Faults:

Cosmetic items and plastic parts on the door trims have broken.

Plastic seat mouldings have broken.

Rear shock absorbers ruptured at 45000 km - replaced them with OME heavy duty shocks and heavy duty king springs (forget the Mitsi units if you plan to tow with this car, upgrade it ASAP).

Mitsi were not friendly with the warranty on this either, but... another story.

General Comments:

We bought this as primarily a tow rig for our caravan and some off road as well; for those purposes it functions well, but you must remember you get what you pay for; on the scale of 4WDs it's a fairly cheap bus, and it's fairly cheap to run. OK as a result you must expect the cheap plastics for the price range.

On the road it drives fairly agricultural, heavy steering, fairly good pick up, seats are comfy enough on a long haul, with enough mod cons to keep you happy and comfortable.

The original car stereo is rubbish in the base model; upgrade this to one with a hands free phone kit...

Why on earth would you fit a 4WD with a 70 litre tank, that's very frustrating on long hauls. Our previous 4WDs had 130 litres.

Towing it's a fantastic car for the price - no problems there at all. We tow all up 2700kg with 160kg + ball weight - yes she's working... (this is all within spec on the Challenger!)

The Challenger has all bash plates underneath and good ground clearance off road. Entrance and exit angles are again very good. You will have no problems at all keeping up with mates in Toyotas and Nissans; the Challenger is a VERY capable 4WD off road.

When off road I found that the "low" range was not as low as I would have liked or previously experienced. Some may find the gearing a bit quick for low range.

Off road this car likes VERY soft tires in sand; don't be afraid to go to 10 - 12PSI;

that was the one error I made, but once you have the tyre pressure right she is nothing short of a dune buggy.

All in all, if you are looking for a tow pig, and are tight on cash, get the Mitsi Challenger. No problems at all.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Like the vehicle, nice comfy leather seats, great sound system, rear wheel drive in 2 wheel mode, high low ratio plus diff lock, has a paddle shift gear option, and is good when towing.

This is a top of the range model with all the bells and whistles, and I can recommend it.

It feels good and solid on road, and it's well finished (not plasticky) and has solid fittings.

General Comments:

The car has had an intermittent fault; sometimes when run on light throttle or stopped, it goes into idle mode. After a pause of a few seconds without any throttle response, the car then runs normally. This has occurred intermittently since new. The dealer has been unable to rectify, at first suggesting bad fuel.

The vehicle then went into the dealer for four days, and a malfunction occurred whilst in for repair. They told me that the fault had been rectified; a loose connection on the air mass meter. The same fault with a lack of throttle has since reoccurred and the vehicle is back to the dealer. Any ideas as to the possible problem would be appreciated. Despite the lack of throttle response, the vehicle does not indicate a fault.