Living with the 2022 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe

• 2022 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe long-term review
• JUMP AHEAD
• So how does it hold up as the daily family ride and weekend adventure machine? I’ll be testing it over the coming months to find out.
• Fuel consumption
• Family mover
• What’s next?
• Pajero Sport (Exceed) v Toyota Fortuner
• 2022 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe specs

2022 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe long-term review

Our family is no stranger to the Mitsubishi Pajero. My partner drove a 2002 model Paj for many years until recently, when the old girl met her maker on Victoria Pass in the Blue Mountains at almost 400,000km. May she rest in pieces.

Back in 2012, Mitsubishi loaned me a Pajero GLS for around 18 months when I was the editor of Camper Trailer Australia magazine. It served as the mag’s official tow-tug and I recall handing the keys back with some reluctance.

JUMP AHEAD

• Fuel use
• Family friendliness

One decade, a sea change, two step-kids and a baby later, and I find myself in the driver’s seat of a Pajero long-term test car once more, but not as I know it.

The Pajero Sport is decidedly an SUV, comfortable and safe as a family mover, but with the goods on-board for proper weekend adventure. In short, exactly my type of car.

The spec we’re driving here is the Pajero Sport GLS 4×4 7-seater with the ‘Deluxe’ option pack, which adds leather-appointed seats, powered front seats and a 360-degree camera system.

In this configuration, the price is $55,940 before on-road costs.

So how does it hold up as the daily family ride and weekend adventure machine? I’ll be testing it over the coming months to find out.

Fuel consumption

I’ve had this Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe 4×4 seven-seater for nearly a month and have driven 1856km, using 216L of fuel. Average fuel consumption is sitting at 8.5L/100km.

The car got a workout off road when Wheels Media journos John Law and Evan Spence tested it against stablemate, the Mitsubishi Outlander in the Blue Mountains, which might account for the increase in consumption against the manufacturer-stated average of 8L/100km.

Family mover

The GLS Deluxe Option is right in the middle of the range, giving it a few niceties that I appreciate, especially with a toddler on-board.

Safety features like auto-lock doors that kick in after a few seconds of driving, adaptive cruise control, auto-braking forward collision control, and automatic headlights and wipers make life behind the wheel a little easier when the toddler is screaming and you’re trying to shovel ‘Bluey bikkies’ in her mouth.

Leather seats are easy to wipe clean of sticky handprints, and electric front seat adjusters make it easy when I jump in after my 6-foot 3-inch partner has been driving.

The toddler’s car seat is a breeze to install, thanks to the Isofix anchorage system that allows the seat to clip-in at the base. When my 9- and 11-year-old step-kids are with us, which is half the time, the seating configuration could not be easier.

For everyday driving, we drop one half of the third row of seats so one kid can sit in the far back (a spot they call ‘shotgun’ for), and the other in the second row with the middle space free between them and the toddler.

The seat mechanism on the Pajero Sport is ingenious. The third row of seats is erected simply by yanking a handle from the floor of the boot until the seat clicks in. When stowed, they sit flush against the back of the second row of seats, taking up minimal boot space and leaving a flat surface area for cargo.

Although boot space is minimal when both the third row seats are up (especially when compared with our Volvo XC90), by erecting only one of the two seats we have ample space for the pram, the school bags, and the groceries.

That third row can be easily stowed to allow for greater luggage capacity, and the boot can eat up to 502 litres of luggage when the third row is folded down. Folding all of the seats opens up 1488 litres and ample space: 1575mm (L) x 1370mm (W) x 885mm (H).

Of course, all three kids can sit along the second row of seats, as they did when we went on holiday to the Central Coast for the weekend and needed the full boot space for our gear.

Even with the bulky infant seat, the bigger kids still had adequate space and plenty of leg room. They enjoyed being able to operate their own air vents via a roof-mounted control panel and the two USB outlets meant there was no jostling for power when the iPad batteries waned.

What’s next?

We’ve had the car for three weeks now and thanks to our old pal La Niña, haven’t taken it off road or camping yet. When we do, we’ll need to consider how best to load all our camping gear and ourselves into what is a fairly compact vehicle. More on that next time.

Total kilometres: 5600kmDate acquired: October 2022Kilometres this month: 1856km
Average fuel use: 8.6L/100km

Pajero Sport (Exceed) v Toyota Fortuner

2022 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe specs

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