Mitsubishi Montero

Mitsubishi introduced the Pajero SUV in its home country of Japan in 1982; it made its United States debut one year later as the Mitsubishi Montero. The Montero/Pajero was eventually sold in 170 countries before it was discontinued in 2006. The vehicle had great success in off-road rally events, repeatedly winning the Dakar Rally, but its reputation was hurt by a 2001 Consumer Reports test that rated the 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited as being “not acceptable” due to the risk of rolling over in certain hazardous driving conditions.

This risk was again brought to the public’s attention in 2002 when Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, a member of the group TLC, was killed in an accident while driving a rented 2001 Montero while on vacation. The initial Pajero was offered as a three-door, truckish SUV with a tall body but relatively short wheelbase and no third-row seating. The Montero was available with either a metal or a canvas top. The first-generation Montero was offered in two trim levels, the XLS and the Limited, with the Limited adding a five-speed automatic transmission with manual shift mode as opposed to the standard four-speed automatic on the XLS.

The third-generation Montero was sold from 2001 through the model’s final year in 2006. Besides being longer, lower and wider than the previous generation, one of the most significant changes for the later Montero was a switch to a unibody construction in an attempt to lighten and stiffen the chassis. In addition, a change was made to rack-and-pinion steering from the previous recirculating-ball steering setup. A right-hinged cargo door further differentiated the Montero from other SUVs, but the Montero stayed with a V-6 engine while most competing SUVs were powered by V-8 engines. The Montero was discontinued in 2006 due to falling sales.

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