Thursday 12th February

Mitsubishi Pajero Evo | PH Private Area

What's cooler than a homologation rally car? A homologation rally-raid car, of course... 

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Another day, another three-door 4x4 on PistonHeads. But who could resist the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, a very different proposition to virtually any other three-door 4x4. Any other SUV period, really. And every other Mitsubishi to have ever existed, apart from those also called Evolution. See, like the Lancer, this Evo was built with the sole intention of creating a rally-winning race car. It arrived at a time when the saloon was winning WRC after WRC after WRC, and in 1998 Pajeros that looked like this took all three spots on the Dakar podium. Not just in their T2 class, but overall. With Tommi doing what Tommi did at the same time, it really was a glorious time for Evo-badged Mitsusbishis. 

To some extent, the rally raid car was as competitive as it was because so much was invested in the homologated road car. This wasn’t just arches and a spoiler on a JDM Shogun; the Pajero featured a stiffer body than standard, all-new suspension with increased travel, quicker steering and vastly wider tracks. A proper rally raid car for the road, complete with a 280hp V6 and a limited production run. Even now, almost 30 years later, nothing looks quite as wild as a Pajero Evo. 

There’s an argument to say that a car like this should be worth as much as the most special Lancer Evos, given Mitsubishi was even more successful at Dakar than the WRC - and this is surely as extreme as any Mitsubishi with roman numerals in the name. But Dakar has never quite had the cachet of world rallying, and as a JDM car it would always have less exposure compared to the Evo. 

The upside of that is there are examples of the Pajero like this around, in great condition and with thousands spent in the past couple of years, for half the price of a red Makinen. And we all know what’s going to get more love from passers-by. Oh sure, a Pajero Evo isn’t going to offer quite the adrenaline hit of an Evo, but fun seems absolutely assured. 

This one has been in the UK since 2001, too, so there’s 25 years of history you can read - and not just recent import papers. In the past few years, it’s had paint, a replacement engine, new suspension and all the cool Evo bits - decals, mudflaps, badges - renewed. On the OZ wheels, it looks every inch the lean, mean, dune-bashing machine. And should hopefully mean any more big bills are some way off.

This one has an additional claim to fame as a Paj Evo featured in Top Gear. It’s owned by snapper Mark Riccioni, and his time with the car has been documented in the mag during his tenure of almost three years. There aren’t many cars you can say that about (even though he does own a lot of cars). Unsurprisingly, it’s the only one of its kind for sale on PH right now, and wants for little more than continued driving and enjoying. The perfect thing for when the weather doesn’t suit your other Mitsubishi Evo…

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See the original advert

[Orangutangerine]

10000x more interesting than any bloated RR or X*M lumps, epic old truck

[Baldchap]

In B4 - Pajero is Spanish slang for 'wker'.

[Bob_Defly]

I remember loving these when they first came out. Would still love one!

[supacool1]

Seeing one on the roads it does have epic presence. Always liked these.

[dibblecorse]

That is cool ....

[JJJ.]

dibblecorse said:

That is cool ....

Yes, cool is right. Hard not to like it even if I'd have reservations on how good it is to drive.

[jamgy]

It's a shame that such a purposeful, aggressive exterior gives way to such a drab, typical 90s Japanese interior. Even the steering wheel looks sad.

[Red9zero]

Dyno Torque have an LS powered Evo they have built. Seen it on a few Drift Works videos.

[CMTMB]

It's still expensive, but it makes the £55k Discovery seem even more ridiculous.

[sbk1972]

I owned one of these back in the early 2000s. Traded it in for a Miv TT Supra.

First thing, it isnt fast. It may look agressive / fast but it isnt. My current 20 year old Ml55 is way quicker. Also, it drinks so much petrol (and yes I knew it would / was okay with that) but. Its the 3.5 GDI engine and speed vs fuel ratio is poor. i.e. it wasnt that fast to compensate for the fuel.

I used mine daily mine, from Croydon to Worthing,for a good year. Servicing was ok back then, transmission had an issue that was very common, the automatic change up / down started to stop working smoothly, needs special fluid which I ordered / swapped out several times but didnt fix it. Sometimes u had to push it over into manual mode to change gear. Also there is a very small filter, like a M3 evo vanos filter in the inlet that people forget and that causes issues.

Looked the part, but the impracticalness of it soon over ruled the looks. rear seating was a challenge to get in too. Great Recaro seats, however not that comfortable for a chubbster like me

Even back then clocking was a nightmare. I sold mine with 61K on it ( I did about 15K in it) and I remember seeing the same car 10 years later with 54K on it. So I wouldnt trust any of the mileages on any of them.

Looks good from afar, but like owning a speed boat it better to have a mate that has one, use it, then own it yourself. Ive seen these things on sale now for 24K, ,,,,,, totally over kill but probably based on rarity now. Rather have a ML63.

[MDL111]

I wanted to buy one of these about a decade ago, but could not come up with any sensible use case for it. They were a lot cheaper than this one then. They look very cool imo.

[BIRMA]

How much? here is my old Pajero Evo (sadly sold it) that I bought in 2008, I'm a big Paris Dakar fan and had watched them in the 1998-9 rallies. Worth watching them flying over the dunes
I paid £7500 for it as a grade 4.5 import with 48000 miles on it, fantastic vehicle in every respect.

[url]|https://forums-
images.pistonheads.com/114149/202602124913232[/url]

Here is one of the many photos of it truly at home.

Edited by BIRMA on Thursday 12th February 13:45

Edited by BIRMA on Thursday 12th February 13:52

Edited by BIRMA on Friday 13th February 09:24

Edited by BIRMA on Friday 13th February 09:25

[WPA]

Very cool car / truck but I do wonder if they are hard to live with

[Twizy Warren]

Great vehicles. reminds me i need to get mine back on the road.

[reef67]

Really not a fan of SUV's but this is utterly perfect for our moonscape of a road network, in red with a manual box please - the first car I would track down post lottery win

[Every day a journey]

A particularly fine looking young lady of a wealthy family from the village I used to live in bought one of these.

It was difficult to take ones eyes off her shapely jodhpur clad derriere until she rocked up at the village pub in that.

[Turbobanana]

jamgy said:

It's a shame that such a purposeful, aggressive exterior gives way to such a drab, typical 90s Japanese interior. Even the steering wheel looks sad.

Agree about the airbag steering wheel (the pre-airbag one was much better), but the interiors on this generation of Shogun are actually much nicer to live with than they look.

I'll take mine as a manual, please, and with the non-OZ wheels.

[wolfie28]

Cool thing but at a price where my interest ends.

[Lester H]

Baldchap said:

In B4 - Pajero is Spanish slang for 'wker'.

Yes . Probably a typo as pajaro is a small songbird and more likely what Mitsubishi wanted to convey.

[J4CKO]

I know 276 bhp isnt that much nowadays, but remember seeing one of these take off from the lights near where the Etihad stadium is now, reminded me of the time I startled a hedgehog which was eating the cats dinner near our back door, as in it went off way, way quicker than you would expect something like that to go.

Amazing to think every base spec larger SUV will probably have more power and be faster nowadays.

But, not as cool, has a proper Rally car/EVO/Dakar vibe, with a hint of Lamborghini LM0002.