2nd Gen Monteros - Rare Birds - But Aren't Worth Much - Why?

[DanielDD]

When I bought mine last year I had to search long and hard for one as they aren't plentiful around here. Lots of sports, but no full size Monteros. As I've searched on CL in various parts of the country, I find they are somewhat rare - and the ones I do find are well worn out and dirt cheap. So, what happened to the Montero? Why have they fallen in dis-repair and become so incredibly cheap?

By all accounts, the Montero seems to have a stable drivetrain and delivers decent gas mileage and can do the usual mall crawling/grocery getter tasks. So, the question still bothers me… why are they not sought after like the land cruiser or the FJ series as a capable over landing vehicle?

I'm not usually one to hold on to ANY vehicle for any significant length of time because, well I have changing tastes and I like the next shiny project to keep me out of trouble, but I fear that these vehicles don't engender a rabid following to keep their resell prices at a decent market value. At this point there is no way I'll break even on mine should I decide to part with it and I'm sure at some point I will divest myself of it.

Personally, I think it is a shame these vehicles have such low resell values.

 

[Salonika]

I have no plans to sell mine.......so I don’t care about resale. I like to think about what I’d have to spend to buy a new equivalent vehicle instead of resale or even what I’ve put into it. It’s not a daily driver. It takes me camping, pulls my utility trailer, hauls home project supplies, and covers me in any winter weather. I inherited mine years ago and have put 5-6k into it over the 10+ years I’ve owned it. No regrets.

 

[Toasty]

As a Montero super connoisseur and having been in this for a long time I will say that values are on the rise for the first time EVER. I've only ever known them to depreciate in value, that has changed with the term "Overlander". Finally people are seeing them for what they are and they are being used as they were intended, plus we have a decent aftermarket for them now with locking diffs and gears being available as well as a number of other offroad oriented parts. It's now a better than ever time to own a Montero its only a shame it didn't happen 30 years ago.

 

[PirateMcGee]

As a former Toyota owner I am extremely pleased with Montero prices. They are realistically valued unlike some more popular brands.

 

[ChargerX3]

I like the lower prices. Means I can pick up a couple variants for cheap. They are quickly becoming classics.

 

['round n' back again]

simle. mitsu didnt properly stoke the fires here in the US. anywhere else in the world the pajero is well represented and respected for its purposes.

here not so.

its a sad long decline from the ***- kicking mitsu gave everyone in rally to the present state of affairs.

for all intents and purposes the pajero is the equal or better than any other marque.

as for the fickle american buyer, well you can trust them to let go this an grab that on a whim.

last , i was at a monestery where people from all over the world visited, i had my 91 ls with all its camp gear an trailer and a fellow from finland commented very positively on my buggy. said if he could afford one back home he would buy one of my vintage.

 

[MrGalantguy]

I can really understand you viewpoint for shopping for one because your experience is exactly what I ran into when I was shopping for mine. Check out this link http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/mitsubishi/mitsubishi-montero/ and you will see how many Monteros were sold each year starting from 1995 ending in 2009 in the North American market. As you can see...during the initial couple years when the platform was new they sold relatively well and then started dropping. The only surge is the final year of the Gen 2 platform in which it spiked probably due to manufacture incentives/rebates to push them off the dealer lots. (Kinda sucked since non of the year 2000 Gen 2's came with factory lockers).

So looking at the numbers you are more likely to find a good used Montero if they were 95 or 96 simply due to the amount sold but if you are looking for a 97-99 you will have a harder time since there isn't many of them that were sold and even less as the years went by as naturally some are no longer available due to accidents, insurance total losses, etc etc.

Another thing to consider is Mitsubishi's brand image at the time...the 90's were great for Mitsubishi, but they weren't known to the mainstream for building a pretty damn good SUV, mostly performance cars in which Mitsubishi used to market their N.A vehicles. I agree though if Mitsubishi marketed the Montero to appeal both to the mainstream consumer base (Soccer Mom, Mall crawler professional) but at the same time market it to the more enthusiast consumer who are much like most of us on this board they would of probably sold more of them.

Most of society are like lemmings and just follow to what is popular and base their reasoning behind that for several reasons whatever it is. There are more Jeeps and Toyota owners out there to influence those getting into the offroading/overlanding/rock climbing to buy a Toyota or Jeep and this will result in demand and along with that $$$ goes up. Doesn't mean Toyotas or Jeeps are better than our Monteros....just means "lemmings" are in the market for them and will demand premium price for them.

In the recent months I have had several people come up to me asking me about my Montero. From giving compliments to questions like "What kind of lift did you do?" to "Did you import it...I never knew Mitsubishi had a cool SUV". Since I work in a area where there are a lot of tourist visiting from everywhere I have seen people take pics of my Montero and even posing next to it (Always keeping an eye out on IG of maybe seeing one of these pics) and if they happen to see me getting in or out of it or driving my Montero, I get positive comments but referring it to either a Pajero or Shogun.

 

[DanielDD]

Interesting to note that in year 2000 there were more gen2 Monteros sold than in the last three year combined. Looks like the ones that would be hard to find would be the earlier years. Its pretty pathetic there were so few sold, so maybe Toasty is on to something here that prices will be on the upswing once people start noticing the capabilities these vehicles have and their relative rarity in the marketplace.



Year Number sold


2000 21.578
1999 5.115
1998 4.120
1997 6.915
1996 12.083
1995 17.747

 

[jeep-N-montero]

The sad part though is that once people do take more notice of them most will be so beat up that they are really only good for parts.

 

[coffeegoat]

I think what you're really noticing is just a function of old/unknown. Most people (myself originally included) are/were unfamiliar with the Montero's pedigree, the only Mitsubishi I remember growing up was the Eclipse, and more recently is the Evo, and even though they were pretty cool cars, an asian performance car brand just doesn't bring to mind "rugged and reliable SUV." This means that an older montero (or even Gen III) is just another old beat-up SUV that they don't make anymore (as far as the American public knows,) whereas new Land Cruisers and Range Rovers keep rolling off the lots. New Range Rovers still have TV commercials showing how tough they are off road while dropping the kids off at school....

9 times out of 10 when I mention I have a Montero peoples response is "Huh?" If you don't know what it is, and it's a bit rough around the edges, then you're only going to pay pennies for it. People know what a land cruiser is, and because it has a reputation for rugged reliable performance, it has crazy resale value. Same thing could be said about Cummins equipped trucks, the truck is probably rusting to bits but that engine is gold. I'm only about $6k into my montero project and when I finish it up (remaining springs, roof rack, stereo) I'll still be less than half the cost of a comparable age Toyota, that's just not rational if you know anything about trucks, but most people don't so they ascribe value to the reputation they know.

However, I think I'm not the only one that has noticed this discrepancy so buy them cheap while you can, they're only going to go up in price...

 

[plh]

So looking at the numbers you are more likely to find a good used Montero if they were 95 or 96 simply due to the amount sold but if you are looking for a 97-99 you will have a harder time since there isn't many of them that were sold and even less as the years went by as naturally some are no longer available due to accidents, insurance total losses, etc etc.

Studies from NHTSA suggest that by the time a light truck (I think this would be the correct Montero classification) reaches 22 years old there are only 20% of those sold remaining on the road. So if we consider 1995 to 1997 all in this ballpark there are likely less than 7,500 of the most desirable Gen 2 left in the US, For Gen 2.5 (1998 - 2000) this can be bumped up to 35% remaining so less than 11,000 remaining.

Gets to be a very small supply for 6 model years of vehicles.

edited below.

 

[Swank Force One]

I'd be shocked if there were 100 for sale in the US on a given day, quite honestly.

And apologies for the incoming hot take:

I DO love my Gen2.5. I really do. This is why i keep it.

BUT. BUT. Now that we also have an FZJ80 as well... i somewhat understand why it has a bigger following. The motor is better. Full stop. The transmission is better. Full stop. I feel like overall, it's built a bit stronger and better. Almost un-necessarily so. It has better support. Because it was built in larger quantities and was part of a longer-running model line.

Of course, the Gen2.5 represents a lot of value, but it also has some undesirables for the crawling, AND overlanding communities. It has an IFS. It has a motor that's a bit more maintenance intensive than other options that came in other vehicles, realistically without any performance upsides. And of course, support. The ADD dudes are doing great things, and i'm REALLY amped to have my truck at the time that it's starting to pick up. And yes, there are things that i think the Gen2 does better than the FZJ80. First and foremost, look cool, and i also think that the on-road "feel," especially steering, is better. It's also a much smaller pain in the *** to get a good stereo going in a Gen2. (Seriously Toyota, what were you thinking with those speaker dimensions?

But the value/bargain aspect (and the looks. They look SO COOL) is the main reason to have them in my opinion/experience. If the Gen2 was "worth" as much as an FZJ80, i wouldn't have one. I'd have an FZJ80. I like underdogs/off the beaten path, but not enough to pay as much as the goliath i'm trying to slay on a David budget. Picking up what i'm throwing down?

 

[plh]

I'd be shocked if there were 100 for sale in the US on a given day, quite honestly.

edited below

 

[DanielDD]

I'd be shocked if there were 100 for sale in the US on a given day, quite honestly.

And apologies for the incoming hot take:

I DO love my Gen2.5. I really do. This is why i keep it.

BUT. BUT. Now that we also have an FZJ80 as well... i somewhat understand why it has a bigger following. The motor is better. Full stop. The transmission is better. Full stop. I feel like overall, it's built a bit stronger and better. Almost un-necessarily so. It has better support. Because it was built in larger quantities and was part of a longer-running model line.

Of course, the Gen2.5 represents a lot of value, but it also has some undesirables for the crawling, AND overlanding communities. It has an IFS. It has a motor that's a bit more maintenance intensive than other options that came in other vehicles, realistically without any performance upsides. And of course, support. The ADD dudes are doing great things, and i'm REALLY amped to have my truck at the time that it's starting to pick up. And yes, there are things that i think the Gen2 does better than the FZJ80. First and foremost, look cool, and i also think that the on-road "feel," especially steering, is better. It's also a much smaller pain in the *** to get a good stereo going in a Gen2. (Seriously Toyota, what were you thinking with those speaker dimensions?

But the value/bargain aspect (and the looks. They look SO COOL) is the main reason to have them in my opinion/experience. If the Gen2 was "worth" as much as an FZJ80, i wouldn't have one. I'd have an FZJ80. I like underdogs/off the beaten path, but not enough to pay as much as the goliath i'm trying to slay on a David budget. Picking up what i'm throwing down?

This is an excellent and informative post regarding the Montero vs the LandCruiser. THanks.

 

[Swank Force One]

To be clear, i think the Montero is an incredibly good choice for the price that they go for, and i suggest them to pretty much everybody who asks.