Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I was hoping somebody could help me, I've owned two 4wd's before and am now considering buying another one. My question is I am considering buying a Pajero 4 door, I am considering either the NM or NL - which is better & why? I plan on travelling around Australia, but I enjoy the rough stuff and playing in the rocks! My mate has a 4" lifted GU Patrol & I want to be able to keep up with him!?

An help would be great as I've never owned a Mitsubishi before!

The NL has a solid rear axle which will give you better articulation in rough stuff, and a separate chassis which makes a body lift feasible (for additional sill clearance - although the NL body was factory mounted 30mm higher on the chassis than earlier Gen 2s.)

The NM has independent suspension all round, so on-road handling is better, but is a monocoque design (without a separate chassis) so a traditional body lift isn't possible - but kits are available in Japan to lift the body from the suspension subframes.

ARB have just released an air locker to suit the front of both, but currently there isn't an air locker available for the back. Fortunately, the Mitsu LSDs are among the better ones. If you hunt around you might find a factory rear locker for the NL, but I don't think such a beast exists for the NM. GrantW can tell you more about rear lockers in an NL.

If you're thinking diesel for remote touring the DiD is a significantly better performer than the 2.8 tdi, but is only available in quite recent vehicles. The petrol motor is essentially the same in both vehicles.

I hope the above is correct - if not, I'm sure somebody will correct me!

Cheers,

Scott

I would go the NL as it will have better offroad capabilitys with the solid rear end.

My 2 cents

Thanks guys, very useful information....

I'll keep you posted, I have some magazine articles on the NL, so I'll read up on it.

Thanks again.

Yes if you want to play on the rocks the NL is the go and there is more scope for mods.
Also with the factory body lift you can run 33"s pretty much bog standard
There is now a ARB front locker available and as Scott says you can hunt around the wreckers for a factory rear locker but they are extremely hard to find for the 3.5 V6.
However the lsd in the NL onwards was upgraded to a Torsen type (gear/viscous coupling) as opposed to the old clutch pack type. These are much superior and lock up better than the older version.

Agree. NL for rock hopping.

I'll add the NL/NM/NP for bush tracks, the NL/NM for sand and the NM/NP for outback touring.