Gen 2 & 2.5 owners..what your milage and long term ownership reviews.

[MrGalantguy]

Hello,

I am curious for those Gen 2 and 2.5 owners what kind of milage do you have on your Monteros/Pajeros. I would also like to get your long term review of ownership with these especially on the highler milage ones.

Thanks:rally_guys:

 

[Swank Force One]

I've only had mine for 13 months, so grain of salt when i say that after 170k miles it's pretty bad. Previous owner(s) didn't care for it.

That said, it drives really well for the miles and general neglect. I would expect a well-cared one to easily go 250-300k miles in a region where it wouldn't rust away first.

 

[Salonika]

210k and counting.....not a daily driver & lots of routine maintenance. 2nd owner. I've got some rust but I'm planning on keeping it for a long time. I love my Montero. It's the only SUV I've ever owned.....it always gets the job done.

 

[Toasty]

225k miles and 13 years, mostly daily driven, been through some trails, water, rocks, snow and it's still the most reliable thing I've owned. Drives quiet, straight and the biggest failure I've had was the heater core started leaking a few years ago.

 

[LibertyFLS]

3rd owner of my 99, it just hit 222,222 the other day, I've had it about 3 months. Leaking cam seals are the only issue, taken it offroading a few times so far. Had a 95 with similar mileage for about 6 months before getting the 99. The 95 wasn't an SR so it had the smaller motor and it was bone dry everywhere, not a drop of oil under the whole truck, offroaded it several times and became hooked which is why I went for the gen 2.5 in overall better physical condition, although not better mechanically. It's my daily driver so the other car can sit and I love driving it. Getting about 14-15 mpg around town, 18 or so on the freeway, but 99% of the time I'm local to home so not on freeway that often.

 

[SONICMASD]

I've owned my 98 for 8 months. It had 200k when I bought it and I'm at 205 now. Previous Owner did belts, seals, and a tune up at 160k and I'm planning on doing the timing belt job early in about 2 months from now. The only issue with the truck right now is that the radiator has a tiny leak so I'll have that addressed during the timing belt/water pump job.

Honestly, at this point, I'm married to this rig. Unless for some reason I really wanted to go to a solid axle up front I'm going to stick with this vehicle indefinitely. Even if one day the engine dies (which I don't expect to happen before 250k), then that will just be an excuse to do a V8 swap.

 

[DanielDD]

Well, I'm not a good use case for you, but I've had mine for a month and put 0 miles on it. Got it with 250K on it and a leaking head gasket. Engine is out, torn down and awaiting cleaning, boring, valve job, etc at the machine shop. Bought it because I wanted a project - and boy do I have one now!

 

[RyanY]

Bought mine in late 2004 with 128K miles - it's now at 264K and has been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. It's been used for serious rock crawling, hardcore off-roading, rally-style high-speed dirt driving, towing a 1500 pound tent trailer up mountains, and both of my daughters learning to drive with it. It's also been accidentally drowned in over 3 feet of salt water in Mexico and survived to drive my family home. It's been through a number of window regulators, a few sets of ball joints, and most everything that wears out in the suspension and steering has been replaced at least once. The bottom end of the engine has never been apart, nor has the transmission - I removed the heads shortly after purchasing it only to replace the valve stem seals. It has taken more abuse than any vehicle has a right to, performed admirably, and came back asking for more.

 

[Dereksd]

Got my 96 SR at about 165k and have since added about 25k to it. Other than replacing a few normal wear and tear parts that come along with a 20 year old vehicle, I have never had to do a big overhaul on anything. The montero has proven to be the most reliable vehicle in the family. I have 33's and get around 13 or 14 mpg. Lots of city driving though.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

See RyanY's answer above. If anybody has used a Montero to the limit of what it "could" be used for, it's him. I've only put something like 30K miles on mine ('95 SR) in about ten years, but it's set for the next 60K after all the parts and maintenance that has been put into it. My gas mileage is around 15 mpg because I don't care.

John B.

 

['round n' back again]

with mitsu you will find a depth of engineering that transcends neglect. the fundamentals are so solid that the rig will bounce back from neglect and perform admirably.

pay atten to the weak spots address them early, and keep a program of steady upgrade/ maintenance and you will be surprised to find that this brand will reward you handsomely. and how inexpensive that strategy actually is with mitsu's. especially compared to parts/availability costs for other brands; toyota; cost, nissan; avaiability, mercedes; both.
i have found the mitsu dealers to be genuinely pleasant compared to some other marques

my mitsu was a derelict headed to the crusher when our pathes crossed. i front loaded my maintenance b4 ever even getting to drive her building on her for 9 months. but ive put almost 9K since oct '16 and she is quickly becoming my mainstay, if i cant use my tonner.

 

[quailchaser]

While I'm still rebuilding mine, it went 200k before the rebuild. It was smoking slightly so I went ahead and rebuilt everything. It really could have used just the heads being done. One valve was burnt and the cams were worn past the limit, but the bottom end was still great. I just honed it up and replaced the bearings even though the old ones were still in spec.

Maintenance wise, it had the cam belt and tensioner changed at factory intervals, regular oil changes, even had a couple of the cats replaced (CA emissions).

I'm hoping it lasts another 200k or more as I really don't want a newer or even different rig.

 

[gxgn]

My '99 has 167K miles and I only put less than 1500 on it so it's early to comment. So far it has been more costly than I thought, all the fluids changes, axles, rear brakes, shifter etc it adds up quickly.

 

[Pingis]

I bought my 95 SR with 149k miles. It now has 162k. I've taken it on many trips and it is my daily driver. Luckily I don't have a long commute. It hasn't given me issue other than a vacuum leak or something when I first bought it. Paid to have that fixed along with new brakes. Did the timing belt job at 160k. Thinking about selling though cause I got a sweet deal on a 5th gen 4runner a few months ago and I find that I drive that a lot more now.

 

[MrGalantguy]

Sounds like the 200+ mile Monteros still do very well...especially if well cared for. As expected there is some required refreshing to the suspension and other misc things...but that is normal.