In WWII Mitsubishi made the legendary lightweight dogfighter, the A6M Zero. In contrast to that, today’s Mitsubishi Montero is a heavyweight, but will its price make it a zero, or a hero?

Ten grand is a lot of money to spend on an old car that doesn’t either cause your eyelids to flap viciously from its acceleration, or panties to immediately drop owing to its drop-dead good looks. Yesterday’s was absent either of those attributes and so, nice as it was, its 85% Crack Pipe loss was perhaps preordained.

Now, let’s endeavor to see how a Montero fares.

So, my first thought upon seeing this was “Mitsubishi still made the Montero in 2000?” Then I remembered, they were still making it until just a couple of years ago!

Holy cow, it’s like discovering your cousin has grown up to become…. well, still your cousin. Which of course you don’t have any interest in like that because they’re your cousin and that’s icky.

This Montero isn’t icky, in fact at 16-years old it’s the same age as many kids just getting their license, and a lot of parents might like to wrap their newly anointed road warriors in heavy armor just like this Mit-SUV.

These are pretty tough customers with a boxed ladder frame underpinning a wide-fendered five-door body and supporting an ActivTrac 4WD system with IFS. The engine on this one—a 200-horse, 3.5-litre V6—is said to have been recently imbued with a new timing belt and other ancillary goodies.

That must have cost a good bit as the pics of the partially disassembled engine are shaky, likely taken after the bill estimate was presented. Now the seller says that the truck ‘runs and drives like a champ.’ Hopefully not Muhammad Ali because he’s kind of messed up. Just sayin.’

He also claims that everything save for a recalcitrant rear passenger door works as it should. And there’s a lot to work here too as this is the top-o-the-heap Endeavor model, which was only offered in 2000 and which added features like heated seats and wood trim.

That wood trim looks a little beat up here, and in fact the whole interior looks like this champ has gone a few rounds with a worthy contender. It does have a center stack incline-o-meter just like yesterday’s Tercel, so if you’re jonesing over one of those here’s another chance to get one.

On the outside, things don’t looks too bad. The phat fenders of these later 2nd-gen Monteros give them some additional presence, as does the added-on bull bar up in front. Maybe it would have been better to put that in the back because, while the ad says the truck is rust-free, there’s a sizable dent on the rear quarter that’s broken the paint and is an inroad to the nasty never-sleeping stuff. POR15 people!

The asking price for this fairly unique four-by-four is $4,650, and for that much you could take a lap of luxury off-roading. With only 106,000 miles on the clock, it surely can do that,right?

What’s your take on this truck and its $4,650 price? Does that seem like the sweet spot for this Mitsubishi in its present state? Or, for that much would you just as soon forget they made the Montero in 2000?

You decide!

Seattle , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Justin Hughes for the hookup!

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