Mitsubishi has recently launched the Pajero Sport Automatic in India at Rs 23.55 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). This new variant of the Pajero Sport will compete against the automatic two-wheel-drive variants of the Toyota Fortuner, Hyundai Santa Fe and the Ford Endeavour. Here's how these rivals compare against each other on paper.
The power factor
The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport gets powered by a 2.5-litre diesel engine, which is good for 176bhp and 35.69kgm of torque. In comparison, the Hyundai Santa Fe gets a slightly smaller 2.2-litre diesel engine that it makes 194bhp (around 18bhp more) and 44.5kgm of peak torque.
The Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour both get powered by bigger 3.0-litre engines. However, the Fortuner’s mill makes 169bhp (7bhp less than the Pajero Sport) and 36.71kgm of torque. The Endeavour’s engine produces a peak power of 154bhp, which is the least in this bunch, and a good 22bhp less than the Pajero Sport. However, it generates a maximum torque figure of 38.7kgm, which is slightly more than the Pajero Sport and the Fortuner.
The Pajero Sport, Fortuner and Endeavour come equipped with a five-speed automatic transmission. Only the Santa Fe gets a six-speed automatic transmission.
Footprint Fare
The Pajero Sport has a 2800mm wheelbase, which is 50mm longer than the Fortuner, and a good 100mm more than the Santa Fe. With a 2,860mm wheelbase, which is 60mm more than the Pajero Sport, the Endeavour easily surpasses its rivals.
The long wheelbase gives the Endeavour an advantage, and it’s length of 5,062mm is much more than its rivals. It is 367mm longer than the Pajero Sport, which is 4,695mm long. The Fortuner too is longer than the Pajero Sport, but by only 10mm. However, the Pajero Sport is longer than the Santa Fe by a slight 5mm.
The Pajero Sport has a width of 1,815mm, which is 27mm more than the Endeavour. However, it is narrower than both the Fortuner and the Santa Fe by 25mm and 65mm, respectively.
With a height of 1,840mm, the Pajero Sport is taller than the Santa Fe and the Endeavour by 150mm and 14mm respectively. However, it is shorter than the Fortuner by a marginal 10mm.
The Pajero Sport has a ground clearance of 215mm, which is only 5mm more than the Endeavour, but 30mm more than that of the Santa Fe. Only the Fortuner offers 5mm more ground clearance than the Pajero Sport.
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How do they stack up?
On the engine front, the Pajero Sport has more power than the Fortuner and the Endeavour. However, the Santa Fe clearly has the most potent engine on paper.
The Pajero Sport easily matches its rivals on the dimension front. It's wheelbase is longer than the Santa Fe and the Fortuner, which suggests that it should offer a decent amount of usable cabin space.
This is how the Pajero Sport compares against the 4X2 AT variants of the Toyota Fortuner, Hyundai Santa Fe and the Ford Endeavour. However, real world performance is likely to differ