Rare footage of Shahrukh Khan driving his Mitsubishi Pajero SFX [Video]

Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan is a petrohead, who has owned a range of cars and SUVs over the past three decades. His first car was a humble Maruti 800 that cost him a few thousand rupees, and his latest car is the Range Rover Vogue, which cost him a few crores. In between, Shahrukh Khan owned many cars that people know little about. Here’s one such car – the Mitsubishi Pajero SFX – which Shahrukh Khan used to drive around more than a decade ago. Rare footage of Shahrukh Khan driving this car is now available. Check it out.

As the video indicates, this Mitsubishi Pajero SFX was owned by Shahrukh much before the SUV was officially  introduced by the Japanese automaker in India. A full import, the Mitsubishi Pajero SFX SUV was the chosen ride of  the rich and famous much before it was officially introduced in India. In a sense, it was like Lexus, a luxury car brand that’s now finally available officially in India but whose reputation preceded it.

The Mitsubishi Pajero SFX SUVs that were imported into India unofficially were generally shipped directly from Japan as that country – like India – also drives on the left hand side of the road. Japan was also the country of origin  for the Pajero SFX, with the Mitsubishi factory in that part of the world fully manufacturing this iconic SUV.

While the Pajero SFX was initially introduced as a luxury SUV for the Indian market, the vehicle was mainly bought  for its rugged and reliable nature more than the luxury it offered in other parts of the world. Coming to think of  it, the Pajero SFX that Shahrukh Khan once owned would seem bare bones compared to even the compact SUVs on sale in India today.

What the Pajero SFX lacked in luxury, it more than made up in dollops of character and a rugged, go anywhere nature. The Japanese SUV that was eventually brought officially into India by Mitsubishi was offered with a single engine option – a 2.8 liter-4 cylinder turbo diesel motor with 120 Bhp of peak power and 280 Nm of peak torque. A five speed manual gearbox was standard, along with a four wheel drive transfer case that offered both low and high ratios.

When the Bharat stage 4 emission norms kicked in, Mitsubishi had to detuned the Pajero’s diesel motor, which lost  about 10 horses in the process, and made 108 Bhp-280 Nm. While the Pajero SFX was a sedate performer, nobody really bought the SUV for winning traffic light GPs. What the simple Pajero SFX excelled at was in taking the rough with the smooth, and whatever Indian roads could throw at it. It was this indestructible nature of the Pajero SFX is what endears it to off-road enthusiasts to this day. The SUV was discontinued a few years back but when it was still on sale here, Mitsubishi used to import kits through the completely knocked down (CKD) kit, and assemble it at Hindustan Motors’ factory at Tiruvallur, off Chennai.