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The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport has a solid reputation as a very capable off-road vehicle and it also functions well as a daily driver, without ever being truly exceptional.
The top-spec GSR packs plenty of standard features onboard, so, with the next Pajero Sport not due to arrive here until 2025, is the current-generation seven-seater worth your consideration? Read on.
If the Acadia had an accent it would be a southern drawl because this big seven-seat SUV is built in Tennessee, USA, and wears a GMC badge when it’s at home.
In Australia of course it wears a Holden one and comes straight from the factory in right-hand drive. So how does it suit Aussie conditions? Does it even know the importance of a sausage on a piece of bread bought outside a hardware store on a Saturday?
All this and more was learnt when the entry grade LT front-wheel drive came to live with my family.
The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is a very capable off-road vehicle and it also functions quite well as a daily driver. And in top-shelf GSR guise, it has plenty of standard features onboard.
This 4WD wagon is infrequently outmatched when faced with serious 4WD challenges and, even though the whole package is feeling more than a bit dated, the Pajero Sport still represents a decent value-for-money option in an increasingly expensive car market.
The Holden Acadia is a proper seven-seater SUV in that it will fit adults in the third row without turning your friends into enemies. It’s also practical and well fitted out with storage places and utilities such as USB ports.
I was particularly impressed with the advanced safety equipment on-board even at this entry LT level. Yes, it’s a V6 petrol and it’s not the most fuel-efficient SUV, but our time with it showed that with cylinder deactivation and the stop-start system it might not be as thirsty as you’d think.
SUV wagons based on utes (Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X et al) all share a similarly inoffensive generic kind of look.
The Pajero Sport is easy enough on the eye.
To fully understand the look of the Acadia, take a peek at the GMC website - but make sure you shield your eyes in the same way you would during a solar eclipse, or when welding, or in an atomic blast.
You’ll understand when you get there but suffice it to say contained within the site are some pretty confronting trucks and SUVs. Once you’ve recovered, you’ll realise the Acadia is the supermodel of the GMC family.
Yep, it has a big, blocky, truck-like look but it’s a refreshingly tough styling alternative to more elegant looking SUVs such as the Mazda CX-9.
The Acadia is also one of the smallest members of the GMC family, yet its dimensions position it as a large SUV in Australia. Even then it’s not huge compared to other large SUVs here, so you won’t have an issue piloting it in Aussie car parks or fitting into spaces.
The Acadia measures 4979mm end-to-end, 2139mm across (with the mirrors out) and 1762mm tall.
Along with the Mazda CX-9 the Acadia would also consider the Kia Sorento and Nissan Pathfinder to be among its rivals.
Inside, the Acadia is a modern and stylish looking place, although it’s a bit unrefined. Still, as one YouTube commenter reminded me parents will like the wipe clean surfaces.
Well her comment wasn’t written that politely but being a parent, I concur that the hard plastics have that advantage.
The interior is not all unrefined. The seats, even in the entry grade LT we tested, while cloth (and only available in Jet Black) are sculptured with bolsters and finished with a textured pattern that looks and feels great.
The Pajero Sport is 4825 millimetres long with a 2800mm wheelbase. It is 1815mm wide, 1835mm high and it has a listed kerb weight of 2125kg.
Up front, the seats (power-adjustable driver and front passenger) are very supportive, with a nice wrap-around feel to them.
The steering wheel has paddle shifters for sporty shifting and it is reach- and height-adjustable.
The dash and 8.0-inch touchscreen media unit are nicely integrated, but that screen is too small – and that’ll be rectified somewhat with the likely introduction of a 9.0-inch screen in the 2025 Pajero Sport.
All buttons and dials on the current Pajero Sport are easy to locate and operate, even when you're bouncing around off-road.
Second-row passengers have access to three top tether points, two ISOFIX points and a fold-down armrest with cupholders. There are USB charge points and a power socket in the back of the centre console bin.
The second row is rather comfortable. I sat behind my driving position and there was plenty of head and legroom.
Passengers in the third-row seat have access to cupholders and air vents.
In terms of packability, the Pajero Sport’s cabin is quite narrow compared to most of its rivals and there are plenty of other SUVs and 4WD wagons around that offer more room inside for people, gear and dogs.
Boot space is a listed 131 litres with the third-row seats in use and there are power sockets and tie-down points in that rear space.
Fold the third row out of the way and cargo space increases to 502 litres. With the second and third rows stowed away, there is a combined 1488 litres of cargo space.
All in all, the Pajero Sport’s interior is a functional space, but it’s feeling a bit dated.
For reference, the 2024 Triton will be 15mm longer (5320mm, with a longer wheelbase 3130mm) and 50mm wider (1850mm) than the current generation model. And with the 2025 Pajero Sport set to follow suit, that’ll mean more space in the wagon’s cabin for driver, passengers, gear and your dogs.
The 2024 Triton’s newly developed ladder-frame chassis is claimed to have a 40 per cent increase in bending rigidity and a 60 per cent increase in torsional rigidity over the current generation.
The upcoming Triton will also get a towing capacity boost from 3100kg to 3500kg, bringing it in line with its rivals.
So, following on from the Triton’s changes, the 2025 Triton-based Pajero Sport will be bigger, heavier and with greater towing capacity.
The Acadia’s practicality game is strong. It boasts seven seats with third row positions actually able to fit adults, five USB ports sprinkled through the cabin, and a cargo capacity of 1042 litres with the third-row seats folded flat and 292 litres with them in place. If you have three kids, even teenagers, the Acadia could be the perfect family personnel carrier for you.
All three rows are spacious and even at 191cm tall I had good shoulder and elbow room up front, and in the second and third rows I had enough legroom to sit in each seat behind my seating position without feeling cramped.
Feeling a bit down because you might not be able to stretch the budget to get the LTZ-V? Well, cheer up – the LT has more headroom and that’s because it doesn’t get the sunroof which eats into the ceiling height.
Cabin storage is excellent. There’s a wide and deep centre console bin, a hidey hole in front of the shifter, a tray for second row passengers, six cup holders (two in each row) and decent-sized door pockets.
Directional air vents for everybody on board, three-zone climate control, two 12-volt power outlets, privacy glass and proximity unlocking complete a great practicality package.
The MY23 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GSR has a recommended retail price of $65,440 (excluding on-road costs), but our test vehicle also has premium paint ('Terra Rossa', $200), electric brake kit ($689), towball ($41), carpet mats ($236), and towbar kit ($1495), pushing its price as tested to $68,101 (excluding on-road costs).
Standard features include an 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), paddle shifters on the steering wheel, leather-appointed seats, power-adjustable and heated front seats, LED daytime running lights, 'Multi Around Monitor', dual-zone climate control, 18-inch black alloy wheels and a power tailgate.
Exterior paint options for the GSR include our test car's Terra Rosa as well as 'White Diamond' and 'Black Mica'.
For your information, the 2024 Mitsubishi Triton offers more than a few clues as to how well the 2025 Pajero Sport will be equipped and upgraded.
The upcoming Triton has been revealed to have a refreshed interior, a more modern multimedia system (with a bigger screen at 9.0 inches), and more driver-assist safety tech (including AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection as standard across the range).
So, it’s likely the 2025 Pajero Sport will benefit from those changes, as well.
The front-wheel drive Acadia LT lists for $43,490, which is $4500 less than the all-wheel drive version.
The standard features list includes 18-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, LED running lights, three-zone climate control, proximity key, rear parking sensors, Bluetooth connectivity, six-speaker stereo, 8.0-inch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, noise cancellation, dual chrome exhaust tips, privacy glass and cloth seats.
The value is pretty darn good here and you’re not missing out on much by not stepping up to the $10K more LTZ grade, apart from wireless charging, and power and heated leather front seats.
The Acadia costs about the same as the Pathfinder ST but is better value; about $500 more than the entry grade Kia Sorento Si; but undercuts Mazda’s CX-9 Sport by about $3K.
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 is not a dynamic combination, but it’s a well-proven and respectable one.
The GSR has Mitsubishi’s 'Super Select II' 4WD system and a rear diff lock. The Super Select dial sits to the rear of the shifter and enables the driver to switch from '2H' (two-wheel drive), '4H' (4WD high range), '4HLc' (4WD High Range with locked centre diff) and '4LLc' (4WD Low Range with locked centre diff).
The driver is able to safely switch between 2WD (2H) and 4WD (4H, 4HLc) at speeds up to 100km/h.
The GSR has a button-operated off-road mode system – with 'Gravel', 'Mud/Snow', 'Sand' or 'Rock' settings, each of which tweaks engine output, transmission settings and traction control to best suit the terrain – and hill descent control.
The 2024 Triton will retain the current-generation’s engine but it will have a twin-turbo and it will produce more power: 150kW at 1500rpm over the current engine’s 133kW at 3500rpm. The new Triton will have a maximum tuned torque figure of 470Nm; the outgoing Triton produces 430Nm.
The upcoming Triton will keep the six-speed automatic transmission.
The 2025 Pajero Sport will have that new twin-turbo engine, but it’ll paired with an eight-speed auto.
All Acadias come with a 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine which makes big dollops of power and torque or 231kW (at 6600rpm) and 367Nm (at 5000rpm).
A nine-speed automatic swaps gears, and in the case of our two-wheel drive LT test car the drive went to the front wheels only.
The V6 gets the thumbs up for its stop-start fuel saving system and cylinder deactivation, plus good acceleration and the smooth power delivery you’d associate with a naturally aspirated engine, but a thumbs down for needing to rev hard to make that mumbo.
Official fuel consumption for the Pajero Sport GSR is 8.0L/100km on a combined cycle.
Its real-world fuel figure on this test, from pump to pump, was 9.6L/100km.
The Pajero Sport has a 68-litre tank, so, with that sort of fuel-consumption figure, you can reasonably expect a driving range of approximately 680km from a full tank, but that’s after having already factored in a safe-distance buffer of 30km.
We were surprised by the Acadia’s fuel efficiency. After filling up the tank I drove for 136.9km on a combination of hilly country roads and peak hour evening city traffic and then filled up again – only 13.98 litres were used. That’s a mileage of 10.2L/100km. The official combined consumption figure is 8.9L/100km.
So, while the engine is big and not particularly new (it’s an evolution of the V6 built by Holden in Australia for the Commodore) it does have fuel-saving tech like cylinder deactivation and a stop-start system – which you can’t switch off.
Still, not the most fuel-efficient seven-seater – those with turbos and smaller capacity engines such as Mazda CX-9 are truly amazing in the way they can deliver grunt without getting thirsty.
The Pajero Sport is reasonable on-road, although it is quite sluggish, not very dynamic, a bit noisy and there’s quite a lot of body-roll through sharp turns.
But it is a very nimble and capable off-roader, largely because the driver is able to tap into a few different things that have been engineered into the car to help them conquer tough low-range challenges.
The GSR has selectable off-road modes, including Gravel, Sand, Mud/Snow (when in high-range 4WD) and Rock (when in low-range 4WD).
Each of these modes adjusts engine output, transmission settings and braking, the aim being superior traction to suit specific conditions and terrains.
But one of the major points of difference with its rivals is the fact the GSR has Super Select II 4WD. You can switch, via a dial to the rear of the auto shifter, from 2H into 4H (four-wheel drive, high-range), if you're not already driving with 4H engaged, and that gives you the best traction possible in low-traction conditions, which you may face on back-roads and dirt tracks.
There's no risk of transmission wind-up because the centre diff is open when 4H is engaged in the Pajero Sport, so Super Select II 4WD adds an extra element of safety and sure-footedness to your driving experience.
Then turn the dial to 4HLc (four-wheel drive, high-range, locked centre diff) and you're ready to take on more difficult terrain but at lower speeds, because the centre diff is no longer open.
If you're keen to tackle even harder stuff than high-range territory, turn the dial to 4LLc (four-wheel drive, low-range, locked centre diff) and the Pajero Sport has an opportunity to excel in low-speed low-range four-wheel driving.
So, along with decent high- and low-range gearing and a centre diff-lock – which is activated when 4HLc (4WD high-range, locked centre diff) or 4LLc (4WD low-range, locked centre diff) is selected – the Pajero Sport has a rear diff lock, which is engaged/disengaged via a button in front of the shifter and this further help you to easily maintain safe forward momentum. Hill descent control sustains a controlled low speed of 3.0-4.0km/h all the way down steeper, longer hills.
Its riding on Toyo Open Country A32 all-terrain tyres (265/60R18 110H) but it would perform even better with more aggressive rubber.
Wheel travel is okay, ground clearance (218mm) is reasonable, although you still have to mind your driving line through rough terrain and be mindful of approach (30 degrees), departure (24.2) and ramp-over (23.1) angles. Wading depth is listed as 700mm.
All-around, the Pajero Sport is an effective off-roader, and does everything in a safe and controlled way.
I drove the Holden Acadia back-to-back with the Nissan Pathfinder – you can watch the model comparison in the video above, but the upshot of that experience was important.
See, while I wasn’t a major fan of the Acadia driving experience when I first met the SUV at its Australian launch in 2018, when I drove it straight after the Pathfinder the difference was like night and day.
The Acadia is comfortable, from the big seats to the smooth ride. If you’re covering a stack of territory the Acadia makes a great highways cruiser and will chomp up big distances effortlessly.
That V6 does need to rev hard, but it’s powerful and acceleration is swift, while the nine-speed automatic shifts pretty seamlessly. Noise cancelling tech keeps the cabin fairly serene, too.
Look, it’s not the most dynamic of SUVs and there was a bit of tyre chirp in the corners when pushed, but this isn’t a performance car and nor is it trying to be.
Small windows mean a cooler, tough look, but the downside is a dark cabin and occasionally visibility is limited by the A-pillars or out the rear windows.
A 2000kg braked towing capacity will rule the Acadia out for many thinking of pulling a large caravan or big boat. The Pathfinder’s 2700kg braked towing capacity is a strength of that SUV.
Do you need all-wheel drive? Nope, but it’s handy for dirt and gravel roads. Still the 198mm ground clearance with only front-wheel drive should see you get down bumpy roads that regular sedans couldn’t handle.
The maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating applies to Mitsubishi Pajero Sport vehicles built prior to January 1, 2023. Mitsubishi Pajero Sport vehicles built from 1 January 2023 are unrated.
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, blind-spot warning with lane change assist, and rear cross-traffic alert.
The Pajero Sport’s AEB has a ‘AEB City’ classification, which denotes that it is a system which only “operates at lower speeds (usually between 10-50km/h)”, according to ANCAP.
It does not operate at higher speeds (“50-250km/h”), and it does not detect vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcyclists, when it is travelling at speeds of more than 50km/h.
The second-row seat has three child-seat top-tether anchorage points and an ISOFIX point on each outboard seat.
The Acadia was given a maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2018 and even the entry-level LT we tested is equipped with an outstanding amount of advanced safety equipment.
Standard on the LT is AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping assistance with lane departure warning, lateral impact avoidance, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, rear seat passenger reminder and airbags which extend all the way to cover the third row.
Now, you should know the driver’s seat vibrates if your parking sensors detect you coming close to an object. Yup, it’s weird. If that’s not your thing you can go into the screen’s menu and change that to an audible ‘beep’. I’m more a ‘beep’ kind of driver.
A space-saver spare wheel is under the boot floor and I’d advise you to familiarise yourself with how to access it (it’s a bit tricky) in daylight before (or if ever) you’ll need to use it for real.
The Pajero Sport is covered by a 10-year/200,000 kilometre new car warranty, (whichever occurs first and when all scheduled services are completed at a Mitsubishi dealership), 10 years of capped price servicing, and four years of roadside assistance.
Service intervals are set for 12 months or 15,000km, and capped price servicing covers the first 10 regular services at those scheduled 15,000km/12 month intervals.
The average cost per service (over 10 years) is $599 – and that’s been calculated by CarsGuide’s crack team of bean-counters.
The Acadia is covered by Holden’s five year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 12,000km. Expect to pay $259 for the first service, $299 for the second, $259 for the third, $359 for the fourth and $359 again for the fifth.