Hi Maurie,

I've seen you over on CN4xc and have followed your progress on Phil's old shorty. Someone can correct me if I've got some 'facts' wrong, but here's my opinion. I've got an '03 sport and can say that the engine in mine is fairly stout (134XXX trouble free kms). Under the hood is fairly full in my opinion and would take some creative work to get, say, a 2nd battery wired in.

In my opinion, the trans is a little sloppy (at least on mine it is). I've read reviews from other owners and car mags about this trans issue and can confirm this to be fairly true. I'm not sure if this is due to the A4WD system in mine or if the tranny's in all the sports are this way. Having owned a Gen 1 auto, I thought this auto was more quick in shifting and overall 'feel' than the sport trans. I'm also comparing this to my dad's jeep cherokee, and my brother's old 4runner and Grand Cherokee.

Space wise, it has less room than a Gen 2 LWB. Headroom is less than the Gen 1's. The seating position is more car like, not like the gen 1 seating. One thing I wish we had is a rear mounted tire carrier like the overseas Mits Challengers. I've also found the placement of the A pillars to be a fairly significant blind spot (to me anyway). Driving range is about 500 highway kms per tank (70L-regular grade recommended) leaving about 1/8 on the gauge (regular trips to Ft. Mac).

Stock ride height is fairly good and I've found that 265-75R16's are about the largest you can fit without rubbing issues. If you're going to offroad it you will need to take off the factory side steps (if so equipped). Body wise, the steps have proven to be the only rust prone parts on mine.

As FastEddy mentioned, it is based on the pickup body on frame config and I have read of owners doing 1" bodylifts with no issues in order to fit 33's. I believe OME has a rear lift kit (leafs and shocks); this plus a torsion bar crank would be the other option for lift to fit 33's.

I don't know if the XLS package had the option of the rear LSD (mine doesn't have one), but I think the Limited models had this option. As with Monty's, North American aftermarket support is fairly weak compared to your nissan or a toyota. ARB does make a front locker for the later models and there are rumors of a rear locker for the larger (3.5L engine) rear axle in the works. ARB also has a winch bumper for the earlier model with minor tweaking to get it to fit on later models.

Parts wise, I had some trouble getting regular maintenance items (filters, gaskets, etc) at the time the belts needed service so I went to the stealership for full service parts.

This is all just my opinion of course and it's worth what you've paid me for it. Go out and test drive a couple. All in all its a good truck and I like driving it, but I love driving my Gen 1's over the sport. Its currently a dedicated baby hauler and grocery go getter (for now). You'll find others who have transformed these rigs in great offroaders. Check out the Mitsu section on ExpeditionPortal.com PM me if you want anymore insight or if you have anymore questions. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />