My Pajero Mini

[JPB]

Excuse the creaking noise, that's the sound of me exhuming this older thread! I bought myself a Pajero Mini to keep my Toyota bB from getting lonely on the drive all alone, mine is the n/a 16 valve model, not the much less robust 20 valve twin cam with that cute baby turbo. The n/a one has 52bhp vs the 64 bhp of the turbo, but it also benefits from a safe head and is redlined on 8,000 rpm. Gearing is the same whether you get the 4 speed auto with its 0.7:1 o/d 4th or the 3 speed with its 1:1 top (3rd) as the o/d gearbox comes with even lower geared diffs than those of the 3 speed model.
Mine is quite happy at a cruising speed of 90KM/h which sees the engine spinning at 5,600rpm and at that, it's possible to hear the wireless and even to talk to the passenger! These engines are built to take this sort of abuse though, and here in the UK even the 20V turbo versions are usually good for 150,000 miles between major overhauls so although not as robust as the bB's 2NZ engine (mine currently on 156,000KM and making exactly the same 131bhp on the test rollers as it was at half of that), the Mitsubishi 4A30 is still so much stronger than either the more common 3 cylinder engines found in many Kei class cars (heavy quad class - which means a maximum of 550Kg - here), or similar heavy quad engines such as the dreadful 505cc parallel twins in 12bhp Diesel or 18bhp petrol form as found in heavy quads imported from Europe and built by Ligier, Aixam or Microcar, who also make a 50 (yes, I wrote fifty) cc M-Go which is restricted to 30mph but can be driven by anyone from age 16 upwards, though their weight is probably the only "restriction" needed.
My Pajero mini is mostly for the classic shows as very few of the examples found here are completely rust free and even fewer have only covered the 38,500 miles/62,000 KM that mine has, but its underside and the inside of every box section are regularly coated / filled with Shell Ensis V (like Finnegan's Waxoyl but way better) so it will serve well when the winter comes and the typical few microns of snow that we get here bring the coastal villages to a halt..



And when it was registered for the UK, VOSA managed to get the engine capacity wrong but see that emissions figure, that's right that is, they tested it several times but couldn't make enough carbon dioxide come out of the tailpipe to register on the test equipment. It's also of late 1997 manufacture, but the UK registration system has it down as a '98 model for various boring technical reasons, either way it qualifies for pre-2000 "cherished car" insurance.


I wouldn't use the Paj as an only car but it's a very capable wee thing and if I didn't have the bB, which sits at 2,200rpm at 113KM/H (~70mph) on motorways and dual carriageway roads in virtual silence and has big soft settees to sit on, then the tiny Mitsubishi would rise to the challenge without complaint.