Pajero Oz's top 4X4

The Mitsubishi Pajero CDi has been named Australia's best four-wheel-drive in an award presented by CarPoint's offroad partner, 4X4 Australia magazine.

The magazine praised the Pajero's engine and gearbox combination, rear differential lock, electronic traction aids as well as its improved styling and handling.

"The Mitsubishi Pajero CDi performs on dirt roads, bitumen and its capabilities are not even stretched when taken through its paces off-road," said 4X4 Australia editor Dean Mellor.

"The Pajero is always a strong contender in the 4X4 of the Year awards and the Pajero CDi is a natural evolution of the preceding model with styling changes but, more importantly, significant mechanical changes."

The Pajero beat seven other contenders to the take the 4X4 of the year award for 2007, including the Jeep Commander CRD, Mitsubishi Pajero Exceed V6, VW Touareg V6 FSI, SsangYong Kyron XDI, Mercedes-Benz GL500, Volkswagen Touareg TD and the Toyota Prado GXL D-4D.

All the cars were tested over more than 3500kms of terrain in New South Wales, including sealed and unsealed surfaces, slippery climbs, large sand dunes and rough outback tracks.

To be eligible for the award, the vehicles had to be all-new models, or be heavily revised models, released during 2006.

Each vehicle was tested against five criteria -- value, breaking new ground, build toughness, how they do the job and their ability to tackle the Australian bush.

Prices of the vehicles which made the final cut ranged from $40,000 to $150,000.

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Source: AAP 2007