FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2019 Mitsubishi Pajero

How big is the boot of the Mitsubishi Pajero?

The boot space in the Mitsubishi Pajero is compromised by having the top tether anchorages in the boot floor. I tested while only using one of them but if you are using all three you would lose about 1/3 of the depth of the boot.

When using it as a five-seater, the Pajero would hold thirteen shopping bags when empty. However, this is nothing compared to its competitors with the Toyota Landcruiser Prado holding seventeen and Ford Everest holding eighteen.

The Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fits with four shopping bags beside it.

The Britax Flexx tandem stroller fits with six shopping bags beside it.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle single stroller fits with seven shopping bags beside it.

The Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller fitted with eleven shopping bags around it.

Or you could fit a large size dog in the boot!

When you are using all seven seats, the boot is small and will hold four shopping bags. For comparison the Toyota Landcruiser Prado held just three and Ford Everest much better with seven.

The third-row seats fold out from underneath the boot floor, leaving a cavity that I found handy for our valuables when at the beach and I put the bag of wet beach gear in there on the way home because this area is plastic lined.

The roller blind in the back of the Pajero has two flaps of fabric covering the area behind the second-row seats and the bar. This is great for keeping the boot contents covered, however, the plastic attachments could break quite quickly.

How good is storage inside the Mitsubishi Pajero?

Storage inside the cabin of the Mitsubishi Pajero is mainly very minimal throughout; with a few exceptions, the central console storage box which is large and deep.

There is also a shelf in the top of it, good for your sunglasses because there is no glasses holder.

In front of this is are two cup holders that I found fitted my reusable Luxey Cup and a disposable coffee cup well, and a large refillable water bottle fitted in them too. In front of those is a small well I found the only spot for my phone but not ideal as it slid out as we went around corners!

The glove box would hold my wallet and iPad with the manual.

There is no glasses case in the ceiling but there are lit vanity mirrors in both front extendable visors.

The front door bins are ridiculous! Only just big enough to hold an iPad, no water bottle would fit in them and this meant we had water bottle rolling around in all the footwells which was really irritating.

In front of the gear lever are a 12V socket and hidden storage slot that is smooth plastic so anything you put in there slides around and falls out. The USB port is in the glove box which meant we had a wire going from there across the front passenger's legs all the time which isn't ideal.

In the back, there are NO door bins. You read it right!! CRAZY hey!

There are map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold and conceal an iPad.

There are also two cup holders in a fold-down armrest in the central seatback but it is quite hard to use this when child seats are installed to the ISOFix points as the child seats cover the central seatback.

There is NO storage in the third-row either! I feel the Pajero could really use an update in the storage department!

How noisy is the Mitsubishi Pajero?

The media system in the Mitsubishi Pajero is pretty basic, which does make it easy to use. One of the improvements Mitsubishi has made is the introduction of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is great.

You can alter some of the sound settings within the media screen which is good to eliminate some baby-waking beeps!

This is another area the Pajero lacks is its technology. There is no digital speedo for example which is CRAZY! Especially when trying to judge where to set the cruise control!

There is an old school digital screen on the central dash that gives you your distance to empty and really dates the interior, looking like an old alarm clock from the 80's!

The distance to empty display becomes extra important as a mum because getting fuel with a baby is a whole new world of difficult. If they are screaming in the car you definitely do not want your journey prolonged with a fuel stop! If they are asleep the turning off of the engine, doors opening and locking and unlocking, then re-opening the doors and closing, starting the engine again, beepers going off because you haven’t got your seatbelt on when you start the car or because you blink in the wrong direction, do you take them out of the car when you go in to pay? If you do will you get them back in the seat again or will they have a complete meltdown and you’ll be stuck on the fuel station forecourt with a screaming baby!! Hopefully you are starting to gather the anxiety that what was once a simple fuel stop can be for a mum!!!!

For this reason the distance to empty display can let you know if you have enough fuel to make it home with bub and then go out and get fuel another time when you will not have to take bub with you.

The reversing camera image fills the screen in the Mitsubishi Pajero. It is quite pixellated and you can turn the parking sensor beeps off with a button situated by your left knee.

The indicators are quiet in the Mitsubishi Pajero and didn’t disturb my sleeping toddler.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The windows can be locked from the driver's door. The windows are quiet and would not disturb small sleeping passengers when opening and closing them. The doors do sometimes need a second slam I found as they didn't always shut the first time.

Being diesel the engine of the Pajero is quite noisy especially when going up hills.

How many child seats fit in the Mitsubishi Pajero seven-seater?

When installing child seats into the Mitsubishi Pajero there are a couple of options. On the second-row seats, there are two ISOfix points that are not within plastic guides but hidden behind slits in the seat fabric.

Weirdly, the ISOfix attachments are not in the outer seats but straddling the outer seats and central seat. This means if you use both sets of ISOFix you can only fit two child seats in the back. This does leave a little gap on either side of the child seats.

If you use the seatbelts instead of ISOFix then there is space across the second-row seats to fit three child seats.

There are three top tether anchorages on the floor behind the second row of seats, they are however in the foot and legroom of the third-row seats.

The third-row seats do not have top tether anchorages or ISOFix so I could not install any child seats back there.

To access the third-row you either have to climb in through the boot, which was my preference! Otherwise, you have to uninstall child seats as the second-row seat tumbles forward.

The third-row seats are quite comfortable but the top tether straps from the second-row child seats really obstruct your legroom.

Even with child seats installed in the second-row seats, there is plenty of legroom for tall passengers in the front and we found a 182cm passenger could easily sit in front of a rear-facing child seat.

I could sit in the third row with plenty of headroom (I'm 162cm) legroom was about right for me and not much to spare and the top tether anchorages really affected the space I had available.

Posting bub into their child seat from outside and inside the car is really nice and easy.

Australia being a country of weather extremes; blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

There is plenty of room to feed bub in the back if you only have one child seat installed.

How comfortable is the Mitsubishi Pajero? And how good is the Mitsubishi Pajero to drive?

In the front of the Mitsubishi Pajero, the seats are comfortable, they have an electric adjustment on the side of both front seats. I found I couldn't wear a ponytail and the headrests are not adjustable.

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

The seats have black leather outer panels and the central panels are woven suit like fabric. It did mean the central panels did not get too hot to sit on when left parked in the sun but they would be harder to wipe clean.

For a mum travelling in the back with bub, the seats are comfortable at the sides. When using the ISOFix there is no room to sit in the central seat. In the central seat, I could feel the hardness of the drop-down armrest in the seatback. There is LOTS of legroom in the footwell and it was great for kids to be able to walk through from one side to the other when parked in tight car parks.

For the first year of Tulsi’s life when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with Tulsi so it’s important to check the back seat comfort as you may be spending a lot of time in them! They were never something I gave any thought to before but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!

The steering wheel was adjustable up and down in the Pajero.

The cruise controls are on the right-hand-side on the steering wheel. The controls are easy to use but the lack of digital speedo made it really hard to set an accurate speed, or tell if the cruise control was exceeding the speed limit!

There are four air-conditioning vents across the front dashboard; two large central ones either side of the media screen and one smaller one at either end of the dashboard.

There are aircon vents in the ceiling above the windows of both rear rows of seats which is a fantastic family-friendly feature.

There are aircon controls in the back of the central console box

As well as them being able to be turned on and off with the front controls too, which is great so you can control them while you are driving.

The rear interior lights are located in the ceiling above the second-row doors, but too far back to reach them from the driver's seat while driving!

I have found Tulsi does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.

Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a five-minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

There are handles above the rear doors to hang a child's toy on.

Visibility in the Mitsubishi Pajero is surprisingly good for such a big car. The enormous, square windows are very deep and make visibility really good even with three child seats across the middle row.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread parking new cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, the Mitsubishi Pajero although big was easy to park.

Aesthetically the Mitsubishi Pajero has not been updated with a lot of the fineries we are used to but with some decent sized door bins, it would make a great family SUV, that's capable off-road too!

The Mitsubishi Pajero is a good car to drive, despite being a big vehicle it is surprisingly good to drive around town and suburbs and comfy on the motorway too.

Mitsubishi Pajero?

The Mitsubishi Pajero scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2011 so it has not been through the child occupant protection testing.

It got an overall score of 33.41 out of 37. Getting 13.41 out of 16 for frontal offset test, full marks for both the side-impact and pole tests, pedestrian protection was rated poor.

The Pajero comes with six airbags as standard, dual frontal, front side and side (head) curtain airbags for front and rear side passengers and NO THIRD-ROW airbags and there is only a seatbelt reminder for the front seats.

The Pajero also comes with antilock braking system (ABS), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), hill launch assist.

Automatic headlights are available on some varients.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!