I am certain there are forum members who have used the montero sport brand before, please share your experience on this baby cos I am so in love with it.

Thanks sienna for that but I am talking about active nigetian users,that is their experience on use and maintenance here in nija cos I've seen a few sold on nairaland. More thoughts frm you on this

I have used a montero sports ls 1998 mod year and hv this to say.

Dunno why the car gets high on marijuana smoking after few months on our roads. The white smoke (evidently from burning engine oil) comes up sooner than expected. And mind you, it is very common to see a smoky montero sports in lagos.

Seems the valve seals get baked easily and allows oil to seep in.

Apart from this, it is a wonderful suv. The 4wd is excellent and the torque generated by the six pot is satisfactory.

@siena & @sultaan, What's your take on this?

Denn, nice to hear a good report at least from an experienced person on the SUV. I must say that our roads are not kind and some of our auto technicians make owning certain kinds of cars in Nigeria unthinkable. I have read the ratings and the emmision rating is favourable for the SUV generally, i will wait to hear from other on the forum on this however. Check this link out

[url]http://www.carfax.com/car_safety/ratings/SRR.cfm/year/2003/make/MITSUBISHI/model/MONTERO%20SPORT/trim_id/2003MITS4W4MONTERO_SPORT_XLS[/url]

From experience, my brother had a 4cyl 5sp manual for 4 years and all he did was timing belt change @60k miles.

Mitsubishi is good for naija(low profile, cheap, dependable)but the fact is that if it is not Honda or Toyota its not good(naija motto)

The smoke you see is from using wrong oil 20w50 wearing out piston seals, overheating and coolant leaks.

In the rally world Montero has a reputation none can match.

You can see that the craze for 4Runner,Land Cruiser and Sequoia has died down, now its purely Pilot and MDX. CVT Transmission wahala is taking a toll on Murano/FXs sale and value.Pilot/MDX will soon have transmission problems just as Babyboys/EODs did which is why Camry is King.

Naija people have their mind made up on Toyota and Honda it will be a pure waste of time to recommend any other brand with the same maintenance culture in place

Sultaan, so what would you advice? The SUV (Montero sport) appears to me like any other in its range and on the rise in usage in Nigeria especially in Lagos. What oil can save one from the smoke and can you pleases share your brother's mantenance experience while he had it? Counting on facts from non-sentmental guys like you; i mean those with the unswerving believe that only Toyotas and Hondas are the only cars in the world.

More comments welcomed, anyone know a good Mitsubishi auto mechanic?

Its a good brand, and the Motero has done better than the 4Runner over time in terms of reliability.

The one you are looking at(XLS) seems to be in a good condition in terms of engine(no MIL, Good Idle), Just check the transmission fluid and level.

If the fluid is red, Good; brown old caution; black, run! it uses Dex III which is common.

That Montero is 4WD, look for leaks underneath at boots for axle shaft, drive shaft, look for leak on transfer case and differential/pumkin(those are usually forgotten components).Drive the car around in figure 8, if you hear popping sound or bad vibes under truck walk away.

If this is your first car, you can either gain experience with a 4WD TRUCK or have a horror story. you may test your 4WD and drive on road in 4Lo(a no no, bad move) break every and assume Montero is a bad truck. I'll say buy it. lowball seller if you can.

Sultaan, your comments are incisive, and without bias for any brand of Vehicle. Maintanance is key in machines and how much time you take in caring for them. virtually all brands of cars are used in the US and after 8years and above usage, exported to Nigeria and we buy them for the state they are in. Picture in your mind a brand new car used virtually everyday in Nigeria and compare same to the ones brought in from the states and Europe to the country. Only very few companies here in Nigeria keep the history of their vehicles and there is actually no government monitoring.

@ sultan

wld appreciate if you can recommend the perfect engine oil for montero sport

thanks

10w30

I used it in 2005/6. Couldn't tolerate it for more than six months. Not balance, fuel consumption, , not comfortable, no satisfaction. It was so bad that I didn't care how much the first buyer offered. Think well, think twice. NO SATISFACTION!

Pelican, you were too Brief as regards your take on the Montero sport. Have you never seen a bad Toyota, Mercedes etc?. If you've got details, lets have them. I probably need the auto shop address that you used so as to avoid the ruin. i am certain there were no OBD using shops in nija at that time, Welcome more from you.

My montero sport story, coming soon. Wonderful midsize SUV, I will buy it again if possible.

gulfer:
My montero sport story, coming soon. Wonderful midsize SUV, I will buy it again if possible.

Your testimonies sir