What was once the official chariot for movie stars and heavyweights in India, the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is still a much-revered and loved vehicle in the country, even with the limited sales and after-sales support. Still on sale in a dated avatar here, a facelifted model has been introduced in Thailand, and it looks fantastic. What’s commendable about these changes is that they make the facelifted Mitsubishi Pajero Sport current, competitive, likeable and in this form, it could be here soon.
In terms of appearance, rugged and tough gets a lot of modern in the form of Bi-LED illumination upfront with new bumpers, LED fog lamps and detailing which makes the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport a sharp-looking thing. The massive bumper gets an equally massive air inlet, a skid plate and boomerang-shaped inserts around the fog lamp area where the upright and high from the ground stance, adds a lot of butch.
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Sideways, the window line now curves up past the C-pillar and adding muscle, the massive wheel arches still have a lot of space left as 18″ wheels try hard to fill the area. The new Pajero Sport runs 265/60 rubber and also comes with a tyre repair kit as standard.
At the back, LED illumination finds some vertical flow within the tail light enclosure, where an extension also spills over to the sides and meets the shoulder crease. The rear faux skid plate sits high from the ground, and the upswept angle of the bumper should allow the Pajero to boast of a good departure angle. Oh, the tailgate gets a handsfree feature too.
Inside the modern cabin, there’s an 8″ colour LCD display for instrumentation, the CarPlay-enabled large infotainment screen sits flush within softly-padded materials, there’s dual-zone airconditioning with purifying nanoe technology which creates nano-sized water particles that cleanse the air, keeps your skin hydrated, and keeps the cabin fresh.
There’s a roof-mounted 12.1″ rear screen for backseat passengers which also gets infrared headphones. The front centre console is equipped with two USB ports and an HDMI port for SDA (smartphone link display audio) connectivity. The rear centre console features a 220V AC outlet and two USB 2.1A charging ports.
The new Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is available in three variants – two 2WD and one 4WD range-topper. All variants are powered by a 2.5-litre, turbodiesel, 4-cylinder engine which cranks out 181 HP @ 3,500 rpm and 430 Nm of torque at 2,500 rpm. The 4WD variant gets an AWD system, which is paired with an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The 2019 Pajero Sport gets an electrically-controlled Rear Differential Lock, can change from 2H to 4H while in motion and also gets 4HLc or 4LLc modes.
In terms of safety, the 2019 Pajero Sport gets adaptive cruise control, auto parking brake and brake auto hold, rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring with lane-change assist, forward collision mitigation system, and an Ultrasonic Misacceleration Mitigation System which will cut engine power temporarily if the accelerator is depressed suddenly with a strong force.
The system uses ultrasonic waves to scan four meters ahead and back while the vehicle is in the “D” or “R” mode and if the accelerator is depressed suddenly with a strong force, engine power will be temporarily cut and the vehicle’s speed will slow to 10 kilometres/hour to mitigate any possible collision. The Pajero gets 7 airbags, four cameras for the around view monitor, ABS, EBD, Brake Assist, Active stability and traction control, Hill-start assist and hill descent control. Prices for the new Pajero Sport start at 12,99,000 Baht or roughly INR 29 lakh in Indian currency.
