after much thought... the mileage and the age of the vehicle became the basis. 55,000kms vs 23,000kms, 7 years vs 3 years....
so i got the 4x2 2.7 diesel fortuner. i know much has been said in this forum about the unreliability of the
2.7 diesel fortuner, but i can't just ignore the difference in age and mileage, plus the fact that i had to fix the front breaks, change the tires (among other things) with the pajero and the fortuner came with prado mags already - while all i did for the fortuner was bring it to big berts

so there it is... thanks to everyone for your advice!!!