Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution Review _ The Best 4X4 Ever Made

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is Southern Ontario in the middle of the winter unless it's covered in a freshly fallen blanket of beautiful snow it's gray it's brown it's Bleak it's depressing and to make matters worse most people put their cool cars away for the winter because there's salt all over the roads and even if they didn't the roads are usually a slippery mess of slushy awfulness but since I am stuck in Canada I've decided that uh I'm going to embrace it oh yeah bud let's go for a rip in this be eh yeah this will do this will do woo if you're an American who happens to have about 50 Grand lying around and you lost out on a gr Corolla allocation you can now import one of these cuz 1997 was the first year they came out this is a Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution we've been able to get these in Canada for a while now and I can say that if you can get one you should get one because this might just be the best 4x4 of all time that's a big statement Thomas because that's brand new Bronco wild track pricing or brand new Land Rover Defender pricing this is a Mitsubishi from 25 years ago well if you were here maybe you'd be able to find out why it's so good for yourself instead you're slacking in California I'm not slacking actually I'm planning our next big trip out here working my absolute nut sof does this have cinnamon in it you know that tickles my nosies and if you're new to throttle house we do car reviews track tests and quite a lot of messing about so subscribe and hit the Bell okay yes James is in here which means that without protest I can explain to you why this is one of the coolest if not the best 4x4s of all time first of all it is a homologation special okay not everyone knows what homologation means actually if I told my dad that I was thinking about homologation he'd probably tell me that uh he loves me no matter what choices I make but for those that understand what homologation means in the car World they know that these cars almost instantly become Legends especially when they race in the dhar rally bit probably the most insane longdistance rally ever created it crosses vast deserts and remote Landscapes and typically many competitors don't even finish it it's dangerous and grueling and in order for Mitsubishi to race in a certain class in the Dakar the 4x4 it entered had to have a road goinging model that sold to the General Public that's the homologation part they built this SUV for racing and then modified it for Road use and when Mitsubishi started racing the Evo it started winning and winning and winning in fact the Pajero name plate still holds the most wins of any SUV in the dhar rally ever not only does it have the most wins it also has the most seconds and the most thirds and the fact that it was built as a racing machine first results in a 4x4 that doesn't look like anything else on the road look at it it's a twodo SUV it takes the concept of an SUV that is utility and makes it not utilitarian because rally cars don't need rear doors that also means that it's a lot shorter this way it's actually really really stubby it's about a foot shorter than a gr Corolla and it has a shorter wheelbase actually it has a shorter wheelbase than a Fiesta ST and I'm sure there's great reasons for that like it has amazing approach and departure angles it can turn really tight Corners very very well and I'm sure there's something to do with suspension harmonics going over highspeed bumps and all that but the best part is that since it's so stubby looking this way it appears wider than it is long and that's mostly because of these ridiculous fender flares they're huge in the front and the rear they actually border the door and make the door look really tiny and thin but the rest of the front is actually amazing we got this specialty hood scoop which is only on the evolution these skid plates only on the evolution the whole front is so much wider in person than it is in photos yeah I know it's it's all fantastic but seriously though these fender flares they just make me anyway the rear wing easily one of the coolest parts of this car it's got these horns it's got this like cut out in the back with low pressure air and downforce and all that but honestly it's just one of the coolest looking pieces of design on a car from this era I've ever seen it's all functional it's all made for racing which just makes it that much better seriously I love LIF did SUVs with hood scoops like the Forester XT from the early 2000s I love that thing it's one of my favorite Subarus actually and this looks like a Forester XT that's gone Super Saiyan 4 and it looks like it's going to be quick but it isn't really 276 horsepower from a 3.5 L V6 even though this is part of that Gentleman's Agreement in Japan for horsepower it's probably got more than 2 76 0 to 60 in 8 seconds not amazing but this car is not about off-the line acceleration it's about carrying speed and you get the sense when you drive it that it can do its top speed of 130 mph Offroad in a desert over bumps because the suspension travel is just ridiculous the damping is great the ride is actually really good for every day but you can just go over whatever you want at whatever speed it's got that going through for it Mitsubishi actually went as far as to give this independent suspension front and rear something it took Mercedes 20 years longer to do on their off-roader and yeah it's just got this sense of go anywhere it's got attitude the whole car is very animated to drive even in a straight line it's entertaining is it's kind of just going back and forth as it deals with the pavement or whatever you're driving over the steering itself is quite good really good on center field for having all that travel and big knobby tires but in terms of Engagement there is no manual transmission well sorry there is a manual transmission in a Pajero Evo but they're very very rare the one that everyone wants is the auto because the race cars were automatic and you know what it's a 5-speed slush Matic and it's not offensive at all it does what you want stays out of your way kicks down when you need it to and if you really wanted you can pop it over here into a manual mode downshift downshift downshift and you can rev the V6 out which actually sounds pretty good and it's really peaky you really have to rev it out just like you'd have to do in a race car it's just incredibly competent even though it leans in the corners and kind of tosses you all over the place it's got tons of grip and the four-wheel drive system is fantastic Torsen differentials front and rear and on the fly as long as you pop it into neutral up to 60 mph you can change from two high to four high to four high with the center diff lock and then there is a four low with the center diff lock as well three locking differentials four-wheel drive what literally what more do you want in know you know a doar racer in in an everyday vehicle it's just it's just perfect for what it is in fact the more I drove it the more I found that it's actually quite a spicy little truck it's very ready to kick the rear end out and since the wheelbase is so short you have to be on it even though the suspension is incredible at taking huge hits the tiny bumps can sometimes be a bit jarring it's very clearly a vehicle designed from the ground up for a single purpose but thankfully Mitsubishi didn't sacrifice everyday comfort in the interior first of all these are real raros and like all JDM raros for some reason they're incredibly comfortable you could sit in them all day the seating position though is weirdly High the steering wheel feels kind of like a bus steering wheel you get used to it but it's kind of funky the rest of this is very very much a Japanese car from the late 90s they all they smell the same I can't describe it but if you know the smell you know the smell it has a comp it has oil pressure and it has battery voltage things you need to know down here this is the selector for all the different four-wheel drive modes and I knew roughly what they did but right here is a little placard in Japanese which I use the translate app and it tells me exactly what each of them is recommended for right so You' got two high which is obviously just rear wheeel drive for normal roads four high which is like if the roads are kind of crappy then you have four high lock which locks the center differential which means then you've got the three diffs working that's for like sand and you know racing in mud and that sort of thing and then there's low range center lock that's pretty cool this is an aftermarket radio deck and it has one of those transponders for toll roads that are in all JDM Cars from this era so when you turn the key on I don't know what it says but it's so cool so the Pajero Evo even though it isn't the quickest or the sharpest or the most reasonably priced vehicle you can buy it's definitely got that unquantifiable cool factor in fact its desirability comes from just standing beside it knowing what it is as much as it does from actually driving it it certainly helps that it's bulletproof and has an objectively excellent four-wheel drive system and suspension setup even by modern standards and it's rare they made less than 3,000 of them so when you package together its looks its racing pedigree its capabilities and its limited production numbers I'm not sure there's a Bronco or Defender on Earth I would choose over it in fact I literally can't decide if I would choose this or a Bronco Raptor so does that make it the best 4x4 of all time huh I think it might of course you can say that Thomas this is our YouTube channel it's not peer- reviewed it's a one-sided conversation on a video that we made watch I can say anything um The Big Bang Theory sucks Willies boobies independent rear contraception Snape kills Dumbledore big floppy donkey that's enough of that thanks for watching everyone and a huge thank you to the owner Ray and to a collection Auto who sell rare Japanese Imports just like this onethis is Southern Ontario in the middle of the winter unless it's covered in a freshly fallen blanket of beautiful snow it's gray it's brown it's Bleak it's depressing and to make matters worse most people put their cool cars away for the winter because there's salt all over the roads and even if they didn't the roads are usually a slippery mess of slushy awfulness but since I am stuck in Canada I've decided that uh I'm going to embrace it oh yeah bud let's go for a rip in this be eh yeah this will do this will do woo if you're an American who happens to have about 50 Grand lying around and you lost out on a gr Corolla allocation you can now import one of these cuz 1997 was the first year they came out this is a Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution we've been able to get these in Canada for a while now and I can say that if you can get one you should get one because this might just be the best 4x4 of all time that's a big statement Thomas because that's brand new Bronco wild track pricing or brand new Land Rover Defender pricing this is a Mitsubishi from 25 years ago well if you were here maybe you'd be able to find out why it's so good for yourself instead you're slacking in California I'm not slacking actually I'm planning our next big trip out here working my absolute nut sof does this have cinnamon in it you know that tickles my nosies and if you're new to throttle house we do car reviews track tests and quite a lot of messing about so subscribe and hit the Bell okay yes James is in here which means that without protest I can explain to you why this is one of the coolest if not the best 4x4s of all time first of all it is a homologation special okay not everyone knows what homologation means actually if I told my dad that I was thinking about homologation he'd probably tell me that uh he loves me no matter what choices I make but for those that understand what homologation means in the car World they know that these cars almost instantly become Legends especially when they race in the dhar rally bit probably the most insane longdistance rally ever created it crosses vast deserts and remote Landscapes and typically many competitors don't even finish it it's dangerous and grueling and in order for Mitsubishi to race in a certain class in the Dakar the 4x4 it entered had to have a road goinging model that sold to the General Public that's the homologation part they built this SUV for racing and then modified it for Road use and when Mitsubishi started racing the Evo it started winning and winning and winning in fact the Pajero name plate still holds the most wins of any SUV in the dhar rally ever not only does it have the most wins it also has the most seconds and the most thirds and the fact that it was built as a racing machine first results in a 4x4 that doesn't look like anything else on the road look at it it's a twodo SUV it takes the concept of an SUV that is utility and makes it not utilitarian because rally cars don't need rear doors that also means that it's a lot shorter this way it's actually really really stubby it's about a foot shorter than a gr Corolla and it has a shorter wheelbase actually it has a shorter wheelbase than a Fiesta ST and I'm sure there's great reasons for that like it has amazing approach and departure angles it can turn really tight Corners very very well and I'm sure there's something to do with suspension harmonics going over highspeed bumps and all that but the best part is that since it's so stubby looking this way it appears wider than it is long and that's mostly because of these ridiculous fender flares they're huge in the front and the rear they actually border the door and make the door look really tiny and thin but the rest of the front is actually amazing we got this specialty hood scoop which is only on the evolution these skid plates only on the evolution the whole front is so much wider in person than it is in photos yeah I know it's it's all fantastic but seriously though these fender flares they just make me anyway the rear wing easily one of the coolest parts of this car it's got these horns it's got this like cut out in the back with low pressure air and downforce and all that but honestly it's just one of the coolest looking pieces of design on a car from this era I've ever seen it's all functional it's all made for racing which just makes it that much better seriously I love LIF did SUVs with hood scoops like the Forester XT from the early 2000s I love that thing it's one of my favorite Subarus actually and this looks like a Forester XT that's gone Super Saiyan 4 and it looks like it's going to be quick but it isn't really 276 horsepower from a 3.5 L V6 even though this is part of that Gentleman's Agreement in Japan for horsepower it's probably got more than 2 76 0 to 60 in 8 seconds not amazing but this car is not about off-the line acceleration it's about carrying speed and you get the sense when you drive it that it can do its top speed of 130 mph Offroad in a desert over bumps because the suspension travel is just ridiculous the damping is great the ride is actually really good for every day but you can just go over whatever you want at whatever speed it's got that going through for it Mitsubishi actually went as far as to give this independent suspension front and rear something it took Mercedes 20 years longer to do on their off-roader and yeah it's just got this sense of go anywhere it's got attitude the whole car is very animated to drive even in a straight line it's entertaining is it's kind of just going back and forth as it deals with the pavement or whatever you're driving over the steering itself is quite good really good on center field for having all that travel and big knobby tires but in terms of Engagement there is no manual transmission well sorry there is a manual transmission in a Pajero Evo but they're very very rare the one that everyone wants is the auto because the race cars were automatic and you know what it's a 5-speed slush Matic and it's not offensive at all it does what you want stays out of your way kicks down when you need it to and if you really wanted you can pop it over here into a manual mode downshift downshift downshift and you can rev the V6 out which actually sounds pretty good and it's really peaky you really have to rev it out just like you'd have to do in a race car it's just incredibly competent even though it leans in the corners and kind of tosses you all over the place it's got tons of grip and the four-wheel drive system is fantastic Torsen differentials front and rear and on the fly as long as you pop it into neutral up to 60 mph you can change from two high to four high to four high with the center diff lock and then there is a four low with the center diff lock as well three locking differentials four-wheel drive what literally what more do you want in know you know a doar racer in in an everyday vehicle it's just it's just perfect for what it is in fact the more I drove it the more I found that it's actually quite a spicy little truck it's very ready to kick the rear end out and since the wheelbase is so short you have to be on it even though the suspension is incredible at taking huge hits the tiny bumps can sometimes be a bit jarring it's very clearly a vehicle designed from the ground up for a single purpose but thankfully Mitsubishi didn't sacrifice everyday comfort in the interior first of all these are real raros and like all JDM raros for some reason they're incredibly comfortable you could sit in them all day the seating position though is weirdly High the steering wheel feels kind of like a bus steering wheel you get used to it but it's kind of funky the rest of this is very very much a Japanese car from the late 90s they all they smell the same I can't describe it but if you know the smell you know the smell it has a comp it has oil pressure and it has battery voltage things you need to know down here this is the selector for all the different four-wheel drive modes and I knew roughly what they did but right here is a little placard in Japanese which I use the translate app and it tells me exactly what each of them is recommended for right so You' got two high which is obviously just rear wheeel drive for normal roads four high which is like if the roads are kind of crappy then you have four high lock which locks the center differential which means then you've got the three diffs working that's for like sand and you know racing in mud and that sort of thing and then there's low range center lock that's pretty cool this is an aftermarket radio deck and it has one of those transponders for toll roads that are in all JDM Cars from this era so when you turn the key on I don't know what it says but it's so cool so the Pajero Evo even though it isn't the quickest or the sharpest or the most reasonably priced vehicle you can buy it's definitely got that unquantifiable cool factor in fact its desirability comes from just standing beside it knowing what it is as much as it does from actually driving it it certainly helps that it's bulletproof and has an objectively excellent four-wheel drive system and suspension setup even by modern standards and it's rare they made less than 3,000 of them so when you package together its looks its racing pedigree its capabilities and its limited production numbers I'm not sure there's a Bronco or Defender on Earth I would choose over it in fact I literally can't decide if I would choose this or a Bronco Raptor so does that make it the best 4x4 of all time huh I think it might of course you can say that Thomas this is our YouTube channel it's not peer- reviewed it's a one-sided conversation on a video that we made watch I can say anything um The Big Bang Theory sucks Willies boobies independent rear contraception Snape kills Dumbledore big floppy donkey that's enough of that thanks for watching everyone and a huge thank you to the owner Ray and to a collection Auto who sell rare Japanese Imports just like this one\n"