Mitsubishi Pajero GLS 2027 Review

The 2027 Mitsubishi Pajero opens at $68,490 plus on-road costs (ORC) for the five-seat GLS, with the seven-seat GLS at $69,990. The mid-spec EXCEED ($79,990 +ORC) and the flagship GSR ($84,990 +ORC) are expected to the be the more popular grades initially.

That pricing undercuts its chief rival, the Toyota Prado, by nearly five grand at the entry point, the Toyota opens at $73,200 for the GX and climbs to $100,620 for the Kakadu.

It’s other competitor, the Ford Everest, starts cheaper at $58,990 for the four-cylinder Active, but you get what you pay for at that end of the range, and by the time you reach the Everest Platinum at $83,417 the Pajero GSR is only a cat’s whisker further up the road.

When can you get one? Australian deliveries begin in December 2026, with the Thai-built wagon set to be sold in around 100 countries through 2027. Initial demand is likely to outstrip supply, so if you want to be first, get in early.

Every Pajero comes with plenty of equipment, starting with Super Select II 4x4 with 2H, 4H, 4HLc and 4LLc modes, a low-range transfer case, a rear diff lock, Super-All Wheel Control with Active Yaw Control, seven drive modes (Eco, Normal, Gravel, Snow, Mud, Sand and Rock) and 3.5-tonne braked towing with Trailer Load Assist.

Ground clearance is 230mm, with 30.4-degree approach, 22.6-degree breakover and 25.8-degree departure angles.

Inside, the GLS runs cloth seats, 18-inch alloys and twin 12.3-inch screens, while EXCEED and GSR get twin 14.3-inch displays.

All three get wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and Mitsubishi Connect, where owners can connect their smartphone to the vehicle to enable remote operations and monitoring.

Every vehicle comes with a 3D ‘Multi Around Monitor’ – a 360-degree parking camera by any other name. It blends four camera feeds at 30fps and an under-floor front camera view that switches on automatically in 4HLc and 4LLc for off-roading.

Second-row seats slide through a 150mm range, boot space is claimed 519 litres with the third row folded, and there's a 10-litre underfloor storage box.

Safety systems include a front-centre airbag, driver's knee airbag, third-row curtain airbags on seven-seaters, MiPilot adaptive cruise with lane-keeping, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection plus rear AEB and blind-spot warning.

Under the bonnet is a 2.4-litre '4N16' turbo-diesel four making 150kW and 480Nm, which is 10Nm up on the Triton, driving through an eight-speed automatic.

It's the first Mitsubishi engine to meet Euro 6d, and features a single variable-geometry turbo (unlike the twin-turbo Triton setup), water-cooled intercooler, dual-loop EGR, AdBlue and auto stop-start.

Warranty class leading at 10-years/200,000km, with 10 years of capped-price servicing and up to 10 years roadside assist – but that duration is predicated on servicing it at official Mitsubishi dealerships.

The refinement. Mitsubishi banged on about it for hours at the glitzy global reveal and, irritatingly for the cynics among us, they weren't fibbing.

This first drive is short – just a handful of laps of Mitsubishi’s Okazaki proving ground – but the course covers a range of different surfaces and scenarios, providing plenty of variety over a short period.

First things first, at idle it doesn't sound like a diesel at all, more like a slightly assertive petrol engine. Acoustically laminated glass front and rear plus extra sound deadening in the wheel arches does the heavy lifting – and it’s very effective.

Get moving and there's even a bit of a thrum to it under heavy throttle, like someone's opened up the exhaust a touch. It’s a bit gravelling and moderately appealing. It’s a far cry from the acoustic clatter many ute-based diesels emit.

The chassis is the real story though. Only the front section of the ladder frame and the front floor are shared with Triton; the rest is bespoke, with double wishbones up front, a five-link rigid rear axle and long-travel suspension.

This benefits ride quality, which is a highlight. Supple is the word. It soaks up the sharp, acute undulations of the rough-road section without fuss, and that softness will almost certainly translate to serious wheel articulation off-road.

The brakes surprised too, pulling up hard on maybe a third to half a pedal. It has disc brakes all round, unlike the Triton which has drum rear brakes.

Steering response is impressive and there's a nice level of engagement through the wheel. There is a nice connection between car and driver.

Through 80km/h corners it rolls a bit but then settles and tracks cleanly through curves. Predictable? Very much so.

On the high-speed banked bowl at 130km/h it feels remarkably planted, with very little wind noise, despite mirrors the size of dinner plates.

This does not feel like a Triton with two extra seats bolted in the back and, generally speaking, I’m impressed with its on-road behaviour. As an urban family hauler, the Pajero will do quite nicely. Hopefully we’ll get to test it off-road soon.

The cabin is also punches above the badge. Semi-aniline leather in the higher grades with proper bolstering, soft-closing storage cubbies and high-quality plastics well ahead of any previous Pajero suggest the elevated price tag is not just due to inflation or consumer price indexing.

Mitsubishi has kept triple altimeter, pitch and roll gauges that nod straight back to the originals but it’s new touches like the physical climate rollers with lovely haptic feedback and a real volume control dial that deserve a standing ovation in 2026.

Worth noting the gear shifter: standard issue in the GLS, but the higher grades get a futuristic maritime-inspired lever that looks and feel rather schmick.

For what it’s worth, the GLS cloth seats (manually adjustable) are perfectly fine but the leather seats in higher grades add a bit more glitz and glam.

Overall, the seats are comfortable with reasonably good back and under thigh support, while EXCEED and GSR models get power adjustment.

Third-row access is easy, the seats fold and tumble without drama, and there are air vents, USB-C ports, three-zone climate and a 150W/220V outlet back there. It's a genuine seven-seater, not a token one – check out our YouTube video for evidence of a 182cm human sitting comfortably back there.

The engine is the least convincing part of the package. It's certainly no road rocket, though it's not as doughy as I feared, either.

Unladen on a proving ground with three fully grown humans on board it's fine, and it'll be absolutely sufficient for the school run and darting to the shops. But what happens when you load it with more people, a roof load and a couple of tonnes of trailer, point it uphill and ask for an overtake? We suspect the 2.4 will start to feel its size. We'll know for certain once we get one on Australian roads.

Fuel consumption and CO2 figures weren't released at the time of writing, which is a notable gap in the story for a vehicle pitched squarely at long-distance touring families.

We also noticed a little steering column shake over very sharp hits, though these were deliberately savage inputs you'd rarely find on a real road.

Hard braking brings noticeable nosedive, which is the trade-off for that lovely soft suspension and second-row legroom is a bit tight with the seats slid rearward, and the rear seat cushions are firmer than the front chairs.

The steering wheel controls are carried over from the Outlander and while they work well, they look at a little dated.

There are tie-down hooks in the boot but no bag hooks, and the boot lights are average at best. The tailgate opens horizontally rather than barn-door style, which Mitsubishi says is for weather protection. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing?

One caveat: our GLS rides on 18-inch alloys with softer, slightly narrower rubber (still 255s), not the 20-inch hoops that some colleagues in the media pack were testing. Ride verdicts may vary but the GLS feels pretty slick.

Oh, and the name. Pajero is famously unprintable in Spanish, which is why it wears Montero in Spain and the Americas and Shogun in the UK.

Mitsubishi has never blinked here in Australia, and honestly, good. If you're going to resurrect a legend, resurrect all of it.

On first evidence, yes – and that's not something anyone could have written about a Mitsubishi flagship a few years ago.

This is the return of a nameplate that sold millions across four generations and won Dakar 12 times. Mitsubishi could not afford to get it wrong.

The timing, though, is interesting. The large SUV segment shrank 9.0 per cent in August 2026, but the two cars the Pajero is aimed at went in opposite directions. Toyota Prado surged 21.7 per cent to 2475 sales for the month, while Ford Everest tumbled 24.6 per cent to 1660 sales.

That's a soft spot in the segment leader's armour, and the Pajero arrives in showrooms with a 10-year warranty that betters the Ford, a sharper entry price than Prado and a cabin that feels a class above where Mitsubishi has been operating.

The engine is the question mark and off-road performance is the unknown, because we haven't been let anywhere near a rock ledge yet. But everything Mitsubishi can control with engineering rather than cubic capacity, it appears to have nailed. Early impressions? One of the best things Mitsubishi has ever built.

2027 Mitsubishi Pajero GLS at a glance:
Price: $68,490 (plus on-road costs)
Available: December 2026
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 150kW/480Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: TBC
CO2: TBC
Safety rating: Not tested

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