2010 prado vs 2013 montero

Venom119 · August 14, 2023

Can I have a comparison of these to buy?

Comfort

Driving

Fuel

And etc

Which one is better to buy in 2023?

iRage · August 14, 2023

1. Onroad comfort : Pajero

Off-road ride : Land Cruiser Prado (LCP).

Being a monocoque body the Pajero does quite well onroad and is almost car like. However, once the road gets rough and not equally paved, you can feel the vibrations of the road transmit through the entire body. The LCP with the body on frame feels much better.

2. Driving

Depends on what you mean by Driving.

They both feel like barges to drive. The Pajero has a better steering feel (which is okay for onroad driving but offroad that might be a bit of an issue as it gives a lot of kickback). Having large displacement engines the Pajero will MOVE !

The Prado, has lighter steering which makes it dead on road but livens up when the road gets bad or is taken offroad. The 2.7L 2TR petrol engine variant of the Prado simply sucks. Do not buy that. The Diesel and the V6 petrol (if you can find one) is a lot lot better. Not as quick as the Pajero, but has pretty decent torque.

Suspension wise....well they are both sucky. With a monocoque body the Pajero is a little bit better onroad but they both will have a lot of body roll...understeer to oversteer.

I prefer the driving position of the Prado a lot more than the Pajero. In the Prado you feel like you are perched up looking down which works for its big body. The Pajero you feel you are more embedded and sitting in the car.

3. Fuel

If you are concerned about fuel...do not buy either. Especially a petrol one. The Pajero with a 3.5L V6 I got about 3-4kmpl which was the same with a 4.0L V6 Prado. the 2.7L Prado on the other hand got about 5-6kmpl (the body was way too heavy for the engine and you always had to rev the engine hard). The 3.0L V6 Pajero from 2006 I had got the same economy as the 2.7L Prado but had a lot more power(this was a generation older than the one you are looking at...see NOTE below).

Office/Mission has/had fleets of 3.0 1KD diesel powered Prados. They came with about 180hp but had like 400+ Nm of torque and was pretty nice.

Platform:

When you buy a 2013 Pajero, you are essentially buying the same car as the previous generation (i.e. a platform first starting with the unibody structure, to the 4WD system to the engines to the suspension used in 1999 (with some very minor adjustments) The Prado also uses the previous generation's platform but has a lot more improvement than the Pajero.

Build quality wise, the Mitsubishi interiors feels very plasticy compared to the Toyota. However, the body feels a lot more rugged than the Prado. The seats....they very thick and plusy and I personally do not like them as they feel too benchy and offers very little side support (especially the rear seats).

The 3rd row seats are exclusively for legless people on both models.

They are both decent cars as long as they have been cared for properly. At the end of the day it will be more or less a matter of preference. Test drive both. Get the one that is in better condition and has a proper service history with records.