1997 Mitsubishi PAJERO Evolution

Imported from Japan earlier this year, the vendor was told when he bought it that it had had just the one Japanese owner. He is certainly the first UK-registered keeper.

It is in marvellous condition for its age, feeling tight and rattle-free on the road. The interior is in great shape too; where many suffer from torn and ripped side bolsters, the ones on this car look almost new and show only the very gentlest signs of wear. Our valeter confirmed that he has seen no paint or bodywork issues to suggest this is all anything but original.

It was freshly serviced when he bought it in August 2019, and has been fitted with a removeable towbar and new tyres since he’s had it. Having just been machine polished and given Diamond Bright paint protection, it is now fully fettled and only being sold due to a dramatic change in his circumstances.

The panels are all good and are free of corrosion, damage and the sort of scuffs that are inevitable when a car spends its life in the UK; the Japanese really do know how to look after their cars and we’re always amused when we read of a Mazda MX-5 and the like being promoted as being a “genuine UK car.” That makes no sense to us, as not only do the Japanese look after their cars better than any other nation, they don’t use salt, either.

So, it’s got straight panels, tight, even panel gaps, and having crawled all over it all we can see is good paint and plenty of rust-proofing fluid in areas such as the doors and under the bonnet.

The paintwork is thought to be largely, if not completely, original, which was supported by the fact that it was looking a little flat when he bought it. One of the first jobs he commissioned was a professional machine polish and detail, followed by the application of a Diamond Bright paint protection finish. The car now looks very good indeed, with only a very few age-related marks on it; if we were to tell you that it had 30,000 miles on the clock, we think you’d believe us.

The four ‘Evolution’ badges were missing, as were the ‘MIVEC’ and Mitsubishi logo on the front grille, and the ‘Pajero’ bade on the rear door handle. So, being something of a completist, he sourced new/old stock original equipment replacements from Japan. These cost in excess of £700, but we think they were worth every penny as the car looks stunning now.

The tyres Yokohama tyres were perished with age, so he sourced and fitted a set of Yokohama Geolander G015s, including the spare. The car was fitted with Yokos when it was new, and the car’s Japanese owner continued the tradition, so he felt it would have been rude to move away from them; they’re a brilliant all-round tyre anyway, especially in the winter and in mild-to-moderately tough off-road conditions.

As we will never tyre of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but do give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

The car was professionally undersealed when he first registered it here in the UK, and there is no rust whatsoever on the car bar a few rusty bolts under the bonnet.

The rear receiver hitch bolts on to existing mounts. It is rated to 1,250kgs and can be removed in a couple of minutes should the new owner prefer not to run the car with it on. However, it does form a useful recovery point and attachment point for a cycle carrier or even a winch in addition to being a towing point. A modern 13-pin electrical socket has also been professionally fitted.

Work to do is limited to the alloy wheels. They’re the original equipment wheels but the machine-finish has oxidised in places. Some owners prefer to have them powdercoated for longevity, while others prize originality over practicality. The choice is now yours.

Oh, and the bolts are the rear of the engine bay that hold the scuttle on are rusty, but that would be an easy and cheap way of vastly improving the underbonnet view.

The seats are in a fabulous condition, being free of rips and tears and any other damage. They’re still very supportive and hold the driver and front passenger tightly although the strength of that embrace can be adjusted via a knob on the side of each seat.

The rear seats look almost unused, and have their own cupholders on individual fold-down armrests on the outside.

The door cards are clean, as is the carpet and headlining. The boot is tidy too, and home to the complete toolkit, which still looks like new. The latter features the original equipment torch, whose safety tab between the battery and contacts hasn’t even been removed.

Speaking of nice touches, the rubber seal on the odometer reset button is still intact, and the car still has its O/E road flare in the passenger’s footwell.

There’s a velvet lined cubby beneath the stereo too (very Japanese!), and four cupholders in the front of the vehicle. It still wears its original Japanese warning stickers, along with MOT and tax decals, plus the odd oil change and timing belt sticker.

The original reversing alarm works too, (although it would be easy to disconnect should you find it irritating) as does the dash-mounted compass and external temperature gauge. In fact, everything works as it should, and with a crispness to the controls that only the Japanese could engineer in to last 32 years and a hundred thousand miles…

Other gems are the Blaupunkt Rotterdam stereo, which is brand new and looks retro but offers full Bluetooth streaming for music and phone calls. The original Mitsubishi Motors CBA-CS2A radio cassette player (part number MR318342) will come with the vehicle. A model-specific Brodit phone holder and a universal QuadLock clip have been fitted, but these clip onto the dashboard and can be removed without leaving a mark.

The only problems we can see are a scratched driver’s side grab handle, and a small area of peeling lacquer on the central faux-carbonfibre trim panel. We really think you wouldn’t quibble if we’d told you it had travelled 30,000 miles.

The car has a partial service history from Japan, plus a few service stickers here and there, which Google translate shows as being timing belt replacements as well as general servicing. The oil pressure gauge shows good oil pressure of 60psi at motorway speeds, and the volt meter shows that the alternator is charging the battery correctly.

It was serviced when he bought it and needs nothing doing to it; it is, he tells, us, free of any known mechanical faults and drives brilliantly. He recently took it to Anglesey and back, a round trip of more than 400 miles. It completed it without a single problem, he tells us, and drew a huge amount of attention from pedestrians and other drivers alike.

The engine bay itself looks a little grubby given the quality of elsewhere, but most of that is rust-proofing fluid and you could easily remove that with something like white spirit if you had a mind to.

The underside is as good as you’d expect given that it is a recent import from Japan, a country that doesn’t salt its roads in the winter. Nor has it seen a UK winter yet; need we say more?

The MOT certificate expires in April 2020.

The car comes with a folder of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a good standard.

The car comes with its original OE stereo/headunit and two spare automatic gearbox filters and gaskets.

Modern icons are rarer than you might imagine but the Pajero Evolution certainly qualifies as such. Brutally tough and utterly uncompromising in its purpose, it drives like a hot-hatchback on steroids, a Tonka Toy made real, and is all but bulletproof; after all, if it can dominate the Paris Dakar Rally it should be able to cope with a Waitrose run in the snow…

They’re rare, too. Mitsubishi UK is believed to have imported around 60 cars, split evenly between white and silver – and anyone who has looked at a UK Pajero from the period will know that our predilection for salting our roads plays havoc with the undersides, so buying a freshly imported Japanese example makes complete sense; this one is as rust-free as it is taut, and looks and drives like a car with a third of the mileage under its belt.

So, however well you might think you want that 30,000-mile-from-new example, you really don’t, mainly because you’ll be too scared to use it for fear of devaluing it. What you really want is one that is in the much the same condition but with a few miles under its belt, which means you’ll feel able to use it.

With the price of the very best cars having long topped £20,000, we expect this example to sell for between £15,000 and £17,500, at which price point it offers the enthusiast a car that can be used every day, and yet still pick up the odd trophy at the weekend. It would make an interesting hillclimb car too, or could even be used on the odd trackday; after all, you’re not going to see another, are you?

And, while we are always wary of making predictions, the facts are that the price of the Paj Evo has risen by more than 30% in the past year, with a month-on-month growth of more than 10%. #justsaying

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car can be seen here at The Market HQ in Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings of any auction, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles we have for sale. While we use our trade experience to assess every car that comes through our hands (and between us we have bought hundreds of classic cars over the years for our personal use…) we are fallible, and our assessment of a car may contrast with that you might form yourself.

This is why we offer a far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange a professional inspection on their behalf of, each vehicle prior to bidding than any traditional car auction, and we will never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this by coming to see it in person.

That said, we do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or those formed as a result of a long test drive.

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