blue, Yellow+White, Red+White; I liked white/grey; but kids liked blue - hence decided to go ahead for dual tone blue+white Limited Edition :-)

Fast forward 2 months - 2 months just went on checking out on car lease plan etc. Eventually decided to just go ahead and buy. Scorpio sale was done, but transfer was still in progress. Had to claim NCB too. Decided to somehow get the car on Ganesha day. But eventually finalized it to be two days after Ganesha. In the process of planning and buying, between May 2016 and Aug 2016, the Car price went up almost by 1.6L including the introduction of TCS!

Final deal was to get Limited Edition Dual tone MT Blue+ White. The limited edition included two headrest monitors from MapMyIndia and a travel refrigerator. Over and above decided to paint the wheels steel grey and include cruise control (these two costed 30K more)

Following was the final breakup:

Ex-ShowRoom 28,70,000
Cash Discount 1,00,000
TCS 27,700
Total Cost 27,97,700
Road Tax 5,66,433
Handling Charges 31,933
Insurance (ICICI) 90,373
On road price 34,86,499.00
Cruise Control
+ Wheel Painting 30,000


I wasn’t happy about the Handling charges - but though I had so much time to finalize, eventually didn’t have sufficient time to handle this!

There wasn’t any extended Warranty beyond the normal 3 years.

Insurance

Insurance offered by default was from ICICI (at full rate - no discount; 3.3% of the Ex Showroom price) with all facilities included. Previously it was from Future Generali at 52K.

Had 50% NCB in my current insurance with Oriental Insurance. I went ahead with the same - got my Scorpio Insurance Transferred to Pajero for the remaining period - it came to about 13.5K for bumper to bumper. If all goes well renewal after 5 months should cost about 43K after all discounts for a year. This was interesting and didn’t know about - would update an appropriate thread with more details on this.This helped in reducing the overall loan amount.

HDFC Loan

Corporate interest of 9.36% (something finalized in June); 2k towards processing fee (it was supposed to be 0). Also took up a HDFS Suraksha plus insurance to cover the loan.

Stuff I got with the Car

Stereo in the car is Kenwood DDX415BT
MapMyIndia headrest with Console (comes with Limited Edition)
Basic mats - velcro sticky type - looked posh enough
On the go Refreigerator
Manuals in a Folder
Number plates

Car was practically all set and didn’t have to do anything extra than the above.


Delivery Experience

SVR was pretty professional all the way through. My sales consultant (Prabhakar) was very good and ensured that I get the full test drive of the vehicle before booking.

Vehicle was ready on the day promised. The registration was in progress and number wasn’t available yet. Saw some swirling marks in the bonnet and was absolutely unhappy about it. Initially the new sales person said it’s normal in darker color. Checked out one which was parked outside (red) - didn’t find any. Expressed my disappointment on the same further. Decided to go ahead and do the remaining procedure since the MD seem to be occupied at that time. Once he was done he inspected and promised to replace the bonnet at the earliest.

Next day got the number, but didn’t get the number plate yet. Next one week went on due to Cauvery issues - so the car was just parked at home. The only trips made where from shop to temple, home and then once again to temple on Onam day.

Initial impressions

1. After so many years of Scorpio, felt it was difficult to board and alight the vehicleDecided to push the seat back while alighting and fix it post boarding every time till I get comfortable
2. Drive was easy and clutch was soft
3. Didn’t feel the turbo lag much (may be due to Fabia diesel drive experience?)
4. Felt the second row of seat is a bit hard - but over the period of next week found it to be pretty good and ergonomically well designed
5. I had to completely unlearn many things from Scorpio to Pajero and not having the scorpio for about a month helped a lot in that front
6. Family felt they had to raise up their legs while seated (compared to Scorpio)
7. There was some mild rattling sound towards the left window side in the middle row identified by a friend - yet to find the root cause
8. There two airbags for the front row passengers - other rows are not covered by air bags. All three rows have seat belts for all passengers
9. Luggage space looked small, but did look like we can manage to keep couple of duffle bags

Now some Pics

[genopv]

The much Awaited long drive

So far I had driven only about 300Kms - including a drive to Airport to pick up guests. The long awaited trip came up in the form of visiting Guruvayoor and Wayanad. This route gave an excellent mix of Highways / Ghat sections / Fairly bad roads to test the car / basic 4WD.

Had to load luggage for 4 days of trip. With some plan and ideally shaped bags, we could manage to pack clothes for 4 of us for 4 days. They went in neatly behind the third row of seat. Few other smaller stuff went in the leg room space (!!?) in the third row. We had closed down another back seat in the trip to make things comfortable.



Tried setting up the map - the route summaries were vague and confusing. There were no options to set up via points or change routes. May be I’m too used to Google - need to do RTFM of MapMyIndia.

Started around 3:30pm and waded through the city traffic to NICE road in Bannerghatta road and it took about an hour to complete. Also got a lot of stares on the way - the car is Beautiful! - though I would have preferred something tougher looking. The car by itself is tougher looking, but the color patterns made it tone down and look beautiful.



After entering Nice road - still there was no respite - traffic was pretty high all the way to Mysore road. Never crossed 100 all the way through (in fact the complete trip!). Went through heavy traffic inside Mysore too to see the lit up palace! That was a great site - this is probably the first time I’m seeing palace during Dussehra. Managing clutch/gear was easy all the way.

Stopped once in Mysore road to fill Diesel and landed up meddling with the opening levers - in the process left the bonnet unlocked for some distance of drive!



Post that had a fantastic drive all the way to Gundlupet in the night. Never expected the roads to be so good all the way to Nanjangud - previously this used to be a terrible road travel. Halted at Misty Rocks - a pretty decent place to stay overnight. Drive was very controlled, brakes were fantastic. Somehow I felt the lights are not good enough. With high beam lights were good. Attempted Cruise control in vain - didn’t kick in. Decided to check back and try again.

The rear view mirror inside worked good for the night travel - it has sensors which seem to control the amount of light reflected. It worked for most of the lights which directly fell on the mirror.



Next day we continued to Bandipur to head towards Gudalur. Between Gundlupet and Bandipur ascend, there is a fair bit of road stretch which is not well laid. The drive was a little uncomfortable, but wasn't out of control. Once we reached the Bandipur hill ascent switched over to 4wd. The hair pin drives were definitely easier with basic 4wd. There was sufficient and more power to pull along. But when the speed breakers started, it wasn’t easy to accelerate uphill - I had to come down to 1st gear to accelerate and move forward immediately after the bumps. The pick was very slow when I tried to remain in 2nd gear while crossing the speed breaker. Once a rpm of about 1400 was reached things were back to normal. Didn’t feel this while on the highway. Had to come down to first gear for several of those breakers in the Bandipur range.

The gear movement / reach was pretty good. Just that I found it a bit difficult to lock in the first gear - possibly need to be looked at during first service (which is at 1000kms or one month).

Went all the way to the border and then found there wasn’t entry to TN side due to Cauvery issues. They were to open up the border - we were told to wait for an hour or so. We decided to take a turn and go through Wayanad.

Music kept us company from the available sources in the Kenwood DDXBT415 system. Mostly used Bluetooth [Saavn / Itunes for you from Nexus 6] and Ipod.
refrigerator as well.



There are 4 speakers - one each on the doors. It looks like it can take 6.25 inch speakers. The default speakers seem to be about 5 inches and its from Mitsubishi {note: not kenwood!}.



There are two tweeters mounted in the rear view mirror unit.



There are three chargers in the car. One in the central console, second in the convenience box between the front row seats and the third one behind the third row of seats. The one in the back can be used for the Tropicool on the go.



Again a stretch of speed breakers on the way back - continued in basic 4wd. Switched back to 2wd once we hit the bottom of Bandipur range. Took the route towards Sultan Bathery. Again another set of speed breakers (about 30 in this stretch - every half a km perhaps).
Next 4wd stretch was the ghat from Wayanad to Calicut. This was a good stretch to test 4wd again. This range had about 12 hair pin bends. Was on 4wd through this ghat section. Felt the horn is little shrieky without much bass. But I think it reaches the audience well - so good enough.

Continued drive through the typical Kerala roads (roads are fantastic all the way through - though they are just a double way without medians in this stretch). We had started at about 9:30am from Gundlupet - we eventually reached Guruvayoor at 7:00pm with a breakfast and lunch break of about an hour! None of us felt tired and headed to the temple for Darshan! Drive continue to be good and realised I wasn’t as tired as I would have been in the Scorpio - it was a stress free drive. Family seated in all the rows felt the same. Probably because this car's interior vibration was way lower compared to Scorpio. By now all of us got used to the way of sitting in Pajero!

Next day started towards Wayanad - this time took the Nilambur / Nadugani route towards Gudalur. By now we thought hopefully they would have opened up the Border - luckily they did.
Enroute slightly touched upon the right side rear view - it closed neatly and the mirror just fell off. Was surprised to see the mirror intact. But didn’t have a clue how to fix it back -it had a projecting thin plate - possibly it should be going in somewhere - but didn’t find where it could. Eventually after speaking to the service guys, just punched in the mirror unit - there were three sockets where the three plugs in the mirror unit. The electrical mirror movements worked good - so all was good to continue the trip.

As usual the drive was smooth and fantastic - there was always ample power to pull on! The mileage was around 10 or less most time. Brake was very good and worked reliably.

Eventually got a bit to drive in gravels when we ascended to the Guest house in Wentworth tea estates (another good place)! Further to Edakkal and back drive was pretty good. Had a good drive back as well through Wayanad - Bandipur range - Mysore - Bengaluru. A/C was pleasant all the way through. We spotted only three other Pajero Sport through the 1100+ kms travel. One in Bangalore itself and a white colored one in Kerala (one while going and one while coming back - couldn’t say if it was the same). We also spotted a Blue+White Original Pajero edition! Overall it was pretty much a unique drive. When we reached back to Bengaluru - the odometer was at 1400kms! A good 1100km ride for the trip.

At Wayanad, came across a light shower as well - tried the wipers and they performed excellent with 4 stream of water projection! Non-driver side corners are still left out of wiping, but thats not critical.

What I didn’t like

Note: also includes general descriptions and hence lengthy.

1. Exterior
   1. There was a bit too much gap between doors and body - could have been neatly sealed off. Without this it's accumulating dust and dirt
      
      
      
      
   2. Pajero Sport sticker in the sides. Gold color wiht splash wasn't suiting Blue. Would have preferred White with Grey splash which comes in other colors.
      
      
      
   3. The spare tires are tucked in neat, but Mitubishi could have done a better job to completely conceal it! Need to check for some solution.
      
      
      
      The step-in frame is awesome! Very functional and neat!
2. Interior
   1. Didn’t find a good place to keep my mobile - Nexus 6 - in the dashboard or other places. I had to stow it away in the box between the front seats
   2. Middle row could have been adjustable
   3. Most of the convenience boxes doesn’t have anti-slip mats and they make noise when something is kept - for examples coins
   4. Carpet isn’t held strong by the body - pulling the mats causes the carpet to come off
   5. Key is kind of pathetic / rudimentary - very difficult to find which is Lock and Unlock - its going to take sometime to get used to. Sometime when I slip into pocket I used to unlock the car!
      
      
      
      
      Note: Once the key is inserted, the car doesn't auto lock even after it is started. But if its just unlocked and in the absence of the key it auto locks after a few seconds.
      Central locking needs to be done manually once started and its easy.
3. Media player - Kenwood DDXBT415
   1. The MapMyIndia headrest color differs from the seat colors
      Master Headrest
      
      
      
      Slave Headrest
      
      
      
      Both the headrest monitors have two inputs. One of them is connected to the player in the dashboard. Out of the two, one can act as a master and has a cd and other media connection options. They have earphone jacks so some one can watch the movies at peace while the songs are played in the dashboard.
      Currently in my car the second heardrest unit is not picking up signal from the master headrest which needs to be checked out.
   2. The capacitive touch isn’t great
   3. The display is just not visible most of the days due to the way the player is slanted
      
      
      
      Need to do some jugaad to get some shade - possibly using a small cardboard for now.
   4. Somehow it was difficult to permanently switch off auto response to the phone calls - the calls silenced / ignored by Truecaller too were being picked up by the player. Mic wasn’t good too - may be need to be fine tuned
   5. Music output was very average (I had a much better after market system in my Scorpio - Pioneer head / X-Mutant - Amplifiers / 12inch Subwoofer and speakers)
4. Steering
   Steering is smooth and easy to operate. There is a little more than right amount of feedback from the roads - could be because of the tires. Liked the maneuverability.
   
   
   
   1. The steering had very basic audio controls and didn’t have mobile controls at all
      
      
      
   2. There were no phone controls on the steering
   3. Steering was a bit thin to my likings - may be would fix a steering cover to make it up if I don’t get used to it
   4. Cruise control also looked basic - but should be good enough
      
      
      

What I liked

1. Easy Drive in both city traffic / high way / mountain terrains
2. Very good road view while driving
3. Driver seat adjustments
4. Seats were very good - just that it was catching dirt fast though
5. Though the design is a bit old, I liked the way it looks. I didn’t like the new Pajero look available outside of India
6. No Electronic / automatic stuff
7. The steel grey coating on the wheels (add-on) - initially was thinking it wouldn’t look good - but it turned out very good. Its also very easy to clean up. The painting is only on the outside of the wheel. I would definitely recommend to go for this - just that I hope it becomes default!
   
   
   
8. Seat folding arrangements were mechanical, but was fantastic
9. Auto A/C is fantastic
10. Sufficient luggage space for 4-5 days trip
11. Rear View camera is good
12. Tools are neatly tucked into the Body - one in the left rear side and the other in the floor area in the luggage space
13. Back door is easy to open close and is pressure assisted while opening

Things to note for new owners

1. If any of the doors aren’t properly shut, the key doesn’t work
   
2. While stationary (parked) changing from 4WD to 2WD causes the two wheels to blink in the console until the engine is started and moved

Regular Maintenance
Half of the car being dark in color, dust accumulation is seen very easily.

• Bought a new Jopasu to take care of regular cleaning
• Had to get a small brush to take care of initial Carpet dust. Guess would be needing a small vacuum cleaner
  
  
  
• Got a XtraBond Suv cover as well to protect while parked for long at home

Accessories Planned for Future

• 3D Carpets?
• Upgrade ICE - most likely Pioneer which would work with Android / Apple. Morel Speakers
• A good Luggage Rack

Conclusion

I highly recommend this car to anyone who is looking at buying a bigger car! I believe this car would be a fantastic upgrade for any one and especially for those who are used to Scorpio. The model is in the fag end of its model life span, but this is one car with minimal electronic gadgets inside and I liked that. There could be some set backs like the ones described above - but none of them can be a reason not to buy this car! This is a Fantastic Drive and anyone looking at buying car in the range of 30-35L should review this car!

[genopv]

Is it a good purchase?

Pajero Sport in its current edition is in the fag end of its model life. Comparing the competitors in its category, it still stands equivalent in most ways. Only area where it lacks is the modernization in terms of electronics. If things like theatrical sun roof / automatic seat folding / parking assistant are your primary likings, then this isn't the car to go for. But if you like a comfortable car which can run well in any kind of road / solid engine and 4WD options, then Pajero Sport is the option. The new edition of Pajero Sport is expected sometime next year - what I hear from the sales guys is that there is still some confusion on whether India would go for Euro-5 or directly to Euro-6 next. But with increasing competition like the fantastic looking Tata Hexa - it could get launched faster. But considering the way Pajero has been marketing and prepping for India - it may not come soon too.

Sincerely felt the car should have been around 30L on road. Which means it should be about 24-25L Ex Showroom.

Engine & Ride

Currently Pajero Sport is available with only one engine option - 2.5L DI-Diesel with Intercooler Turbocharger, 4 Cylinders In-line. It also has a whopping 70L tank - so you can expect to drive at least 700kms without a refill. There are two variants though - one with 5 speed manual transmission and the other Automatic with Paddle shifters. Both of them drive really well. In case of AT, the paddle shifters are fantastic and has been available for sometime now, whereas, the other companies were missing the same. Unfortunately the AT doesn't have 4WD options and hence I ditched it!

Engine has good power and I didn't feel much of turbo lag in city / traffic driving (though many have reported the same). In the traffic, I am able to easily wade through in second gear without much need to keep the clutch pressed. But did feel turbo lag while going uphill especially while stopping and starting / crossing the speed breakers where I had to come down to first gear. The roads in my area are pretty bad - compared to scorpio, the amount of shaking which happens while going over pot holes etc has come down by more than 90%. The ride is comfortable and the pot holes are well handled to a fair extent.
Suspension Front / Rear - Double Wishbone with coil spring suspension and it does the job pretty good. It is able to take the smaller potholes in stride. Wheels are Alloy with 265/65 R17 Tubeless Radial tires (Apollo Acera) and the wheel arches are pretty high. Hence the rides on bad roads / medium pot holes are pretty much a breeze.

One good roads (highways) the power is terrific and its way easier to over take when required. The drive is very smooth and the vibration / noise levels are pretty much in control. We all felt the drive was stress free and we were much fresher at the end of the trip compared to when we used to do the same trips in Scorpio.

Build and Stance

The Build quality is excellent and is solid. Everything feels heavy and strong, but easy to use. An auto dashed my car from the back and was surprised to see that nothing happened to the car! Over all the build is fantastic, there is no place in the body which feels flimsy or cheap. The interiors are a bit outdated, but are posh and beautiful / functional. There are sufficient chargers for the mobile. There is ample number of bottle holders and convenience boxes.

There is a slight hump in the middle, but its not too much for the person in the centre to feel discomfort while seated. Tools and spare tire openings are neatly tucked in and could be provisioned for amps / subwoofers (saw this in one of the ICE installation). The spare wheel is tucked below the car reducing the over all length of the car and probably improving the riding as well. The spare wheel could have been concealed better.
The seats are covered with light beige leather and is comfortable. Just that it picks dirt very fast and hence needs cleaning more often. The folding arrangements are excellent and easy to use (all mechanical / one touch). Getting in and out of the last row isn't very easy, but it would be very easy for kids and some one who is flexible enough. The back seats are set in a way wherein the seats look slightly slanted and hence one would feel that the knees are raised up too much. But this is a comfortable seating position considering the space available.

The luggage space isn't too much, but is sufficient enough to carry 4 days of luggage for 4 days. Can be managed better with suitable soft duffle bags. If one of the seat is folder you get a lot more luggage space.

The stance is majestic, though the bonnet shaping is a little out of fashion. The tires look big and it feels like it can take the pot holes easily and it does. The car is good looking pretty much from all the sides - none of the angles make the car look awkward. The rear view mirrors are electronically controlled and can be folded with a press of a button and it is very useful! The mirror also closes down easily and hence is well protected from impact breakage . There is sufficient amount of chrome plating which adds to the looks of the car - they aren't over done and hence gives a subtle good looks to the car. The door handles are modern enough and does a good job - the doors close neatly with a thud sound. Needs a little bit of force to close in correctly.

The step in side stands are neat and very functional. They are subtle and doesn't make the car look odd.

Comfort

The seat arrangements are sufficiently well laid out. The last row is more for kids, but adults can manage for short rides within city. Small pillows could add comfort to the last row of seat. The center row is spacious and the seat reclines sufficiently to give a comfortable ride. Driver seat has multiple adjustments to make the ride comfortable and give a good view of the road. All windows can be controlled from the driver seat and the window operations can be locked as well. The mirror adjustments are good enough and are easy to access. The steering can be adjusted based on the driver's height / comfort.

Ground clearance is 215mm and its good for most part of the roads I regularly travel. Turning radius is 5.6m and I could do a proper U-turn in most of the places. This is very useful for me to park the car in my narrow road as well.

AC performance is good and in Auto mode, once the desired temperature is reached, the noise levels are low. Overall NVH is good - external noises are fairly reduced; engine noise is controlled. Driver can access the rear AC controls in the central dashboard itself and its very convenient.

The Pedals are well placed and there is a neat foot rest while not pressing the clutch. Initially felt that the shoe was hitting the the body below the steering, but eventually got used to it and it is comfortable.

Media Player

There is nothing great to write about the Kenwood DDXBT415 player or the Mitsubishi speakers. One can just use them as a background music. MapMyIndia supplied isn't very intuitive. Number of speakers are 4 + 2 tweeters. Most new cars come with 10 speakers including sub-woofers. Not that these new car might have excellent music - but there would be sufficient locations to replace the speakers / sub woofers. That said, the player does have plethora of connectivity options. Ipod / Bluetooth / auxiliary usb/ tuners / dvd etc.

MapMyIndia headrests supplied don't match the seat color and the basic functionalities are good.

Mileage

In the first 1400 kms the mileage was about 9kms. Need to observe once the first service is done. In this 1400kms, I would have used 4wd for about 400+ kms. The AC was on all the time and the car was fully loaded. Expected mileage is 10Kms in city and 10+ in highways. Would know better only in the next long trip.

Safety

There are two SRS airbags in the front and steering is collapsible. The breaks hare ABS. All the 7 seats have seat belts. I’m not able to find any safety rating for this model in the web. I’m told the body is built with sufficient crash protection in the sides.

Service Experience

Car was picked up by the service agents. Looks like there isn't too much done in the first service. I reported two issues - first gear locking difficulty and mild rattling noise from left middle door. Both were rectified. My Bonnet cover was also replaced as promised during the delivery. Job was done on time, but they weren't able to deliver the car by evening. But I had to have the car since I was traveling the following day. The service advisor himself brought the car in person and delivered at home! That was good service. Forgot to ask them to check Cruise Control and the mirrors - would do so next week.

My Pajero Sport Brochure for my edition: the_new_pajero_sports.pdf

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Sheel]

This is the first time I am seeing this color and it looks fantastic and very close to the single tone, black color, my favorite.

Scorpio owners will appreciate the Pajero Sports and so would Safari owners as it has better ride and handling than its direct competitor. [Just like the Safari has over the Scorpio]

[RajaTaurus]

Congratulations on acquisition of the Beast. If you are that kind of person who keeps his car for more than 10 years and definitely not calculating second decimal mileage every time you fill the tank, Pajero is the car for you. The best off roader ever, timeless classic look and feel, personification of Solid Build and takes on all kind of rough use / abuse.

Those Mitsubishi speakers are crap and just don't match with the HU. My Cedia had Blaupunkt Bahamas and the puny Mitsubishi speakers were just not enough. I fitted Bosch Components in front and Dual cone in rear and definitely there was big difference.

It is so sad that Mitsubishi never upgraded its pathetic Ignition Key for the past 15 years or so. The same key was in Cedia as well. The plastic cover is so fragile and you have to be careful.

Normally the engine immobilizer is programmed to only one key. Please get the other key also programmed asap.

Wish you happy and safe thrill miles year after year.

[gadadhar]

That's a detailed report and will help many. The color looks simply awesome. My inlaws had a old generation red and white and I used to love taking it through the off road tracks in Munnar. It had a nasty head-on crash year back and had to be written off. Both the occupants escaped without any injuries except for some nasty seat-belt marks, that's the build quality of the beast.

[Tanmay K]

Thanks for the nice review!

MapMyIndia really need to up their game to stay relevant. Looking at that display, it somehow reminds me of Windows 98 (or perhaps Windows 95 ):

[blackbeast]

Congratulations on the new car! I'm assuming you made this purchase very recently. First thoughts after seeing your post is .. why was the new Endeavour not considered. Also, are you aware the 2016 pajero sports is around the corner. Did you consider it and time your purchase ?

Wishing you lots of happy miles and trouble free ownership

[rosh_aveo1.4]

Didn't PS come with the Rockford system that had a concealed sub woofer which sounds great? Think you can make it more butch looking by adding auxiliary lights from Lightforce (think that's the name).

[FORTified]

Hey - Congratulations for your new set of wheels.
Car looks fabulous.
Hope you will have many happy mile munching hours in it.

I need one info. Where did you get the wheel coloring done?
I got my C250D very recently and did not like the wheel color. Want to change it to shiny black.

I have a Fortuner and I might do the same there too. Big cars look good with black wheels.

Thanks and regards,
Ramagiri

[genopv]

Originally Posted by blackbeast

Congratulations on the new car! I'm assuming you made this purchase very recently. First thoughts after seeing your post is .. why was the new Endeavour not considered. Also, are you aware the 2016 pajero sports is around the corner. Did you consider it and time your purchase ?

Wishing you lots of happy miles and trouble free ownership

I somehow liked the looks of the existing Pajero compared to the new one. The new one possibly is not going to be launched for a year. It also have too many electronic systems like auto brake when the vehicles are close by etc. I think it would also be priced higher when launched. With the recent Monteiro launch, I don't have much hopes for newer Pajero Sport. They still have Outlander to be launched as well.

I liked Pajero Sport right away and I test drove other cars after booking the same! There are some confusion with Euro 5/6 etc as well.

Endeavour - I have covered in other cars section - the back seat is much difficult to get in and I wasn't keen on features like auto parking etc. I liked the first two rows of seats and the theatrical sun roof though. Now that the prices are supposedly 2-3l down to counter new fortuner launch, it might be a good option for many.

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

Didn't PS come with the Rockford system that had a concealed sub woofer which sounds great? Think you can make it more butch looking by adding auxiliary lights from Lightforce (think that's the name).

The Original PS supposedly came with Rockfort. Montero might be coming with Rockford by default.

Originally Posted by FORTified

Hey - Congratulations for your new set of wheels.
Car looks fabulous.
Hope you will have many happy mile munching hours in it.

I need one info. Where did you get the wheel coloring done?
I got my C250D very recently and did not like the wheel color. Want to change it to shiny black.

I have a Fortuner and I might do the same there too. Big cars look good with black wheels.

Thanks and regards,
Ramagiri

I got it done in the ASS itself. It costed 3K per wheel - which possibly is high. Guess JC road, Bangalore is the place to be? ie if you are in Bangalore. Only the outer side is painted. Inner is still the default color, though with this pattern it won't be visible.

Originally Posted by gadadhar

That's a detailed report and will help many. The color looks simply awesome. My inlaws had a old generation red and white and I used to love taking it through the off road tracks in Munnar. It had a nasty head-on crash year back and had to be written off. Both the occupants escaped without any injuries except for some nasty seat-belt marks, that's the build quality of the beast.

Happy to hear they were safe!
Looks like now they have Color+black as well instead of Color+White!

[Ruchitya]

Congratulations genopy, great car! Off note, though your kids love the sunroof, always advise them to stay away from poking their heads out of it. The thread on kite flying and that fatal accident come to mind.
Wish you many miles of safe journeying.

[anvara]

Originally Posted by genopv

Whereas MT would have a recurring expense of changing clutch - Rs. 25k every 25k kms?

Congratulations genopv.The truck looks lovely. May you clock a zillion miles with her / him.

I think the part about the clutch may not be true since there are Bhpians who have driven well beyond the stated mileage and the clutch seems to hold up.

In my opinion, the clutch should last you nothing less than 80k under normal usage.

Hi Ruchitya - Your point on the sunroof is spot on. However, the Pajero Sport does not have a sun roof. It was only on the wish list of genopv's kids.

[Ramsagar]

Congrats on the new acquisition & great color too. This will serve you for a long long time.

Can anyone confirm the below points:

Anniversary edition (Dual tone paint) is done by Mitsubishi? I believe it is dealer who does the job.

How abt PS Select: Comes with BLACK TOP.

This same applies for painting the alloys as well. I don't think the Dealer is ordering a new set of alloys from the Factory.

genopv : Pls. keep an eye on the Paint job.