BMW X5 vs Mitsubishi Pajero

What's the difference?

This is a luxurious prestige five-seater brimming with BMW’s latest design and technology that’s not only practical for weekly family duties but can also embrace spirited driving with the push of a button. A great all-rounder for families that like a sporty edge. 

The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS 2WD seven-seater is a well-built and well-priced family-friendly wagon.

It's nice to drive, has a rather comfortable interior and – bonus – the vehicle on which it's based has proven credibility as a no-nonsense and highly functional touring vehicle.

But in 2WD guise it's missing something: namely Super Select II, which accounts for a considerable chunk of the 4WD Pajero Sport’s appeal – so the absence of that in this 2WD version is a significant negative, in my books.

The not-so-subtle point I’m trying to make? Sure, the 2WD Pajero Sport is a few grand cheaper than its 4WD stablemate and it's a solid value-for-money buy as is, but I reckon paying the extra cash to get your hands on a Pajero Sport that's equipped with Super-Select II is the better bet.

The latest front-end design features subtle revisions to BMW’s signature 'kidney' grille theme, highlighted by slimmer matrix LED headlights with chevron-shaped DRLs that incorporate the turn indicators.

There’s also an ‘iconic glow’ function, which illuminates the twin-grilles at night in-sync with the external courtesy lights when approaching and departing the vehicle. Lower front air-intake and tail-light treatments have also been revised.

The dash features a new curved instrument panel. Based on BMW’s latest generation 'iDrive' operating system, it consists of a 12.3-inch driver’s info display and 14.9-inch control display presented across the same seamless glass surface.

The control display’s touchscreen functionality has allowed dash buttons and switches to be minimised.

This new design dash has a blend of synthetic leather trim and dark brown/high-gloss woodgrain surfaces, along with new LED ambient lighting and gear-selector design.

The rear seat is sumptuous and spacious, even for someone my height (186cm). There’s ample knee and headroom and it can seat three kids in comfort, but for adult passengers wanting that 'business class' feel it would be ideal for two.

My only criticism of the new instrument display is that with more than 30 applications displayed on the expansive control screen, it can be distracting at times trying to visually locate and operate these functions while driving.

And, depending on sun angle, there were also complaints from different front seat passengers on different days about blinding glare caused by the dash’s high-gloss woodgrain inserts. Fortunately, the driver is unaffected by these reflections.

The Pajero Sport is 4825mm long (with a 2800mm wheelbase), 1815mm wide and 1835mm high. It has an official kerb weight of 1980kg.

I don’t mind the styling of the Pajero Sport. It doesn’t look as bulky as many of its rivals and it manages to have a rather contemporary, but comfortably middle of the road, presence.

If you’re that concerned about keeping up appearances, perhaps take a look at a Pajero Sport in the metal, drive it, imagine yourself living with it day to day, then make up your own mind whether you think it suits you or not.

Easy.

With its 2165kg kerb weight and maximum allowable weight of 2885kg, our test vehicle can legally carry up to 720kg.

That should be ample for five adults (even better for kids) and their luggage, of which up to 100kg can be carried on the roof rails using a rack or roof box (both in BMW's accessory range).

Powered upper and lower tailgates provide good access to the luggage area, which is carpeted and equipped with a roll-out privacy screen, load securing hooks, a 12-volt accessory outlet and a first-aid kit stored behind a removable side panel.

The space-saver spare and tools are stored below the hinged load floor, so all luggage must be removed to access them.

Internal luggage space with the rear seat upright is 650 litres (0.65 cubic metres) which expands to 1870 litres (1.87 cubic metres) with the rear seat folded flat.

A useful load-carrying feature when the rear seat’s backrest is upright is a hinged centre section that folds forward and flat to carry long and narrow items.

These can stretch all the way from the tailgate to the dash if need be, which could be handy for carting anything from skis to home hardware purchases (firmly secured, of course).

It’s also rated to tow up to an impressive 3500kg of braked trailer, which matches the class benchmark for one-tonne utes.

However, given that tow-ball download (TBD) is usually around 10 per cent of trailer weight, the X5’s maximum TBD rating of only 140kg could be a challenge if 3500kg towing is required.

Front of cabin storage includes a big bottle-holder and bin in each front door, a glove box and on the right-hand side of the dash a pull-out driver’s bin, both of which are felt-lined.

The centre console, in addition to its wireless phone-charging pad, USB-A port and 12-volt outlet, has two small-bottle/cupholders up front and a large box at the rear, housing a USB-C port and topped by a padded dual 'brochure fold' lid that double as an elbow-rest for driver and front passenger.

Rear seat storage includes a large-bottle holder and bin in each door and pockets on each front seat backrest. The rear of the centre console has two storage nooks for small items in addition to its air-vents, two USB-C ports and a 12-volt outlet. There’s also a handy tablet-mount and USB-C port on each front seat backrest, which is great for long trips.

Folding down the rear seat’s centre armrest reveals two pop-out small-bottle/cupholders. And under its hinged lid is a hidden felt-lined compartment that’s ideal for storing slim screened devices away from prying eyes.

The interior has a practical and familiar feel about it. Sure, it’s a bit on the basic side of things – with cloth seats and rubber floor mats – and it certainly lacks the plethora of soft-touch surfaces some of its more expensive rivals may have, but this interior’s life-friendly sense is a bigger positive for it than any posh addition could be.

The front seats are rather supportive, with a real snug feel to them, and are manually adjustable, which is fine with me.

The reach- and height-adjustable steering wheel has paddle shifters for when your driving takes on more of a sense of urgency. 

The dash and 8.0-inch touchscreen media unit has an integrated sense to it. And this cabin’s all-pervasive sense of familiarity continues here with all of the buttons and dials easy to spot on the fly and, more importantly, operate without fumbling around for them.

Driver and front passenger have access to media and aircon controls, among others, as well as cup-holders in between the front seats, a bottle holder in each of the doors, and small spots here and there for your wallet, keys etc.

The second row is suitably comfortable and I sat behind my driving position and there was plenty of head and leg room. It’d be much squeezier for those of us who stand at six-feet (182cm) or beyond.

Second-row passengers have access to a fold-down arm-rest with cup holders, air vents and there are USB charge points and a power socket in the rear of the centre-console. 

The seat-backs have map pockets and the doors each have a bottle holder.

The second row is equipped with three child-seat top-tether points, and two ISOFIX points. It is a 60:40 split-fold configuration.

Passengers in the third-row seat have access to cup-holders and air vents, but that’s little compensation because the space back here is on the wrong side of tight. 

The third row is a 50:50 split-fold configuration.

In terms of packability, the rear cargo area’s volume is listed as 131 litres when all three rows are being used as seating; 502 litres when two rows are in use; and 1488 when the second and third rows are stowed away. 

Annoyingly, the third row is a real bugger to stow away and doesn’t fold flat into the floor. Maybe I’m missing a trick but this third-row strife was a source of more than a bit of frustration for the photographer and I – and we’re both experienced vehicle-based travellers.

The rear cargo area is equipped with power sockets and tie-down points. There is a shallow underfloor storage box back there as well.

Our test vehicle – a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS 2WD seven-seater – has a manufacturer suggested retail price of $49,190 (before on-road costs).

But our wagon had a stack of accessories, which included alloy front protection bar ($3879), towbar kit ($1386), towball cover ($7), rear cargo liner ($205), and carpet mat set ($230). That total accessories cost of $5707 (price includes recommended dealer fitment cost) brings this vehicle’s as-tested price to $54,897.

There is a 2WD GLX spec, a five-seater, which is slightly cheaper than our test vehicle, with an MSRP of $44,440.

The standard features list on the GLS is generous and includes an 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia unit (with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and satellite navigation), dual-zone climate control air conditioning, a power tailgate, privacy glass, automatic rain-sensing wipers and dusk-sensing headlights and, of course, seven seats.

I’ve mentioned the accessories above – and there are lot more of a variety of those available from Mitsubishi as well as from Australia’s bloody awesome aftermarket industry – so let’s get cracking with the yarn proper.

The X5 xDrive40i is powered by BMW’s legendary 3.0-litre DOHC 24-valve in-line six with state-of-the-art technology.

This includes twin-scroll turbocharging, variable valve/camshaft timing and 48-volt mild hybrid technology (delivering up to 9.0kW and 200Nm) using an electric motor integrated with the transmission.

The combined effect is optimised power and throttle response (0-100km/h in 5.4 secs) with minimal fuel consumption and Euro 6d emissions.

It produces 280kW between 5200-6250rpm and 520Nm of torque (this can reach 540Nm with hybrid input) across a remarkably wide and flat peak torque band between 1850-5000rpm, which showcases its flexibility. There’s also auto start-stop and selectable drive modes.

This is paired with BMW’s smooth and sharp-shifting eight-speed torque converter automatic, which combines the best characteristics of a dual-clutch and traditional torque converter transmission.

There’s overdrive on the seventh and eighth gears to optimise fuel economy and the choice of rapid manual-shifting using the steering wheel paddles.

Power reaches its wide tyres through the xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive system, which actively varies the engine’s torque distribution between the front and rear wheels to optimise traction at all times.

BMW’s ‘Efficient Dynamics’ also includes brake energy regeneration with recuperation display and many other standard features to enhance driving safety and efficiency.

The Pajero Sport has a 2.4-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, which produces 133kW at 3500rpm and 430Nm at 2500rpm, and it has an eight-speed automatic transmission.

This 2WD variant does not have Mitsubishi’s impressive Super-Select II 4WD system, of which I’m a big fan, and that absence is a substantial negative against it, I reckon. But more about that very soon…

BMW claims combined average (WLTP) fuel consumption of 9.9-8.5L/100km. Our 415km test comprised a mix of suburban and highway driving and when we stopped to refuel the dash display was showing 10.2L/100km which was line-ball with our own 10.6L/100km figure, calculated from fuel bowser and tripmeter readings.

So, based on our figures, you could expect a realistic driving range of around 780km from its 83-litre tank using standard 91-octane petrol.

The 2WD Pajero Sport has an offical fuel consumption of 8.0L/100km on a combined cycle. 

On our test, which included a stint of dirt-road driving, we recorded fuel consumption from fill to fill of 9.2L/100km.

It has a 68-litre fuel tank so, with that sort of fuel-consumption figure, you can reasonably expect a driving range of approximately 690km from a full tank, but that’s factoring in a safe-distance buffer of 50km.

It’s supremely comfortable, with front bucket seats that offer powered-adjustment of height, reach and backrest angle along with side bolsters that can tighten their grip of your upper torso.

There’s also two-way lumbar support, that adjusts not only how far it pushes your spine forward but also allows that pressure point to be raised or lowered.

Combined with its power-adjustable leather-rimmed steering wheel, it would be hard not to find a comfortable driving position.

Eyelines to all mirrors are good and over-shoulder blind-spots are minimal. Front and rear occupants can talk without raised voices thanks to low engine, wind and tyre noise at highway speeds.

As you’d expect, it has high build quality and a tangibly solid feel as though it was machined from a single block of steel, from the satisfying thuds of its closing doors to the absence of shudders or rattles on a variety of roads.

It also has two personalities, which can be switched in an instant. In 'Comfort' mode it will happily cruise around city and suburbs as a mild-mannered family car, fulfilling daily duties like work commutes, school drop-offs and pick-ups, supermarket shopping and the like.

However, flick the drive mode to 'Sport Plus' and you awaken, well, if not ‘the ultimate driving machine’ then something close.

Its optimised drivetrain and handling settings feel more like a sports sedan than a family car, which can turn any winding mountain road into an engaging experience.

It has impressive reserves of cornering grip and braking force, combined with sparkling engine response and fast sequential manual-shifting at your fingertips.

It feels impressively agile, with all-round response that belies its 2.0-tonne-plus kerb weight, backed by a symphony of sounds from its sublime in-line six.

This is mostly a smooth driving wagon while tackling daily duties on the blacktop and with some highway stretches thrown into the mix. 

Steering has a nice weight to it and the Pajero Sport is a nimble, highly manoeuvrable SUV, with a turning circle of 11.2m, even if it does start to reveal more than a bit of body-roll through more aggressive driving. No surprise and no worries – this is an SUV after all, not a sports car. 

Also, worth noting is the fact that our test vehicle’s alloy bullbar made it heavier at the front end thus affecting its handling somewhat.

Throttle response is sharp and the 2WD Pajero Sport retains the line-up’s punchy turbo-diesel engine and teamed with the eight-speed auto it makes for a quietly effective, rarely stressed working partnership, rather than an energetic match-up.

The suspension set-up here – double wishbones with coil springs and stabiliser bar at the front, and three-link, coil springs and stabiliser bar at the rear – yields a very firm ride and one which can tend towards jarring if you’re traversing chopped-up back-country bitumen or really anything beyond bitumen that's in good nick.

The tyres – Toyo Open Country A32 (265/60R18) – are well-suited to bitumen, not so much to off-roading, which is perfectly reasonable for this 2WD vehicle. Also, this rubber is on the correct side of quiet.

As mentioned earlier, Mitsubishi’s Super-Select II 4WD system is missing from this variant, obviously, as this is a 2WD. And that’s a crying shame because even if you never venture off the road, Super-Select II is very handy. In Pajero Sports equipped with it, you can drive in 4H (4WD high range) even on bitumen or any high-traction surface because 4H in this vehicle means that – and I’m directly quoting Mitsubishi’s offical system explanation here – “all wheels are driven via the transfer case with an open centre differential, this means all four wheels will send power to the ground while still operating independently of one another”.

If you drove like that in most other 4WDs – at speed in 4H on bitumen or the like – you’d risk transmission wind-up, but there’s no danger of that in a 4WD Pajero Sport because its centre diff is open, not locked, when 4H is engaged.

This gives the driver increased traction and so better control and that means it’s a safer all-round driving experience for everyone involved.

Unfortunately, none of those benefits are available in this 2WD variant.

Having said all of that, this Pajero Sport is very drivable, functional and still manages to retain respectable, if not high, levels of refinement.

The Pajero Sport has a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on testing in October, 2015.

Safety gear includes seven airbags (driver’s knee, driver and passenger front, driver and passenger front sides, and curtains) and this Pajero Sport’s suite of active safety and driver-assist tech includes AEB, adaptive cruise control, trailer stability assist, rear view camera and rear parking sensors, but it somehow misses out on blind spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert.

BMW covers the X5 with a five year/unlimited km warranty and offers several service plans to suit different budgets and requirements.

For example, the 'Service Inclusive Basic' package covers all scheduled services over five years/80,000km for a total of $3450, or an average of $690 per year.

Pajero Sport 2WD is eligible for Mitsubishi's so-called "10/10 Diamond Advantage" package, which includes a 10-year/200,000km warranty and 10 year/150,000km capped price servicing. But you need to ensure you get the vehicle serviced at an authorised Mitsubishi dealer to take advantage of the 10-year warranty plan.

Each capped price servicing extends free roadside assistance by another 12 months.

The servicing schedule and costs per service are: $399 (at 12months/15,000), $399 (24 months/30,000km), $499 (36 months/45,000km), $699 (48 months/60,000km), $499 (60 months/75,000km), $699 (72 months/90,000km), $499 (84 months/105,000km), $999 (96 months/120,000km), $599 (108 months/135,000km), and $699 (120 months/150,000km).