Mahindra Scorpio v Mitsubishi Pajero Sport 2023 Comparison

The Z8 and Z8L versions of the 2023 Mahinda Scorpio were launched earlier this year with the understanding that the drive-away prices of $41,990 and $44,990 respectively would only apply for a limited time.

By late 2023, the drive-away price of the high-spec Z8L on test here has indeed been adjusted upwards, but only minimally, to $45,990, while the Z8 remains at $41,990.

The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport range spans six model grades, opening at $44,940 plus on-road costs for the five-seater GLX two-wheel drive, but the GLS Deluxe you see here – calculating out at $57,440 plus ORCs – is about as close as you can get to the Scorpio Z8L in terms of features and 4x4 drivetrain (with the added bonus that it’s a seven-seater, compared to the six-seater-only Scorpio).

Painting a real-world, bottom-line picture, Mitsubishi quotes an ORCs-inclusive price of $60,490 for the Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe, which is on the way to being $15,000 more expensive than the Z8L Mahindra Scorpio.

Lining up the 2023 Mahindra Scorpio Z8L with the Deluxe-pack Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS reveals plenty of equipment parallels.

Both greet you with leather-look seat trim, push-button starting and dual-zone climate-control air-conditioning.

At this level the Pajero Sport also comes with twin power-adjust front seats; only the driver gets that privilege in the Mahindra. And although the Pajero Sport’s electric parking brake is an expectation rather than a specific virtue, it’s more in tune with the times than the Mahindra’s (effective nonetheless) manual pull-up handbrake lever.

The Pajero Sport also gets an electrically-assisted tailgate, where the Mahindra’s load area is served by a manually-operated right-side hinged rear door.

Both have full-size spare wheels slung beneath the boot floor – the Mahindra’s steel and Mitsubishi’s alloy.

Warranties and service pricing are structured differently but end up with similar outcomes. Mahindra’s factory warranty extends to seven years or 150,000km while the Pajero Sport is nominally covered for five years and 100,000km – or 10 years if the vehicle is continually serviced at an accredited Mitsubishi workshop.

The Scorpio’s first 3000km service is free, while capped-price charges for individual services beyond that are fixed at $460 after 12 months/10,000km, $370 after two years/20,000km, $450 after three years/30,000km, $728 after four years/40,000km and $350 after five years/50,000km. The total five-year servicing costs thus work out to $2348.

Mahindra’s roadside assist program extends to seven years or 150,000km, providing it is serviced at a Mahindra workshop, or just 12 months if not.

The Pajero Sport’s roadside assist operates via motoring club membership, which is free for the first year, then extendable for up to four years if the vehicle is serviced under Mitsubishi’s capped-priced program.

The Mitsubishi looks good on servicing intervals. While the Mahindra runs on a whichever-comes-first 12-month/10,000km schedule, Mitsubishi asks for a workshop visit every 12 months and bumps out the distance-covered allowance to 15,000km.

Mitsubishi offers 10 years/150,000km of capped-price servicing, with total costs working out to $6890 over the full 10 years.

By way of comparison with Mahindra, the Pajero Sport’s servicing costs over five years work out to $2895 – which, given the Mitsubishi’s allowance of 15,000km between services, could be interpreted as a slightly better deal.

Here, the 2023 Mahindra Scorpio doesn’t even try to be in the race.

In terms of driver assist systems, the Scorpio fails to include autonomous emergency braking (AEB), pedestrian avoidance, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alert and driver attention detection – all features that are commonly found on new vehicles today.

Instead, the Scorpio’s ‘active’ safety equipment runs to electronic stability control, four-wheel-disc anti-lock brakes, trailer sway mitigation and hill descent and hill-hold control.

There are six airbags, two of which are head-protecting curtains that only partly protect third-row occupants, while two ISOFIX child seat mounting points are also provided (as per Pajero Sport).

The Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe comes with most of the expected safety technology including low-speed AEB, adaptive cruise control, bird’s eye view parking cameras, tyre pressure monitoring, an electro-chromatic rear-view mirror and parking sensors front and rear.

It also has seven airbags, adding a driver’s knee airbag, while the curtain airbags extend for the full length of the cabin, covering all three rows.

That said, it’s necessary to reach higher into the Pajero Sport range to acquire blind spot monitoring, lane change assist and rear cross traffic alert.

Neither of these vehicles have an ANCAP rating. The Pajero Sport recently lost its five-star rating on account of the testing dating back to 2015, when the assessment criteria was more lenient than it is today.

That maximum result only now applies to current-generation vehicles built before December 2022, and points to the age of the Pajero Sport, which will soldier on until a new-generation model arrives in 2025 – about a year after the incoming new Mitsubishi Triton ute on which it’s based.

The new Mahindra Scorpio, on the other hand, has not been tested by ANCAP and it remains to be seen whether it will be submitted for testing. It’s unlikely to achieve a maximum five-star result based on its lack of driver assist systems, most notably AEB that’s standard in most new models today and became mandatory for all newly-introduced vehicles approved for sale in Australia from March 2023.

The Scorpio has achieved a five-star rating under Global NCAP, but this regime is less stringent than the protocols in place under ANCAP.

While embedded sat-nav is a trump card for the 2023 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe, there’s little else of significance that separates it from the Mahindra Scorpio Z8L.

Bluetooth and wired Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity are common to both, although the Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe lacks the wireless phone charging that is standard in the Scorpio Z8L.

The Mahindra comes with a central touch-screen, a part-digital instrument cluster and single USB-C port in the front and second row. The Pajero Sport’s centre touch-screen and mostly analogue instrument cluster are accompanied by four USB-A ports – two in the dash and another pair behind the centre console at the rear, where they are joined by a 150W three-pin power plug.

The Mahindra aces it with its 12-speaker, twin-channel subwoofer-assisted Sony-branded audio, which has no competition in the Mitsubishi’s average-quality six-speaker system.

The Scorpio Z8L’s ultra-powerful bass and crisp mid and treble ranges will delight most audiophiles.

In a segment where all powerplants are turbo-diesels but vary widely in size and configuration, the 2023 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Mahindra Scorpio are at the smaller end of the scale with respective capacities of 2.4 litres and 2.2 litres.

The Mitsubishi’s is more truck-like, respected for its durability, performance and economy, and delivers relaxed outputs of 133kW at 3500rpm and 430Nm at 2500rpm.

The Mahindra mHAWK diesel, on the other hand, is all alloy, also well known for its durability and produces a slightly lower 129kW at 3500rpm and 400Nm of torque from 1750-2750rpm, which may not sound that promising but turns out to be entirely adequate.

How fuel efficient are the Mahindra Scorpio and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport?

As well as being smaller than the 2023 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport’s powerplant, the Mahindra Scorpio’s is more efficient, with a claimed fuel consumption of 7.2L/100km and a relatively low CO2 output of 190g/km.

The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport claims 8.0L/100km with a CO2 figure of 212g/km.

The relativities were consistent on test, with 11.7L/100km and 10.1L/100km recorded respectively for the Pajero Sport and Scorpio.

Neither has a particularly impressive fuel tank capacity: the Pajero Sport’s is 68 litres where the Scorpio’s is barely adequate at 60 litres.

This was perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2023 Mahindra Scorpio versus Mitsubishi Pajero Sport comparison test.

Given that Australia’s only significant experience with the Indian car-maker has so far been the primitive Mahindra Pik-Up ute, most potential buyers will take a cautious view of the brand. After all, low expectations lead to minimal disappointments.

That Mahindra has put those notions behind it is palpably clear once experiencing the new Scorpio (and the smaller XUV700).

In terms of refinement, the Scorpio is in many ways an advance over the Pajero Sport – and, with a few exceptions, most of its ute-becomes-SUV ladder-frame-based competitors as well.

The mHAWK engine is a sweetie that challenges the 2.0-litre biturbo in the Ford Explorer for smoothness and quietness – and, as mentioned earlier, it dishes out a satisfying mix of performance and fuel economy.

Although at the end of the day it’s clearly a diesel, a few of our test team reckoned from first experiences it sounded and felt more like a petrol engine than an oil-burner and was quite a contrast with the traditionally vocal engine found in the Pajero Sport.

On the road, and despite having two fewer gears to work with than the eight-speed Mitsubishi, the Mahindra felt more responsive, quicker off the line and generally less fussed, all of which translated into a generally unobtrusive on-road behaviour.

The Mahindra’s six-speed Aisin auto is not entirely fault-free though: where the Pajero Sport’s eight-speed auto – complete with paddle shifters – was always smooth and precise, we experienced some occasional and unpredictable rough-shifting in the Scorpio.

The Mahindra’s steering, too, is lighter, quicker and more reminiscent of a mid-size SUV than a designated heavyweight (the 2.1-tonne Scorpio Z8L is 109kg lighter than the Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe).

The Pajero Sport’s weighty steering takes 3.7 turns to go from lock to lock and makes suburban roundabouts something of a wheel-twirling chore. With just 2.7 turns required, the Scorpio is far less challenging, although there’s a caveat here as the Mitsubishi’s 11-metre turning circle is quite a bit handier than the Mahindra’s expansive 12.6m.

Both use coil springs all round, with independent double-wishbones at the front and live axles at the rear. The Pajero Sport has an incrementally larger 2800mm wheelbase – 50mm more than the Scorpio – which is not really enough to make a difference in ride quality or fore-aft pitching tendencies.

Nor are the wheel-and-tyre combinations, which see the Pajero Sport wearing minimally higher-profile 265/60R18 rubber than the Scorpio’s slightly narrower 255/60R18s.

In the end, the Scorpio feels a tad softer on initial bump impacts and leans maybe a little bit more in corners, but is similarly comfortable and reactive to the Pajero Sport in terms of overall ride and handling qualities.

From the driver’s seat, the Mahindra edges towards being more amenable than the Mitsubishi despite its steering wheel only being adjustable for height. It has better all-round vision, lighter and quicker steering and a brake pedal that feels less doughy and more confidence-inspiring.

It’s all very well to comment on the on-road abilities of the 2023 Mahindra Scorpio and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, but with their dual-range 4x4 systems these vehicles are purportedly off-roaders too, so during our comparison we put both to the test in middling-rough terrain.

Centre console-located electronic 4x4 selection is common to both: the Mitsubishi’s via a single twist-dial and the Mahindra’s via two large press-buttons.

Mitsubishi’s three-differential Super Select 4WD-II is way more refined on-road. AWD is available without qualms for added security on greasy hardtop or gravelled surfaces (there are four selectable mode settings as well), yet the Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe offers the same capabilities off-road as the more common two-differential part-time 4x4 used in the Scorpio’s 4XPLOR multi-mode system.

Both have locking rear differentials, which help go the extra yard in truly tough going; the Mitsubishi’s is manually engaged and the Mahindra’s is automatic.

On a particularly gnarly, wheel-travel-maxxing ascent – both vehicles wore road tyres, by the way – the Mahindra and Mitsubishi were similarly challenged and similarly adept, although we didn’t engage the Pajero Sport’s rear diff lock and left the Scorpio’s auto-locker to make its own decisions.

There’s a bit of mixing and matching in off-road specs. The Mahindra has more ground clearance (227mm against 218mm) but, at 700mm, the Mitsubishi wades deeper than the Mahindra which is limited to 500mm.

It’s fair to say that approach, departure and breakover angles of both are class-competitive, although the Mahindra’s front under-bumper contacted the ground once as it teetered, wheels diagonally aloft, before making the final surge to the top of our ascent.

Overall, although the Mahindra was no slouch, the Mitsubishi was judged to have a slight lead off-road, underscored by the fact it’s more useful as a towing vehicle: its 3.2-tonne braked capacity puts it comfortably ahead of the Mahindra’s 2.5-tonne rating.

Mahindra is literally going for the hard sell in the cabin presentation of the new 2023 Mahindra Scorpio.

In fact, there’s little sign of soft-touch trim in either of these large family SUVs, although the Scorpio’s immediately welcoming cabin ambience is well removed from the commercial ute-based Pajero Sport.

Fake leather abounds, but the warm, chocolaty trim of the Scorpio is way cosier to look at than the Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe, as is the cleaner, more rounded and colour-coordinated dash which, despite its lack of embedded sat-nav, has a clearer and more readable centre screen than the Mitsubishi’s highly reflective, sometimes quite impossible-to-decipher display.

First- and second-row accommodation is acceptably comfortable in both – slightly favouring the Mitsubishi’s more laterally-supportive seat cushioning – but the Mahindra’s two-seater captain’s-chair centre row lends a more expansive air accentuated by the fact its cabin is slightly wider than the Pajero Sport’s.

The space between the individual centre seats also slightly ameliorates the claustrophobia of the tightly-cramped third row.

In fact, aft of the centre row, the six-passenger Scorpio falls apart. Although centre-row legroom, in both the Mahindra and Mitsubishi, is fine, it’s far from that in the Scorpio’s third-row seats where even nine-year-olds will struggle to squeeze in their knees.

And if you’re looking for somewhere to store luggage you will find it close to non-existent behind the rearmost seat.

It’s only when the Mahindra is operating as a four-seater that its luggage-carrying abilities – quoted at 460 litres – become properly useful (although, ironically, the hinged rear door offers a wider, deeper opening than in the Mitsubishi).

The Pajero Sport’s rearmost seats are nothing special either but at least there’s 131 litres of load space behind them (total seats-folded capacity is 1488 litres) and the lift-up tailgate offers shelter when loading in wet weather.

There’s no question that the new 2023 Mahindra Scorpio has an overall sense of refinement that makes the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, in many ways, seem dated.

From the driver’s seat the Scorpio feels more compact and wieldier than the ageing Pajero Sport. The 2.2-litre turbo-diesel has few peers for silence and smoothness, and the fact that it generally feels more responsive than the Mitsubishi is icing on the cake.

Little separates the on-road and off-road capabilities of either of these large-class 4x4s, and ditto for the levels of ride quality and front and second-row passenger comfort, but there’s quite a bit of give and take nonetheless.

The Mahindra drops behind in luggage-carrying and towing capabilities, while the Mitsubishi’s multi-camera bird’s eye viewing is at times barely decipherable. The Scorpio doesn’t offer surround-viewing, but at least the Z8L version adds a front camera.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that the Mahindra is a lot more affordable than the Mitsubishi.

This would be a much tighter contest if the Scorpio did not have such a severe shortage of advanced driver assistance systems, which are today accepted as standard safety requirements.

And for that reason, the Mahindra Scorpio, in its current form, falls short. No matter how low its price, or how good its performance, dynamic capabilities, design and build quality, its lack of safety technology represents a big, virtually unassailable stumbling block.

The Pajero Sport is far from perfect, somewhat ironically moving from its five-star safety standing to ‘unrated’ this year, but it scores many positives and is the clear winner here.

2023 Mahindra Scorpio Z8L at a glance:
Price: $45,990 (drive-away)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 129kW/400Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 190g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested

2023 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS Deluxe at a glance:
Price: $57,440 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 133kW/430Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 212g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Unrated