Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey All

Well quick qn, a friend of mine is lookin at buying either a Nissan Pathfinder or a Mitsubishi Challenger.

Year models between 00 - 02 around the $16 000 mark, vehicle will mainly be used as a highway runner and camping trips up the beach, wont be used for any "extreme" 4wd'n.

What im chasing is a general oppinion / experiences, pros, cons, things to look out for and issues.

Cheers in advance Troy

I know the Pathfinders V6s of that era are pretty heavy on the juice- the challengers are not a great deal better- but I'm pretty sure they are at least a couple of litres better per hundred ks. Apart from that I think they are pretty similar vehicles.

In magazine reviews, Pathfinder usually got higher marks for offroad performance and the V6 is more economical.

I think the Challenger has more power (for onroad) and is available with a manual - the Pathfinder is not.

Former neighbour had a Pathfinder, couldn't go larger than 30" tyres, because he couldn't fit a larger spare. I think the Challenger came stock with 30s, will take 31s without trouble.

I'm a Mitsubishi nut, so I'd take the Challenger (better the devil you know...) But I don't know that I could honestly recommend it as being better than the Pathfinder.

BTW- pathfinders of that era are auto only.

^a minute too slow

My old man had one of those pathys and it was an great car for what your describing - but thirsty.

we had changed over from a 4.2 turbo patrol to the pathfinder and were blown away by how well it drove on the hwy, very comfy and did what we needed off road. But considering it was a smaller vehicle, we were dissappointed by how much extra juice it used.

Ill see if i can get onto him and get his figures on real consumption.

I was in the same situation about 5 months ago and ended up buying an 02 Challenger (coil spring rear). My neighbor had a Pathfinder company car and said that it was heavy on fuel, if you do a google on both vehicles and read the feedback on both you will quickly see that the Challenger is a much preferred vehicle for everyday use and that the Pathfinder regularly gets bagged because of the fuel consumption, also the Challenger has far more cargo space with under floor storage as well. They go better in the bush than what some people will admit to and absolutely kills the sand. Try and get one with a LSD, the up market one's have them as standard and also those with two tone paint have one as well, if it has one color paint job then it most likely has a standard diff, just put your head under the rear and if it's got LSD it will have a tag on the diff. As with fuel consumption I can get 12.6L/100K mostly country driving though.
Finally (and most importantly) I like the look of the Challenger .

I've seen a Challenger with 33s, but it was at the lights, so i didn't get to ask the bloke about any mods he might have done to get them in.

Mine has 30s, but i'm going to go up to 32s shortly. Spare tyre lives under the rear, with a hoist accessed from within the boot... Averaging about 12km/L; HEAPS of cargo room.
I have heavy duty raised rear leaves, and the torsions are would up a fair way. The leaves a good for the lift and carrying capacity, but rear flex lets me down sometimes.

On a recent trip to the springs, i got everywhere everyone else got (std patrol, a monster (don't laugh) prado, live axle hilux, 80 series ute, etc.

I love the challenger, everything underneath is all tucked up, and robust. Sand is easy too. On Straddie I had 5 guys plus our gear for a weekend in it, easy as.





Yes, this is neither car you asked about, but this is the sort of stuff i was driving comfortably in the charlie.

I am lead to believe that challengers are based on a early pajeo platform, so tuff but also drive well on road. And in the future if he does get more into the 4wding side should be able to lift it easy.
Main draw back for the earlier challengers was leaf springs compared to coil in the pathy. But if like others have said you go 02 they have coils anyway

whitemav wrote:I am lead to believe that challengers are based on a early pajeo platform, so tuff but also drive well on road.

When they were released the running gear was essentially Triton, which is similar to Pajero anyway. I used to go bush with a mate who had two as company cars. Travelled fine on the highway, I thought his were a little on the thirsty side (for a manual) and his second one had significant trouble with the gearbox. I think it came out twice.

Travelling on dirt roads in the leaf sprung version it felt like the rear was squirming around a lot - but when you're driving it, you don't notice any problem.

up untill the other week my brother had a challenger on 32 mtr's. it went alot of places and was great onroad. definatly superior to the pathfinders of the same era (know a few people who had them) i would try to get a leaf rear challenger tho as my olds had a coil one n it wallowed worse than there jeep does and couldnt tow a trailer (even efs suspension didnt fix it) didnt have any better wheel travel either.

Cheers for the replies fellas

Im actually supprised the challengers got such a good wrap. I dont know much about either of the two. Ill admit all the challengers i have seen on fraser and moreton etc, haul arse through the soft stuff. They live in the noosa hinterland so i guess there will be alot of highway use. It will mainly be "Mums Taxi" during the week so auto licence means auto will be a must. She currently Has a 4.0L Falcon so im guessing economy will be around the same??? Which motor did the 02 challengers have? 3.0L V6 or 3.5L???

Cheers again fellas, been a great help!

Troy

my olds had a coil one n it wallowed worse than there jeep

Mine has coils and it doesn't wallow at all, though I have HD shocks fitted, I also tow an off road van with around 140Kg tow ball weight plus all the camping gear in the back with no troubles at all even without a weight distributing hitch, goes as fast as the speed limit will allow, no wander, no swaying.

vSAHARAx, they have a 3.0Lt V6 engine.

The sigle colour challenger only had open difs.

The 2 tone had limited slip.

I had a 2000 pathfinder for 3 years , a great car . I had a rear air locker and a bit of a lift . I gave it hell , never let me down . in three years all i replaced was a brake light globe . only got rid of it because the kids were getting bigger. Would recomend it anytime.

Will have a 2001 Pathy forsale soon if your interested.. no offroad work

mate, i was looking at the two when i bought my last 4wd. ended up with the challenger for many reasons. first, it has a stick to engage the transfer - irrelevant i know, but still.

all challengers were the 3.0 V6. mine had 32's on it without any problems. 33's required a lift and some minor trimming of the flairs to fit - nothing drastic.

as everyone has pointed out, the pathy was considered to be more thirsty than the challenger.

the challenger was built on a pajero chassis with triton running gear. easy to get some lift out of it.

for that sort of price, you should be able to get yourself into a nice LS model, which had auto, leather, woodgrain trimmings and chrome highlights outside. otherwise, it is the pov pack, which is still bloody well equipped - power mirrors, windows and steering, aircon, cd player, cruise etc. there was a special editin XS brought out that was single tone that had the LSD in the rear.

i loved my challenger, and took it many places. bloody comfortable car to drive everyday. i loved it.

ulitmately, the best advise you can get is to drive many examples of both. you will end up finding one you like better. what is good for me may not suit your needs.

if you want to know any more information, feel free to ask.

regards

Nathan

Troy

Try the Classified section here http://www.pcoa.org.au/forum/viewforum.php?f=13

Nick

challenger on 33's
sweet arse factory bullbars!

Another "modded" challenger pic, some slight panel work done.

lol circle work or just plain stupidity?

chikoroll_ wrote:lol circle work or just plain stupidity?

Cornering really fast, and G forces exceeded the structural integrity of the cabin?

should have got that chipped windscreen fixed, it would have protected the challenger from the G-Forces

Cheers for your replies everybody. My friends drove both the pathy and Challenger and loved the both of them. In the end they said they would buy the best example they could find at the right price. Whether it be the Pathy or Challenger, which ever they found first. They ended up with a 2003 ST Pathy and i must admit this thing is mickey mouse, its like it was detailed everyday......Its spotless!!!

So thanks again everybody, some really useful input, which actually made their decision harder as they relised they are both great vehicles

Cheers Troy

chikoroll_ wrote:lol circle work or just plain stupidity?

Saw it at stockton 2 weeks ago.. apparently rolled 4 times

1 of the passengers was a little worse for ware, didnt hear how they went, hopefully came out ok. Westpac chopper took all 5 passengers away though I heard.

a couple from 4x4Wire:
http://www.4x4wire.com/cgi-bin/gallery/ ... g&img=&tt=

http://www.4x4wire.com/cgi-bin/gallery/ ... g&img=&tt=

A guy I know has a pathfinder 2000 to 2002 (don't know which year)

Took it up to weipia about 2 months ago with a camper trailer, said it handled everything quite fine, month and a half trip all up.

Know another guy with the Challenger as well, he doesn't takle it anywhere 4wding but saying it goes alright as well.

Seems more like a coin toss up as to which one would be better.