Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi, Im new to the forum, with the aim of buying myself a Pajero, and was looking for info. I now have too much and cant make a decision.

Im looking to buy a second hand vehicle for 120k.

My understanding is that the 3.5 V6 is reliable, but thirsty, and that the 3.2 is fantastic, frugal, but makes me nervous when looking at diesel pumps and turbos in the 200k+ mileage.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Mark B.

both are equally reliable.

Get the one that steals your heart and make peace with maintenance for a car of that age. If it's been looked after you won't have any maintenance other than the regular stuff and you will be a happy man.

If you are bent on buying a pajero, spend a week reading through this site and a bunch of forums to know what to look for but don't get scared as most people only post online if they have problems. 99/100 people have trouble free pajeros and it's only the 1% that post their bad experiences online.

learn from it to know what to look for. Drive as many as possible - that will make a bad one (or a good one) stand out like a sore thumb.

good luck and happy shopping.

Amen..

Thanks for the replies. These Pajeros seem to have everyone whipped. I thought Id get the odd Petrol beats Diesel, or vice verse reply. They must be awesome vehicles if everyone agrees that both engines are as good as another.

I guess Ill just buy what comes my way and adds up with service records and history.

I recently got myself a pre-loved petrol 2001 gen 3 from an old friend. The car is in great condition and has a full service history. It came my way at a good price and I decided to buy it. I would have been most nervous about buying a diesel with 200,000km on it and without detailed knowledge of the cars history. Consumption is high, but manageable as I only live 10km from work with no traffic. On long trips I get about 14-15L/100km but work on 17L/100km for general drving. The petrol engine sounds fantastic so I tend to be generous with the right foot

Ditto on the sound of the V6....Love it. Find consumption is a bit on the high side, I get between 14 and 16l/100, sucks but the sound makes up for it.

I have a Gen 2 3.5 V6 with 235 000km on the clock. Still runs smooth with one hell of a sound track. I recently bought a Gen 3 3.2 DID for my girlfriend with 196 000km with FSH and had my mechanic give it a quick once over before I bought it. When I drive my girlfriends Paj it feels just as smooth and as tight as my dad's 3.2 which only has 72 000km. The only difference between the two cars is the colour.

As it has been said before, both are great cars and if you look at the high mileage posts you will see the 3.2 right up there with high mileage and little trouble.

Keenan