Offroad-Express

Hey guys, i cant decide between 2 trucks so thought id get some opinions.

both are 94s, with 19xxxxkms on the clock,both autos,both pretty stock, asking around the same price.

the bighorn is the 3.1 and the paj is the 2.8 intercooled.

the only conclusion i have come to is the Paj has a better looking dash

so which one comes out trumps?

cheers

Glen might chime in here.. he loves the Paj's and knows there pitfulls and weekness's etc as for the bighorn.. pass..

Hey mate, when through this process a few years ago. In my honest opinion, go the Pajero.

I dont have anything against Bighorns personally except for one thing - they feel incredibly heavy and like driving a bus, both onroad and offroad.

I have had a few Pajeros and always found them to be quite capable, even out of the box, and for their size they are quite comfortable to drive.

My 2c

Cheers

with those k's small turbo diesels are likely to do their heads, mitsis 4M40 (2.8 intercooled turbo diesel) are know for it. Mine never did, but I did drive keeping an eye on the temp and not pushing it when it got warm. But dam did it go well!!

How well have the trucks been looked after, service records etc

I now have a non turbo 2.8 hilux, miss the power of the mitsi turbo but like the idea of not cooking the head.

Depending on which Bighorn it is (widebody or not). Mine did a 3.5inch suspension lift by winding up the front and springs in the back I had no issues with anything. Did feel heavy on the road which I think is a good thing in my opinion but each to their own. I felt more at ease on side slopes in my bighorn compared to my pajero. (Swapped my pajero for the bighorn haha). Bighorn has way more interior room.

If I was to do it again I would go Pajero only reason is I only owned my Pajero for a short period of time and sold it because it was a soft top in winter didnt mix haha.

Interested in v6 petrol pajero? Would love to keep it but downgraded to 2.4T Pajero for fuel savings Goes bloody well IMO never had any major issues and is a little rocket ship. 180 odd ks.

My mate has a 7 seater bighorn with a lift n 265 75 16s plus snorkel n ARB bar...... The places that thing goes / his build wld be a swb version of his and Im inclined to agree. they go hard for what they are

i just picked up a 3.1 bighorn, gota say its nice to drive on the road, and definitly spacey on the inside, plus all the extras.

You will enjoy the Bighorn. Our one we worked hard for 8year and we did over 200,000km during that time.
A 50mm lift worked wonders on it as did replacing the front bumper to improve the approach angle. A greart forum for the bighorns is www.clubisuzu.com they have heeps of info and like here mostfolks are really helpful.
If I was to get another bighorn the only thing I wouldn't do to mine again is put 33's on it I found with the front cv angle from the lift they took abit of a pounding.
Other than cv's I replaced the head after cracking it (caused by a radiator full of mud and overheating) and the turbo which went bang (not long after the head and suspect the averheating may have done some damage)

God bighorn mate - I've owned one for about half year now and been loving it. check out my blog - just put up some vids of what they can do.

'Jeros arent bad either but judging by a mate's history you would need a second mortgage to account for what breaks down.

Have barely had a single issue with my petrol V6 pajero but the 4D56 seems to leak from every gasket fitted to the motor! Sound like the 2.8's are allot better.

check your blowby
my pajero's sweet. reliable as fook. hear many more problems with front ends of bighorns etc wheras the pajeros are bullet proof.

selling a lwb diesel bighorn on behalf of a joker soon, will be interesting to see what they're actually like.

Can't speak for the diesel Pajero's, but I had the SWB 3.5 non GDI V6 for a while and it was awesome! never broke anything offroad & felt solid on road. The interior was pretty good - even had cup holders in the fold down armrests for the back seats. Would definitely get another pajero, but probably not a 3.5. it was thirrrrrrrssstttyyy! used to fill it up weekly, and now with my little samurai doing the same km's I haven't stopped at the gas station for over a month!! I had 33" wrangler MT/R's on the Pajero without any body or suspenson lifts and it never rubbed.

3.5 and 2.8 pajeros are factory with a 2" body lift I believe, so you can run 33s
I run my 3litre on 31s. The way I drive I can *just* squeeze 500k out of a tank on it, but I'm pretty sure it needs a new oxy sensor (in oz on a/ts they get around 600k to a tank, I think? On a/ts or muds it made no difference to mine)

I went for a pajero over a bighorn mainly because the pajeros seem to be a bit tougher in the running gear than a bighorn. I didn't want to shel out the extra cash to get a diesel one in good nick, and the bighorn's transfer case seems to hang down a mile, whereas everything's tucked up out of the way on pajeros.

bighorn running gear is really strong the auto transfer case does hang a bit low but they are pretty reliable and do go places. the pajeros can have a prob with the electronic hubs from time to time and with the jeros the front drive shafts and everything are spinning wen in 2wd so that adds more drag on the engine and can wear parts faster.

but the ability to stick it in AWD when towing in crap conditions etc or just when you are blatting along gravel roads is awesome in the pajeros.

yah, ability to shift into 4x4 on the fly when you didn't think you'd ever need to has saved me a long walk a couple of times.
the front ends don't give much problems at all. when in 2wd they disconnect the diff somehow (i've never bothered to read into it... there's a vaccuum pot on the side of the front diff to do it, though)
99 times out of 100, if the solenoids give grief you can swap a couple of hoses over to engage it to get you back into 4x4 again. win.

extra drag of jsut the cv shafts spinning (front prop shaft doesn't) i shant think would add fook all. if you've got poerished as fook cv boots is may not help them last any longer but if they get to that stage you should replace them anyways.

got this bighorn at my place now. it's parked next to my pajero. eyecrometer tells me that the pajero has a shitload more clearance under the box. it's tucked nicely up in the chassis rails and doesn't hang down at all. the bighorn's transfer case hangs down a good 6 or 8 inches lower, and is by far the lowest point on the vehicle. can't be a good thing! both are stock vehicles, although the pajero is a swb and the bighorn a lwb. Both are on really similar height tyres too. from that alone I'd say if they where both the same wheelbase then the pajero would kick it a lot further in the bush without getting stuck

the bighorn has heated recaros and shit though. wouldn't mind those!

If you are still looking for a truck / decided on pajero I put mine on trademe $1 reserve last night

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =537197904

Chris