Pajero vs Explorer vs Prado

[niky]

1. Ground clearance - Pajero or Prado

2. Fuel economy - the diesels With an AT, the Pajero and Prado will be at about 5 km/l in traffic versus 3.5 km/l for the Explorer. The Explorer is actually nearly as good on the highway, but diesel costs less than gas.

3. Low maintenance cost - you don't buy cars this expensive and expect low maintenance costs. As long as you're doing things at the dealership, these cars will all cost a lot to maintain The diesels will require more frequent/more expensive PMS, but I don't expect the difference to be that significant.

4. Driving comfort - Explorer, by a mile

5. Power for overtaking vehicles - All are okay. but the Pajero and Explorer definitely have an edge over the 3.0 Prado.

6. Durability and reliability - Possible mechanical issue for Ford will be the power-take-off rear differential. Possible issues for the Prado and Pajero are fuel system problems down the line. Both can be minimized by cautious preventive maintenance and avoiding doing things that will bring about problems (loading dirty diesel, driving very hard, missing PMS fluid changes). Your call.

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7. GOOD RESALE VALUE - This is the big one, isn't it? My advice: The cheapest diesel in your price range will always have the best resale value. Let's take a look.

Old Explorers at five years are listing at 700k. That's a 1.3m loss from brand new at 35% resale. Remember, the old Explorer had the low-tech Cologne engine, which made much less power and was less economical than the new one on the highway (they both still suck in traffic). I expect new Explorer resale will be higher because it's more desirable. I'd say 40-45%. Rough estimate, 1m, for a 1.5m peso loss.

Prado resale should be around 50%, given we're talking about the diesel... so around 2.2m pesos.

Obviously, though... you're spending 3.6 - 3.8m pesos on the Prado in the first place, so you're still taking a 1.5m million peso loss. Same as with the Explorer! The 2.2m is optimistic, actually. Given the 3.6 - 3.8m price of a local brand new diesel, secondhand five year old 4x4 diesel Prados are actually listing at around 2m flat, for a 1.6 - 1.8m peso loss.

The Pajero DiD lists for 2.7m. Five year old diesels are listing for 1.55m, on average. That's just a 1.15m loss at a resale rate of over 50%. You can do better with the Pajero because price discrepancy between local and secondhand gray market is much lower than with Prados. For the price of a secondhand local Prado, buyers can get a secondhand Dubhai version with a whole lot more luxury.

This is listng price, mind you. contract price will be between 100-200k pesos lower, depending on how desperate you are to sell. And Prado and Pajero secondhand prices will likely get much lower when the current models change... which may happen within the next five years. The Explorer is a new model, and we will likely not see a new one for several more years.

So. In this one instance. Toyota doesn't win resale. Mind-boggling, huh?

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8. Prestige (or yabang factor) - All are pretty good.

Bonus: High tech stuffs - Explorer, by a mile.

Listen to foresterx. He speaks the truth. If you can't afford the fuel and maintenance, best to consider buying something cheaper than a truck that will lose you over 1 million pesos in resale and over 1 million pesos in fuel/maintenance/insurance costs whichever way you cut it.