[4ePajero]

I have often thought about the arguments and brags about one brand, compared to another.

Can one 4x4 be so much different to others in normal use?
(I am not talking about "playing" and grade 5 trails - where the Pajero will not be top of the class, but eg driving on very bad slippery gravel / clay roads)

Face it. A 4x4 is a vehicle driving all 4 wheels by means of an engine and it transfers traction to the ground via 4 tyres.

Why the difference?

I recently had the opportunity to experience that "something" in a Pajero:

Experience 1:
On a recent trip to a remote site in the Transkei, it was raining steadily, making the tracks as slippery as soap.
The second vehicle in our group was a 2.7 Toyota Raider DC. It had tyres as per factory, which counted against it.
The difference between the Pajero and the Toyota pointed to something beyond better tyres.
The Toyota was all over the show,fighting for traction, slipping up/down steep sections. So much so that the (4x4 ignorant) passengers in the Pajero commented on the ease with which the Pajero handled the situation, compared to the Toyota.
Maybe it was all in the tyres (from which a lesson has to be learned)?

Experience 2:
Two weeks ago I spent 4 days in the Transkei hinterland. Two days were for work, the other for fun.
It was raining steadily and the remote roads were very slippery. Transkei black turf is not for the faint-hearted.
The poor 4x2 vehicles had no hope. They were sideways, off the road into ditches etc.
We did however encounter a few 4x4s as well. There was again a marked difference between the stability and ease of passage between the Pajero and the others.
At one stage I told Annette that the Pajero was making the mud 'boring'.
I started looking for the 'worst' areas along the road:

• deep, churned up mud patches
• areas where the mud had accumulated and nobody had dared to venture into
• lines with slide marks made by others
• etc

Boring! The Pajero just kept on going straight!
I drive some of those roads regularly, and I found that I was going at the same speeds I would have, had it been dry!

OK, maybe I just wanted to 'brag' a bit, which I can do here, and not on other multi-brand forums (where Pajeros are considered to be inferior).

[arnijr]

Well, there are certainly big differences between the various 4x4s, especially in the suspension department. A Pajero with its independent front suspension and solid rear axle sits kind of smack in the middle and I feel it's pretty good compromise, giving you a comfortable ride and pretty good off-road capabilities. Ideal for a travel vehicle. A Toyota Hi-lux with solid axles front and read will be better suited for extreme modifications, while shaking you to pieces in the process, with it's horse cart rear suspension (hey, this is a Pajero forum, right? ) A car with independent suspension front and rear will be better on the highway at the cost of offroading capabilities.

That said, I think your stories really reflect most on the organic part of the vehicle, typically found between the seat and steering wheel

I find that moving steadily forward is much less boring than being stuck in the mud.

[SimonB]

Having owned a Colt Clubcab 4x4 and a Pajero, the Pajero is a vastly superior vehicle in ALL departments, except for the really hairy stuff in which a rear difflock would have made life somewhat easier.

In fact I sometimes wonder that the Pajero is so good, especially in the slippery gravel road department, that it starts to make me complacent and when a situation DOES happen, I will not be abe to recover from it.

Arnijr, don't forget the Pajero is full independent suspension from Gen 3 onwards

[arnijr]

Not forgetting it, just politely not mentioning it

Joking aside, I think all the Pajeros are quite capable offroading vehicles, and comfortable travel vehicles as well. I really like the series 1 and 2/2.5 the most, for my use I like a 4x4 to have a separate frame and a solid rear axle. I still envy the series 3 of its 3.2 diesel engine, but as 4ePajero has demonstrated, that can also be had in a the older cars. On the other hand we have some extensively modified series 3 Pajeros up here, some on 38" tires and some on 44" tires. Those trucks can go places I can only dream of.

[Gerrit Loubser]

One other aspect that is very important in the kind of conditions that 4ePaj mentions is weight distribution. If grip is poor, you generally do best if the weight is evenly distributed between the wheels. I believe that a Paj fares better in this department than the typical pick-up type 4x4 when the latter is unladen.

[Clem Slabbert]

I have always found that the 4x4`s with a more comfy or softer ride do better as the wheels make better contact to the surface.I had 2 F250`s ,both towing big ski boats on daily beach launching.The one was standard and the other had a V8 with raised suspension that was also much harder than the standard Ford.The vehicle with the softer suspension always did a lot better in the same conditions towing the same weight etc witch proves my point.I believe the Paj does well for this reason,having a nice soft suspension witch allows for better contact with the road surface.

[TRay]

I live the comparison everyday:

I own a 2000 SWB 2.8 gen 2.5. I drive this to work every day which includes driving a typical dirt (gravel and sand) road to and back from work. I must agree that the ride is impressive and I have never had any problems with the car drifting around corners and wavering in the mud when it rains.

For work I drive a Toyota Hilux 3.0d, also 2000 model. This is a really good car for what I do everyday which includes driving through veld, gravel and sand roads, mud etc etc. This is all part of what I do. The 4x4 system in the Toyota is straight forward with a locking diff. However, it is far more unstable to drive than that of the Pajero. The tail of the Toyota swings out often, and because it is a bakkie (pick up), the light back end of the Toyota battles to get much grip when it is needed. I must admit through, it is a fantastic engine.

I far more enjoy driving the Pajero because of its balance, and I firmly believe that my Pajero will be able to take me anywhere this Toyota can go.

[pajero101]

Hi.
This weekend I took my 2.8tdi pajero swb on a sand track for the first time. It was really loose,fine sand and the track had some big axle twisters. The pajero did the track without any problems and the owner of the farm told me that there was a Jeep Rubicon with 35" tyres, that didn`t make it up that road. I currently have 245/75/15 tyres on and upgrading to 31/10.5 later this week. Wonder what it will be capable of with the bigger tyres.

[AndreBenson]

been reading this one, and wasn't sure how to add to it until this weekend. Took my 97 LWB 3.5 up to Soekmekaar this weekend(to the farm). have about 15km of gravel to drive on to get to the farm. With the lovely rain the past week, I was looking forward to this trip. Had my mother in law and my 18month old baby in the back, so wanted to play but could'nt really. Either way, the Pajero is a JOY on gravel roads, I have Yoko's Super diggers 31 x 10.5x15 on, and ran inn 4H and never once did my Mother in law complain about corner speed, or the rear coming out. And never once did I feel that she was loosing control. Mom also have back problems, she was very comfortable the whole way from Benoni.

Thee Pajero she is definitely earning a VERY soft with me.