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My wife is considering a used Pajero around the £4-£5000 mark. I was surprised at the MPG figure on the Car byCar Breakdown pages (22MPG for the diesel) Anyone got any experience of running an older import ( around the 93K year\reg), good or bad? Thanks in advance.
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I ran one of the older models in Kenya for 2 years. It had done 180,000 miles by the time I left, but had an engine rebuild at about 120,000. MPG is terrible, but they are a big, heavy car. Acceleration is also terrible for the same reason.
What went wrong? One of the freewheeling hubs not locking (caused by garage not putting it back together correctly). Gaitors on driveshafts. Gearbox very loose (but worked perfectly OK). Springs and shocks were knackered. Air conditioning leaks took three visits to fix and meant taking out most of the dashboard. And that's about it!
Check the condition/size of the tyres - a few sizes are hard to get hold of/expensive in the UK.
Check that the boot is big enough for you - they're much smaller inside than you might think. And if the spare wheel is mounted on the door, its very heavy.
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My experience is also of older models in Kenya (Marlot when were you out there?). My specific experience was not good, of the one that we had on our company car fleet:
Basically. car came from UK at 100,000 miles and had a string of problems with cylinder head 'erosion' - some sort of pitting in the head. Cost thousands (sterling, not shillings) and never got to the bottom of it. Mechanic claimed it was due to beign fuelled with petrol at some point - being a company car, it was never properly loved.
More generally, I knew the mechanic who ran the "Pajero Centre", the largest indpendent Mitsubishi site in Nairobi. He rated the type of vehicle you are proposing (age-wise) very highly, with excellent off-road capabilities (if that is important to you) and good reliability.
My recollection of MPG was not as bad as you mention - remember 30mpg being achievable
good luck
Jono
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own a 2.5 tdi lwb pajero at the moment.great car for my large family.around 20 mph but the thing weighs more than 2 tons and is as aerodynamic as a brick so what do you expect.best car we have ever owned only wish we had the 2.8tdi as the 2.5 is slightly underpowered.
heres a link that will answer all your questions and more
www.pocuk.com/phpBB2/
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Hi Jono - I was there from 94 to 96. My Pajero was bought from a Shell guy who was leaving the country. I was working for EAI (the makers of Kimbo, OMO, vaseline etc).
I forgot to mention one other fault with Pajeros. When a rhino (in this case the tame one at Sweeetwaters) rubs itself against your bull bars, they fall off!
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Jono - I also got myself sentenced to 30 days in jail for crossing a double yellow line in the centre of the road. Or a thousand shilling fine (£10 to brits!). I guess a quick bribe would have fixed it, but I wasn't going to play!
I escaped two armed hijackings; when the gang were caught a couple of months later, it turned out the ringleader was our local policeman!
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I have imported many Pajeros from Japan and would say they are about as tough and reliable a vehicle as you could ever hope for.
The best driving one is the V6 petrol,16-20 MPG and the best diesel is the 2.8,with fuel consumption around 21-25 MPG.The Pajero is a better kitted version of the UK badged Shogun and will usually have done a lot less work than an equivilant UK car and be in much better overall condition.
The 2.8 is a cam chain engine,the 2.5 a belt.There are very few recurring problems,water pumps can leak (£100 fitted),and a seal in the diesel pump can leak (£250 fitted).As with everything,buy the best you can afford,then keep it maintained,oil changes,coolant changes and grease all the grease nipples.Do that and they can be just about 'bullet proof'.
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