ohtourist.com: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport VGT – 178 PS, 350 Nm, RM167,375

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Mitsubishi Pajero Sport VGT – 178 PS, 350 Nm, RM167,375

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia has unveiled the Pajero Sport VGT, a higher powered version of the seven-seat SUV. The launch ceremony was held at Midvalley Megamall this morning, and display units will be at the mall’s Centre Court all weekend.

The big news for the Pajero Sport VGT is under the hood. It is powered by a 2.5-litre DI-D commonrail diesel engine, which is essentially the same as the unit powering the standard Pajero Sport and Triton, but with Variable Geometry Turbo (VGT). With those variable vanes, the DOHC 16v engine puts out 178 PS of power and 350 Nm of torque from 1,800 to 3,500 rpm.

The non VGT turbodiesel in the Pajero Sport GS and GL does 136 PS and 314 Nm, so we’re looking at a substantial improvement of 42 PS and 36 Nm. Max torque in the VGT is also spread across a wide range, compared to the 2,000 rpm peak of the non VGT engine.

The drivetrain improvements don’t stop there. The Pajero Sport VGT comes with a 5-speed INVECS-II automatic, which has one extra forward ratio over the GL and GS. Like the four speeder, the VGT’s gearbox also comes with sport mode, but there’s the addition of steering paddles shifters. The long magnesium paddles are the standard Mitsubishi items as found in other models, which works well.

Power is transferred to the surface via Mitsubishi’s Super Select 4WD system, which has four modes: 2WD High Range, 4WD High Range, 4WD High Range with Locked Centre Differential and 4WD Low Range with Locked Centre Differential. Changing between 2WD and 4WD high range modes can be done on the fly at speeds of up to 100 km/h.

Equipment wise, the Pajero Sport VGT comes with a 2-DIN Kenwood touch screen head unit with GPS. The colour screen of the ICE also doubles up as display for the reverse camera, which is standard. Besides that, the VGT comes with cruise control with buttons on the steering and automatic air con, which are already on the Pajero Sport GS.

We noticed that the front seats look different, and MMM confirms that the design has been revised for more support. They’re leather wrapped, by the way.

The Pajero Sport VGT is priced at RM167,375.80 on the road without insurance, which is about RM5,000 costlier than the GS 4WD variant. Seems like fair value for the extras, which is why MMM is looking at a 50% increase in sales volume for the Pajero Sport range with the addition of the VGT.

Live gallery from the event is after the jump.