Mitsubishi Triton Proves its off-roading capabilities at the 25th Borneo Safari

Kuala Lumpur: Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia's (MMM) all-new Triton pick-up was another reason of exuberance for the motor enthusiasts in Malaysia. The off-roader was an all new innovation that the trucking community had seen before. It's unprecedented levels of interior trim and passenger comfort brought many passenger saloon cars to shame.

However, the off-roading capabilities of this all new Triton were skeptical considering the sleek handling of the offroader in the city, which is thought to be tough for the 4X4 trucks. Thus, the question was frequently asked in Sabah and Sarawak, whether the 4X4 double cabins performs equally well on the rough terrains.

There could not be any better event than the 25th Sabah’s Borneo Safari to prove the capabilities of the Mitsubishi Triton VGT. The task for the Japanese off-roader set by the Borneo Safari organizers was to take a standard Triton VGT (Variable Geometry Turbo) 2.5L Common Rail diesel with 5-speed manual transmission through an 8-day 7-night expedition through some of the hardest terrains Sabah has to offer.

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There were only limited types of equipment supplied by the organizers and some being mandatory like a winch, a snorkel and a set of Extreme tyres. A Warn with a pulling force capability of 4.5-tonne was equipped on the bull bar that afforded frontal protection. Apart from it a rear metal bumper with suitable recovery points and heavy-duty side steps cum sill protectors were fitted to the 4x4.

The Triton VGT rolled around the rough terrains on the GT Radial Komodo Extreme 35 10.5 16 (also rated as 280/85 16) tyres, which were chosen for their proven ability to grip in all the ground conditions likely to be encountered.

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Mr. Yang Won-Chul, Chief Executive Officer of MMM said, “We are very proud that the all-new Triton VGT MT has successfully completed the Borneo Safari! The event is known to be the world’s toughest 4X4 expeditions hence we decided to rise up to the challenge and to conquer the trails of Borneo Safari!  MMM is happy to say that the all-new Triton is the tougher and better truck, since 1977.”

The Pilot of the safari this year was a well-known motoring journalist and full-time 4X4 enthusiast, Paul Si from Kuching, Sarawak, a 5-times veteran of the Borneo Safari and Lionel Yew from Selangor, who has had over a decade’s experience in four-wheel-drive adventures, including two Borneo Safaris.

Paul Si said, “The all-new Triton can complete the tough trek in one piece with minor adjustments. Obviously, a car that is purpose built or modified for the task would perform better on the off-road track, but at the expense of on-road comfort and performance.”

He further added that “You should have seen the other guy(s). Up and down the trail, there were multiple reports of overturned cars. By all accounts, there were more incidents of rollovers in this year’s event than the past five years combined.”

The off-roader Safari drama was well seen this year too, as the side wheels of the Triton VGT fell off the track creating a cliff-hanger moment that lasted over an hour until teamwork and winches from three cars were deployed to get it back on track.

After the tough ride when, “as-stock-as-possible” Triton drove back to the parking lot at Kota Kinabalu’s Hakka Hall, all sceptics were resolved and the offroader revealed its offroading genes by doing the job.

The all new Triton will be imported as a Completely Built-Up (CBU) vehicle from Mitsubishi Motors’ global production hub in Thailand. The truck will be available in 5 variants for the Malaysian market in the following prices and available colours.

S. No	Variant	On-The-Road Price without insurance GST inclusive (RM)	Available Colours
1	Triton VGT Adventure Automatic	110,218.56	Earth Green, Pearl White, Shadow Black, Red Solid
2	Triton VGT Automatic	98,549.28	Sterling Silver, Pearl White, Shadow Black
3	Triton VGT Manual	92,114.64	Sterling Silver, Pearl White, Shadow Black
4	Triton Manual	83,162.68	Sterling Silver, White Solid
5	Triton Quest Manual 4×2	68,576.08	Sterling Silver, White Solid

  Images Source: motortrader.com.my