Mitsubishi Pajero Sport Pricing and Specs

The Mitsubishi 4N15 engine in your Pajero Sport has a timing chain rather than a toothed rubber belt. As such, the chain should be good for the life of the vehicle rather than requiring periodic replacement as a timing belt does. However, this does not make the valve-train maintenance-free, as this engine requires valve clearance adjustments every 60,000km.

Cracked cylinder heads and blown head gaskets are not completely unknown on this engine, but exactly how big a problem it is is the real question. There’s one theory that the cylinder heads crack when mechanics over-tighten the fuel-injector hardware or try to remove stuck injectors with too much force.

The good news is that replacement cylinder heads are readily available and can be had in bare form or in fully built-up form including all valves and springs.

The last decade of dual-cab four-wheel-drive utes have emerged as the tow-vehicles of choice, and you see them everywhere filling roles exactly like the one you have planned. Popular models include the Ford Ranger you’ve nominated, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Isuzu D-Max. But there are also cheaper alternatives including makes like the South-Korean made Ssangyong and various Chinese brands like LDV and Great Wall.

Just make sure you know exactly how much you need to tow before making a decision as some of the cheaper models don’t have the same outright towing capacity and even if they do, some of them don’t have the engine performance to make towing as easy as it should be. For parts availability, the Toyota would be king in really remote areas, but any of the major brands are pretty well covered in Australia.

Meantime, don’t rule out ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuna. These offer better ride comfort when unladen thanks to more sophisticated rear suspensions and most have as much or almost as much towing capacity as their ute brethren.