Thanks for making your car available for our entertainment and instruction, even though you forgot to keep the screen washer bottle full. Great that you have helped keep it in such good condition. Any back story? Any idea why the big bolt is on the extractors?
Hello.driven many japanese cars over the time, and they cracked it,engines in particular,Thanks for loaning your car and welldone for keeping this car alive.
The 2020 Camry's 2.5L 4-cyl puts out 203 bhp. The 3.5L V-6 puts out 301 bhp. The 1987 Magna's 2.6 ECI power output was 125 bhp, although the Magna weighs approximately 400 lbs less than the current Camry.
@Aussie Pom It's not just that. The Magna was SOHC, 12 valve with fairly basic (by modern standards) injection and a distributor. The Camry has DOHC, 24 valve with variable valve timing, coil on plug and, yes, computer control over all this unimaginable in 1985. The concept of a large FWD 4 cylinder sedan is the same. Difference is, in 1985 the Magna was an also ran, compared to Holdens and Falcons. Today Camry rules the (now small) segment.
When I was a child my father had a first generation Magna as a work car. It was something from the future. More recently, I drove a Verada for around 5 years until the gearbox expired at 497000 km. Absolute lounge barge. Loved it.
The 3.5L V6 engine although rough at idle (hold brake and place it into D) would probably last a million km if well maintained, oil and coolant changes, timing belt and water pump changes, etc. My 2000 TJ still has the original engine, 260000km.
Dashboard like a Citroen and quality like a Japanese car, who wouldn't love that?! Would prefer an estate though, I'm a sucker for estates, the more quirky, the better!
Quality in this first generation exceeded the ageing Holden and Ford competition, but there were also some huge reliability issues that took years to resolve.
The same engine was fitted to various Chrysler K-Cars in the U.S., fitted with a carburetor and a maze of emissions-related vacuum lines. That radio even has C-Quam AM Stereo, which was used in Australia beginning in 1985.
I've been collecting my own smegma in a jar for 50 years. There's about 2 inches of it in there now, and the colour changes towards the bottom which is the oldest scrapings.
It always amazes how much more advanced Japanese cars were than their British counterparts. In 1987 my dad was driving around Maestro with keep fit windows, air conditioning was reserved for the rich and famous. 😂
Pretty much a necessity having aircon, here Queensland. My predecessors in the 1960s must have been much tougher, driving vinyl seated non aircon sweat boxes.
Adding superfluous luxuries doesn't make a car "advanced"....for instance, Issigonis putting in sliding windows in the Mini represented clever-thinking, not backward thinking. It is hard to imagine anything the Japanese have featured that hasn't hitherto appeared in Euro-British models. And if I was a Jaanese car fan, I would be indepted to the Euro brands; quite literally, where would they be without their, ahem, ''borrowed technology"?
Totally agree. Mitsubishi used to have both boring and exciting cars, now they just have cars that can only be described as 'adequate transportation devices'.
@@jamesfrench7299 I would say the overall design of the Colt was actually quite inspiring compared to the bricks other manufacturers were starting to produce at that point. I mean I would prefer it over the Fiesta or the Civic which pretty much went on to become legendary
These cars were groundbreaking in their day, front wheel drive and 4 speed auto! It took Ford almost 20 years to achieve that. Quality , fit and finish were leagues ahead of the others.
@@akishot6735 Interesting comment as I have 2 magnas and a mercedes w124 coupe....the build quality of the Mercedes is disgraceful in comparasin .....the quality of the plastics, stoneage electrics and fasteners used are just bad in the w124. My car was built without most of the sealant missing around the rear window resulting in waterleaks and severe rust in internal roof structure. MITSUBISHI has massive quality of design and construction.....
The first-gen Magna was a revolutionary car that other Japanese manufacturers copied. It was the first Japanese car to be designed as a full-sized wide-bodied car for western tastes. Tax laws in Japan at the time dictated a 1700mm width restriction. Nissan and Toyota copied it for their 1989 J30 Maxima and 1992 XV10 Camry respectively, which were a big deal in North America and were inspired by Mitsubishi Australia’s efforts in 1985. The centre rear seat pass-through hatch is common in many Australian sedans too (Holdens and 80s Falcons), along with the high boot loading lip, it seems Mitsubishi Australia was going for maximum torsional rigidity. Unfortunately, these cars had a terrible reputation for mechanical durability. The engines had issues with cracking blocks and heads, as well as timing issues. The automatics were failure prone as well. It’s been years since I’ve even seen one driving around at all, let alone in this good a condition
I still remember my dad in 1994 stripping the engine down on our 1990 Wagon (bought new) as it had a dodgy valve which had been mushroomed over and shortened and caused it to be noisey... Dealership just said it was past warranty at the time....
I remember seeing an awful lot of TP Magnas broken down on the side of the Kwinana Freeway, always white sedans (despite them supposedly being more reliable). I liked the second and third-gen Magnas, though.
I had a MK1 Magna wagon I brought fir $300 off the lady across the road when I was 22. I brought it to drive around while I was restoring my 69 Premier and I fell in love with it! I’m a tall guy and it was just so comfortable. I put a thin mattress in the back and slept in it (I’m 6’6) and I drove it far and wide! I was only supposed to be front it for a couple of months, but it became my daily and when it finally died (bless her) we brought a TP Elite like this one for my little brothers first car. Love the old Magnas!
A friend had one of these and he and his family would travel far and wide on holidays all over Australia towing a small trailer with their camping gear. It did sterling service for years and clocked up several hundreds of thousands of Ks. On a sad note, he eventually died in it, luckily while driving alone. He suffered a massive heart attack and just drifted off the road and into a field. BTW, wonderful watching you drive on very familiar roads. As a kid 60 years ago I used to muck about in boats in the creek just behind you in the opening section and you drove past a flat I used to live in.
G'day it's Steven here My very first new car was a 1990 TN Mitsubishi Magna Elante', this was the sporter version of the car, a brilliant car at the time and twelve months later we bought a brand new TP Magna Elite, similar to the model you've reviewed today, may I also add that earlier models came with a carburettor engine only and later was the multipoint fuel injected motor ( 93kw + 205nM ). Loved these cars and all my following Mitsubishi vehicles too.
These were actually good cars though the early ones did suffer from transmission problems. People wanted more than what Holden and Ford had to offer but were reluctant to go for a Saab or Audi so the Magna did well to bridge the gap. Skylines were a few years away.
Skyline was the following year, 1986, same as the VL Commodore, both sharing the great Nissan drivetrain, though the Skyline had a habit of developing noisy diffs, and the VL had cooling issues and was appallingly built. By this time the Magna's faults were appearing, from dodgy transmissions to engine issues and even rot in the roof.
My Grandad had a couple of them bank in the day. A very underrated and smooth car that used to go more than adequately when my grandmother wasn't aboard. Slightly more subdued when she was though...
@@clintonepps3666 Nah. The Camry (or any Toyota) is always the choice of the blue rinse set. Check out the car park of any of the places that lawn bowls are played.
Love the way people dismiss technically-interesting Japanese cars as "grandad cars", then go out and buy crappy Fords and GMs, which are as interesting as watching paint dry. Sheep is what you are.
At one place I worked we had a station wagon (estate) version of these, which I was allowed to take home each day for about a month. Thoroughly loved the car and was gutted the day I had to give it back. Ours didn’t have the digital dash or single spoke steering wheel but was pretty much the same otherwise. As to the owner’s reference to smoky 1980’s Mitzis, I once owned a 1986 Mitsubishi Tredia which had travelled 84,000km when I got it. Even from day one it used about a pint of oil a month. Three years in I was driving through Auckland late one night and the oil light came on, and it dawned on me that it had been some months since I’d checked the oil. Stopped at the first service station to buy a pack of oil and it took the lot - the dipstick was shiny and clean. It wasn’t long after when I traded the Mitzi in for a Toyota Corolla. Apart from any damage done to the motor I obviously couldn’t trust myself to keep checking the oil.
The Magna was widened from yhr Ssigma to fit the 2.6 litre motor. My mate had one as a company car. I remember the first time I rode in it and auto just seemed to keep changing up...FOUR speeds in the auto. Pretty radical in 1985!
As someone else below mentioned, the Magna did have a V6 cylinder engined variation (2nd gen. onwards) known as the Verada. It was also exported under the name Mitsubishi Diamante. Today the Diamante (a slightly updated one, but essentially the same format and size) is still produced in Taiwan.
The V6 was the V3000, designed for the NZ market (and mostly bought by the NZ traffic cops), the Verada was simply the badge version of the V3000 for the Oz market before Mitsubishi moved all of the orphans onto the global Diamante name.
@@nakoma5 In Taiwan, Mitsubishi has a joint venture with a local firm called 'China Motor Corporation', even though they are in Taiwan not China. The firm CMC makes cars of the previous Mitsubishi generation in Taiwan,, it currently makes the Galant Grunder which is based on the North American platform (not the smaller Japanese Galant) and has its design roots (size/dimensions) in the Australian Magna/Diamante.
the Verada was a Longer wheelbase version, I have one sitting in my Driveway, it is a 3 litre V6, I also have a 3.5 Litre V6 , my first Magna was a 3 Litre V6 on LPG. all have been used in the NT with open speed limits I had the LPG Version up around 200 KMH on LPG!
Had one of these for 20 years, mine was bottom of the range, manual and carburetted. Mitsubishi provided free replacement of the block under warranty, even though mine was fine. Took the car to Carburetter Service on Parramatta Rd Burwood and told them I was going to travel Australia so they jetted for more mileage and I regularly achieved 750km per tank before the low fuel light appeared and on a couple of occasions I achieved 800km when I had to keep driving to the next town before I could get fuel. A great vehicle for Australia's big distances and the shape is great for high speed stability, you could feel the car being pressed down from around 160 kph and beyond. The downsides were heavy steering at parking speed if not powered, rust proofing could have been better and the valve guides would wear and smoke on acceleration.
Good old Mordialloc and Beach road then Sandringham, my old stomping grounds ? I remember those first generation Magnas they looked futuristic at the time they looked like a large Sigma
Bang on, and for the time (1985) the 83kw compared very well with the VK Commodore's 3.3lt 6cyl which made 86kw. The Magna was lighter and the 4sp auto was a big advantage.
@@MrFister84 Indeed, just putting some perspective that whilst the 83KW sounds inadequate by today's standards, at the time it was more than adequate, particularly when driving a 1200kg chassis. The Magna was whisper quite and just loped along effortlessly anywhere from 80-140kmh. They were a big step-up in that regard from a VK or XF.
@@MrFister84 Fortunately the Black 3.3 was replaced by the vadtly superior RB30 Nissan engine in the VL, but the VL was not well built, making the drivetrain a good thing looking for a good car...which it got in the Skyline.
OMG...We had one of those! That basic platform was marketed as the SIGMA in the US, with a V-6 engine, and different tail lights and grill. It was an upscale, short-lived model rushed to market to compete against the then-new Acura Legend. According to the VIN, we had the 113th one built. The rush to market showed. It had a nice power seat, but no tilt steering wheel, something that was readily available in the lesser Galant model. You couldn't get outside air from the dash vents without also running the air conditioning. It had power windows, but no power door locks. It had the most obnoxious key-in-ignition-door-open alarm I'd ever heard! It was like fingernails down a chalk board! They must have know it too...in order to unplug it, I had to remove the center console, the heater controls and half the dashboard to get to it. We bought it used as a low-mileage, 3 year old trade-in. It had been on the dealer's lot for 10 months and had lost almost 75% of it's value since new. I had a friend who worked in the service department...the dealer tried to dump it at the auction yard but the only ones interested were junk yards that only offered scrap metal priced bids.
Surprised to see that grand old girl still on the road. Did you get to see one of Mitsubishi's other "Australia only" cars- the 380? A mid-size sedan with a 3.8 litre V6 built between 2005 and 2008, which was when Mitsubishi closed its production plant.
The 380 was really the last evolution of the Magna. So lasted in production 22 years. Lots of other cars did not last as long as that. especially Austin X6 Tasman/Kimberley, Marina and even the Torana.
The 380 is a rebadged version of the 9th generation Galant US model. It was sold in a dozen or so countries around the world. It was never "Australia-only". The 3.8l was just the US market "Ralliart Galant" fitted for right hand drive.
@@rorylyons277 Very true that they had to upgrade the engineering (eg. reinforcing the rear half of the chassis for increased towing capability (they didn't widen it, btw - it was only the Magna they widened for the Oz market)) but that doesn't change the fact that the 380 was built on the 9th gen Galant platform. Whether it counts as "new" or not depends on where you want to draw the line on "new". Given that ~80% of the car was the same as the US market car I fall on the "It's essentially the same" line of things. YMMV, obviously. Regardless, I think we can agree that the 380 wasn't an "Australia only" car given it was sold in Australia, NZ, Saudi Arabia, Chile, and Kuwait.
@@iatsd Beg to differ. On the information I have, it was the need to lift the Galant into the large car category that made Mitsubishi Australia's decision to go ahead with the 380 so gut-wrenching and expensive, when sales had been waning for years. And ultimately so ruinous for the local franchise. If you look at a 380 in the metal, it's a BIG car. And photos I've seen of the v9.0 Galant have the look of what you might call a generous mid-size car.
We moved to Australia in 1986, My dad bought a 1985 Magna, after we had a Camira (Cavalier) (gutless). He liked them, we had 2 or 3, including a red GLX Wagon he bought new in 1990. We also had a P76 and there were a lot of styling similarities, hidden wipers etc etc. As an 11 year old, All I wanted was for us to get an Elite. Alas we were a GLX (base model) family...
The Magna was an incredibly successful, popular car in Australia. Released in 1985, it was a Japanese sigma that Mitsubishi Australia engineered for the Australian market by longitudinally slicing the car down the middle, front to back and widened to compete with the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore. Mitsubishi sorted out the astron engines hunger for head gaskets as a lesson learnt from the sigma experience. Great video as usual, thanks for making the trip out here and the trouble you go to for our viewing pleasure 👍🥂😉
Love the ‘She’ll be right” sticker lmao. Loving the 80s Japanese style -reminds me of my dads 1986 Camry GLXi which was a sea of angles and blue velour inside too, not far off that dash to be fair, and it also had a digital dash. And that stereo.... I had to have a word with myself over that! There used to be a Saporro near me as a kid. What a fab slice of 80s goodness. Great test Ian!
I had the 2.6 Astron in carburetted form in a 1992 NZ L200 ute. Fuel economy was atrocious at 19 MPG on a trip and power was lack luster. My local dealer suggested a mod in the carb which consisted in drilling out a hole somewhere, and ripping out the wheeze inducing EGR exhaust manifolding and fitting extractors- possibly also the reason for this one having extractors also. This transformed it into a brisk and torquey wagon with fuel economy improving to 21 MPG average. Back then we had Compressed Natural Gas as a vehicle fuel which I fitted and made it more economical again but also caused valve recession despite upper cylinder lube. Fond memories of that lovely smooth Astron whine.
I owned one of these back in 2001 whilst backpacking in Australia. It was a horrible pastel yellow colour on New South Wales plates, purchased off a couple of Dutch lads. That's what I did. Edited due to slightly drunken spelling mistakes.
We sort of did get those in the UK, oddly. During the '80s, in the life of the first front-wheel drive Galant with the wedge styling, they did also sell a vehicle called the Mitsubishi Sapporo, not the two-door coupe from the late '70s-mid '80s, though that was also (rear-wheel drive) Galant-based, but a large-ish 4-door saloon which, like this car, was very highly specified. I'm not sure that the car we got in the UK had the wider and, it looks like, longer shell of this Magna, but it certainly had the 2.6 engine and the super-futuristic electronic dashboard and all the toys. At the time they came with more equipment as standard than the Rover Sterling and Ford Granada Scorpio. Sadly, they didn't sell many here, I've never seen one on the road and I would have noticed as I always had a big soft spot for that generation of Galant, especially the turbo-diesel which really took on the domination of the French in the diesel car market at the time. Sadly, although the Galant sold well in the UK, I haven't seen one in a very long time, which suggests that most of them have taken their last ride to the scrap yard some time ago...
When I visited Aus (pre-moving there) the then girlfriend had one just like that, but "executive" aka Poverty spec. Was really comfy for long journeys for sure. Later on, my daughter's first car was also a Magna Executive, but a wagon (estate) in a lovely shade of metallic brown. Apart from ruinously expensive spare parts (needed for initial roadworthy) it was bullet-proof and very useful for the tip run!
I think these were the best looking Magna model. They looked particularly smart in Elite form. I always thought they had some Citroenesque features which to me ads to the appeal. They went more mainstream after this model which was a pity but I guess the Aussies are pretty conservative with their choice of car. Thanks to owner and Hubnut for bringing us this test.
The TN Elite is, in my opinion, the best looking of the first gen Magnas. Those wheels were easily the prettiest of any wheels available at the time on any car. The later Magnas from '91 on, lacked the crisp styling of these earlier ones, and their sales were never as strong.
Proper period interior, velour, square plastic and digital instruments, then you came to that stereo. OMG nothing like that will every see the light of day again and that is such a shame because its immense. Don't normally do Japanese stuff but I'd have that every day of the week, love it 👍👍
nice car, must have been really futuristic in its time, good to see all that dash stuff all working, stereo setup reminds me of Bang and Olufsen way back. Remember the Sigma and the Sapporo, weren't they branded as Colt then? Thanks Ian
Mum had two Magnas in succession. The Cherry Red Executive was her last car. Big comfy seats and very refined for road noise. Nice cars to drive, great cruisers.
Once you experience a 4 Cylinder with balance shaft for a period of time, it's hard to go back to a regular 4cyl engine because you miss the smoothness and effortless revving nature. I missed it so much, I bought my 89 Galant back! It does make timing belt changes fussier though.
Beast haha. I’m based in Australia and Melbourne where this car is based. They were always everyday shitters but with anything car related older it gets the more followers they gain.
Street Car Culture the Magna won various car awards when released in 1985. It was a nice handling and riding car, although the engine was rather breathless and thirsty.
My first car back in 1999... it was 2.6 on LPG gas. Was a hand me down from my parents and since that time I made money and drove several way more expensive and prestige cars since and none lasted anywhere near the 400000+km as this beast did. Mine you I was a unemployed uni student back then so I barely had it serviced. Maybe once every 2-3 years. Only major issue was the auto transmission replaced once, power steering tank replaced and eventually retired it because the LPG pump died. Replaced it with a brand new mk v golf gti that lasted less than 200000km... still miss my old magna.
Great to see some of these are still around!I used to drive one from time to time (A manual GLX spec), seemed like a good performer in a straight line, but a bit scary in the wet when driven enthusiastically, probably not something a typical Magna owner would do on their way to the bowls club!
The 2.6 was quite heavy on fuel. Also, the SE was the top model with everything you saw, with blinker repeaters on the guards and more little refinements. The SE was the top of the wozza since the CL Valiants from the same factory. Without power steering the Magna was incredibly heavy. A medium range type car, very popular in Adelaide where they were built.
I bought that magna in this video 3yrs ago from a lady in Boronia that she bought for her husband brand new for $27,000,they used to tow a small caravan with it. Beautiful car to drive and I ended up giving it to my son to drive and he sold it late last year.
Thanks so much for the background of this car. So many are still wondering about the big bolt nut on the extractors though. Any idea what the nut at 2:36 was for?
I had a 1985 Magna. It was an extremely comfortable, lovely ride and very, very quiet. That said, it was a mechanical and rust nightmare. Timing chain issues, oil pump issues, and the roof panel (and other areas) rusted easily and badly. I loved it and hated it at the same time. It kept me poor in repair costs.
My old man bought a Mitsubishi V3000 in '87. Was quite a big step up in quality from the XB Falcon he'd had since new. After a couple of speeding tickets (well into his sixties at this point) he traded it for a Subaru Legacy... which was even quicker but not as lux inside. I loved that V3000, the ride was fabulous.
I had a 1990 tp elite same colour. Minor differences were the graphic equaliser was not hidden and had a rudimentary climate control where you slid a lever to the desired temperature setting. The wheels were also different being an alloy multi spoke look. Sadly the car was written off circa 2011 with less than 170 thousand kays. It was a cool retro vehicle and I was second owner.
Great video, thanks! Two quick notes, the power of the ECI Multi 2.6 cars was 93KWs (the carb cars were 83KWs) also, whilst lane discipline is a bit dodgy in Australia, it's actually illegal to pass on the inside just FYI Mate!
What a handsome car! Love the angular shape. I had a 1979 1.6 Colt sigma back in the 80s and i loved it it was so smooth and comfortable and full of goodies other cars just didn't have. Two things that amazed me at the time was that the boot lid acted as a radio antenna and the fuse box which was under the dash had a little light that illuminated to check the fuse . Great car! Thank you Hub Nut (:
Years ago I had to drive one of these from Toowoomba to Sydney and back. It made it to Sydney but then free revved at a set of traffic lights.....got repaired and made it back to Toowoomba but boiled over as soon as I stopped in the driveway
Paraphrasing: 'I quite like a six or eight cylinder engine.' Said a man who loved his new 3 cylinder Matiz so much that he bought it back again, years after selling it. We just have to love Hubnut! Thanks Ian. 🖖 🙂 👍
The Sigma /Magna line was pretty long and convoluted in OZ .I remember a car dealer here in Brisbane specialising in used ones .His car lot looked like a Mitsubishi graveyard with all sorts of variation in models. But in the 80's a guy tried selling kits to install Chryslers Small (LA series ) V8 engine into them. The only one I ever saw was his own Coupe.
I had the GL version and was one of the most quietest comfortable and WELL HANDLING due to its wideness cars I have ever had . Th e generation after was fantastic as well again super quiet and reliable . I lived in this area where the car is being driven a place called Sandringham in Melbourne Australia 👍🦘
I had a 1987 NZ assembled Sigma, exactly same colour scheme, blue over silver. It's in the dashboard where the widening of the Sigma by the Ozzies, to make a Magna, is most obvious, the centre air vents are attached to the instrument cluster and not over the centre consol, like they are in the Sigma.
YES!! I was hoping you'd do it It is even one of my favorite looking car even though I know they are know to fail badly... I am always surprised to see one around sometime...
My father owned the same car back in 90s, it was called Mitsubishi Eterna in indonesia. The ride quality is really smooth and the engine quite powerful.
I have been hoping you would find one of these. The interior is just full of '80s goodness and style, brilliant. A couple of years ago I looked for an estate to buy but couldn't find one. Great test and lovely Beach Rd scenery too. Cheers
We hade a 1989 it was definitely way ahead of its time, including the shock absorber in the engine bay to stop vibration in the cab and noise, something Porsche did, it was a nice car to drive even though the one we had was rusted badly and the shocks were gone. It was comfortable and with that 2.6 Chrysler Sigma engine was a bullet proof motor.
I had a 2nd gen 1995 Magna wagon when I first moved here. It had the silky smooth 3.0 v6 that pulled like a carthorse. It was one of the only ones around where the valve stem seals hadn't worn out. (you could always spot them as they pulled away from the lights and left a puff of blue smoke lingering behind them. It had 380000 kms on the clock when I bought it and promptly used the government grant of $2000 to fit an LPG kit. I went for the 50 litre doughnut tank in the spare wheel well which meant I could do Melbourne to Sydney (1000kms) on a single fill (switch over to petrol when the LPG ran out) The aircon was truly amazing, if you cranked it up full on a winters day (15c outside temp) you could frost up the air vents and get snow coming out. There was a fantastic feature of an air vent under the steering column pointing straight at your crotch. If you wore a paint of baggy shorts your willy would be flapping around like a dog's tongue with his head out of the window.
I heard that it was called because of the overseas model's width being magnified for Australian production. This strategy was used by Holden when they widened the Opel Senator for the 1988 Commodore.
As a kid in primary school I would get driven to school by my mates grandmother in a brand new Elite. In the day they were so quiet and smooth and much nicer to drive in than the VK Commodore/Calais or the Falcon/Fairmont although those cars were fitted with similar luxuries they weren't as smooth. It wasn't as much fun to be in as mum's 360 V8 powered Chrysler though.
The Magnas also suffered from a 'fleet car' image, especially the lower spec models. Sales reps who had these as company cars usually hated them with the lack of power & weekend/holiday towing capacity compared a Falcon/Commodore/Skyline, and it was common to see mis-treated ones when new, mostly in the hands of reps who used to drive a 6-cylinder Falcon or Commodore. High spec models like the Elite & SE's were usually driven by Bank Managers, etc. Company car policies here in OZ up to the mid 90's was generally 'take what you're given', then it was user-chooser (usually with an Australian-made policy), now it's generally a $20K car allowance, and go out & buy your own car...
Worked in a Mitsubishi dealership in Sydney in the late 80s as a driver. These were comfortable to drive, went ok but lacked handling and heavy on fuel. Not able to compete with the 6 and 8 cylinder Fords and Holdens even though they sold alot of them.
To be fair to the Magna, it competed well in performance against the XF Falcon, which had no V8 option at the time, and the lacklustre VK Commodore 3.3, a very tired motor. Fuel economy was quite poor though it did improve in fuel-injected models like this one. Later, the VL Commodore greatly out performed the Magna.
Fell in love with a daffodil yellow wagon that I saw online in the leadup to getting my licence. They were already a rare sight back in 2016 - now they've practically disappeared except for the occasional country town survivor. It sold before we could look at it; probably for the best, a little more fragile than the other cars of the time, I was told by anyone who remembered them.
Daffodil with a brown interior - I call 'em Cheesecake Magnas! There's one near my workplace; unfortunately it was not there the day prior when Hubnut came by!
From the 2nd gen on (I think but certainly from 3rd gen) Mitsubishi Australia offered the Magna with the basic 2.6L 4pot, as well as a choice of TWO V6s - a 3.0L and a 3.5L. Not sure I'm aware of any other mainstream offering with a choice of V6 engines.
@@johnphaceas7434 The 2.6 was only offered in the Sigma and 1st and 2nd generation Magna....the 2nd generation had the option of a 3L V6....the 3rd generation had the two V6 offerings in Australia no 4cyl.
@@johnphaceas7434 VE and VF Commodores had 3.0 and 3.6 engines depending on the spec and when they were built. The 3.6 was came in two power levels, model dependent, in early VE Commodores, later the 3.0 replaced the lower spec 3.6.
@@AUmarcus Early 3rd gen, the pillarless door ones that came in 1996 had a 2.4lt 4-cyl on base models. Later ones, from about 1998/9 had only V6 options, even for fleets.
Another great video Ian! Thanks for sharing. I owned three third generation Magnas at one time or another. Two 1999 TH series and a 2005 TW series. With the ever reliable, powerful and smooth 3.5L V6 engine they made great cruisers! In 2003 I drove my first Magna from Townsville to Melbourne, (a distance of around 2600kms) with a night stop over in Brisbane. It never missed a beat. :-)
Here in Canada I had a Dodge D50 pickup (Mitsubishi) with that engine. I'm going from memory now, but I believe it had two counter rotating balance shafts to try to quell the secondary vibrations from that big four. All was well until it started burning oil, and then gulping it. A fellow I know who worked in a machine shop told me that they took a two litre engine and bored it to the point the cylinder walls were thin, and over time they had a tendency to balloon. Mazda borrowed that engine for the B2600 pickup for a couple of years, carbureted, and there were lots of problems with it. They kind of copied the design, complete with the balance shafts, fuel injected it and improved it, turning it into something pretty much bullet proof.
Wow! This is a TN, the second iteration of the first gen Magna, the same car I first learned to drive on. You don’t see too many of them on the road any more. When introduced in 1985, the TM Magna was quite the revelation and went on to become one of the best selling cars in the country for many years, often third behind the Falcon and Commodore. So it turned out to be very much the solid competitor Mitsubishi were spruiking it to be. The original 1985 TM won the Wheels magazine Car Of The Year for 1985. The Magna was also instrumental in Toyota’s later introduction of what it dubbed the “wide-body Camry” in the early 90s. The TM/TN Magna was truly a game-changer! So good to see an Elite in such good condition. Even the third gen Magna still sold very solidly for its first few years on the market but, like you say, it was during its life cycle (1996-2005) that Mitsubishi Australia lost its way, resulting in its eventual departure from Australian manufacturing in 2008. Interestingly this car doesn’t have original badging on the boot - I wonder why?
Had a tr Magna, the second gen round shaped one, solid old bus, the counter balancer was a issue, so was the timing chain, aside from that they were cheap and survived well
I had a 90’s Sigma estate with the Chrysler V6 and an auto. I loved it. Super smooth for cruising up and down the A34/M40. Wouldnt mind one again, it had plenty of the quirks of this one.... it surprised more than one or two reps in their Vectras snd Mondeos but was reasonable on the juice
@@jeremyryan770 Nice. Big fan of the Elites, especially the two tone paint and alloys. I drove a red TR Executive (with the horrible dark grey hub caps) around for work for a while. Roomy, nice to drive and good performance, but a step backwards in styling over the TN/TP in my opinion.
Wow, seeing this as made my day! The interior - with the exception of the electronic display, is exactly the same as my old 1985 Galant. Seeing this brings back some very comfortable and very happy memories of the car. To this day it was the most comfortable car i have ever owned. Absolutely fantastic to see one of these interiors again. The exterior body is pretty much identical, with the exception of the bonnet, the Galant had a totally flat bonnet. Sadly the rust bunnies killed my Galant, which is a shame because the engine and gearbox where still very strong. So glad you found this little gem downunder, where obviously the rust bunnies are not so rampant.
Quirky barge that's rare as over here, a particularly unusual configuration of vehicle given the wider frame but a big 4 banger with futuristic whistles, the interior, blew my little mind. That is spectacular the rev counter is spesh but I really lost it at the graphic equaliser. Absolutely adore that. Sumptuous seating, what a cabin, what a quality product. From the inside, spanking. Lovely test.
I had this exact car in a 1.8 version, exact same body and interior including dash, in Thailand. I bought it in 2001 and it was an old car then, it had started life as a manual with carb and been converted to a auto with fuel injection. It was named the Mitsubishi Royale in Thailand and was fairly rare. I bought it from the original owner who had lived next to the sea, the car had quite a lot of corrosion which is unusual in Thailand. I think I payed the equiv of $2000 which was very cheap for any car at the time, we drove it around Thailand and Malaysia down to Singapore and back and then sold it for the same as i paid for it. The cam belt snapped after I'd owned it 2 months, to be fair the seller did recommend changing it. Anyway the damage included 16 bent valves, the repair bill was about equiv of $350, labour was very cheap in Thailand back then.
This car seems to have achieved what the Camry of the 90s and early 2000s needed but didn't have, torque. The low end performance this car has and where in the rev range it seems to be potent is what every 4 cyl should have, low rpm grunt. I used to have 90s Camry and you'd have to stomp it and wait to get power, whereas this one seems to flow easily off the line, very impressive.
These Mitubishi's had more get up and go than the advertised specs suggest, in about 1981 I had an informal traffic light grand prix with a Sapporo in My Beta 2000, I didn't pull ahead until an indicated 110mph. Don't worry, I've calmed doen a bit now. Advertisers defintely seem to watch your vids, I didn't clock the company but the advert at the start of this was for battery and brake disc checks, it was only yesterday that I watched you struggling at the back of your Delica and now you don't want to switch this off because the battery is knackered..
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi everyone, this is my car in the video! I've had three first gen Magnas, a Sigma and a Cordia. Love the 80's Mitsubishis - no matter how smokey!
Thanks for making your car available for our entertainment and instruction, even though you forgot to keep the screen washer bottle full.
Great that you have helped keep it in such good condition. Any back story?
Any idea why the big bolt is on the extractors?
It's a peach. I love the angular, button festooned interior and the blue velour upholstery....it couldn't be any more Japanese.
Nice car !
Hello.driven many japanese cars over the time, and they cracked it,engines in particular,Thanks for loaning your car and welldone for keeping this car alive.
Thanks for dropping in and letting us know it's yours. At 20:52 - is that it for acceleration ? I was anticipating more revs prior to changing up ?
I love that interior, it's like sitting inside an 80s Japanese stereo system 😍😂
Single most 80s interior ever, reminds me of some of the Mitsubishi's in Jackie Chan films.
Fun fact: Porsche licensed the Mitsubishi balance shaft design for smooth running of the 2.5 litre four cilinder engine in the 944.
And now, in Australia, the only mid sized sedan selling in any numbers is the Toyota Camry. A wide bodied, front wheel drive car with a 2.5l 4!
The 2020 Camry's 2.5L 4-cyl puts out 203 bhp. The 3.5L V-6 puts out 301 bhp. The 1987 Magna's 2.6 ECI power output was 125 bhp, although the Magna weighs approximately 400 lbs less than the current Camry.
@Aussie Pom It's not just that. The Magna was SOHC, 12 valve with fairly basic (by modern standards) injection and a distributor. The Camry has DOHC, 24 valve with variable valve timing, coil on plug and, yes, computer control over all this unimaginable in 1985. The concept of a large FWD 4 cylinder sedan is the same. Difference is, in 1985 the Magna was an also ran, compared to Holdens and Falcons. Today Camry rules the (now small) segment.
UGH! Those Camry's are soooo UGLY!
@@jamestorrens645 Take your beer goggles off!
@@jamestorrens645 Don't be such a girl!
When I was a child my father had a first generation Magna as a work car. It was something from the future. More recently, I drove a Verada for around 5 years until the gearbox expired at 497000 km. Absolute lounge barge. Loved it.
Only 497000 km, hope the dealer did the right thing and replaced it!
The 3.5L V6 engine although rough at idle (hold brake and place it into D) would probably last a million km if well maintained, oil and coolant changes, timing belt and water pump changes, etc. My 2000 TJ still has the original engine, 260000km.
Manual or automatic?
@@blackterminal Auto
Dashboard like a Citroen and quality like a Japanese car, who wouldn't love that?! Would prefer an estate though, I'm a sucker for estates, the more quirky, the better!
Rob English the wagon (I.e. estate) variant for this model was released in 1987, two years after the sedan/saloon.
And it had a very large cargo area.
Quality in this first generation exceeded the ageing Holden and Ford competition, but there were also some huge reliability issues that took years to resolve.
The same engine was fitted to various Chrysler K-Cars in the U.S., fitted with a carburetor and a maze of emissions-related vacuum lines. That radio even has C-Quam AM Stereo, which was used in Australia beginning in 1985.
"A blend of Magna and Sigma?" - Is the result 'Smegma?'
Bob Mirdiff well they were called the Mrs Bitchy Smegma.
Ask Bill Bryson about his former landlady.
I've been collecting my own smegma in a jar for 50 years. There's about 2 inches of it in there now, and the colour changes towards the bottom which is the oldest scrapings.
@@rosskelly4200 Sainsbury call that 'Cheshire Cheese!' - Same consistency and smell!
@@RWBHere Please don't bring my mother into this!
It always amazes how much more advanced Japanese cars were than their British counterparts. In 1987 my dad was driving around Maestro with keep fit windows, air conditioning was reserved for the rich and famous. 😂
To be fair, this was the top of the range model. My guess these were 10 to 20% of Magna sales. Lower spec models less features.
My corolla has similar fittings as that Maestro and its a GL model (the highest they sold here in saloon form) so it all depends on the car really.
@russell hunter Escort with nothing except a steering wheel and a radio , and it came with four wheels , amazing ,LOL
Pretty much a necessity having aircon, here Queensland. My predecessors in the 1960s must have been much tougher, driving vinyl seated non aircon sweat boxes.
Adding superfluous luxuries doesn't make a car "advanced"....for instance, Issigonis putting in sliding windows in the Mini represented clever-thinking, not backward thinking. It is hard to imagine anything the Japanese have featured that hasn't hitherto appeared in Euro-British models. And if I was a Jaanese car fan, I would be indepted to the Euro brands; quite literally, where would they be without their, ahem, ''borrowed technology"?
We got the Sigma here in the US. Later Diamontes we’re actually here imported from Australia.
Our Sapporo was a two door similar to a Celica.
Yes Australia did build LHD Magnas for the USA, l recall that Avis rent a car purchased a large amount direct from Mitsubishi Australia.
The 2 door sigma in Australia is called a scorpion.
Mitsubishi had a great thing going on in the 60s-90s! Almost painful to see what they are building nowadays really
Totally agree. Mitsubishi used to have both boring and exciting cars, now they just have cars that can only be described as 'adequate transportation devices'.
@@mfbfreak I remember being loaned a Mitsubishi in the early 00s - a Carisma. That it definitely did not have.
The early 80s Colt was in the adequate transport category.
@@jamesfrench7299 I would say the overall design of the Colt was actually quite inspiring compared to the bricks other manufacturers were starting to produce at that point. I mean I would prefer it over the Fiesta or the Civic which pretty much went on to become legendary
Renault happened. Modern Nissan and Renault are just as bad.
I Remember this as a class leader in its day and winner of multiple awards in Australia in mid eighties. Its ride was highly praised.
No wonder you were a little nackered during the trip. My goodness you were prolific in making movies.
These cars were groundbreaking in their day, front wheel drive and 4 speed auto! It took Ford almost 20 years to achieve that. Quality , fit and finish were leagues ahead of the others.
I mean a W124 is probably a better car, but it cost twice or more
Perhaps Ford knew they wasn't necessary !
Which makes it all the more surprising that in subsequent years Mitsubishi came very close to going under with recalls and warranty issues worldwide.
@@akishot6735 Interesting comment as I have 2 magnas and a mercedes w124 coupe....the build quality of the Mercedes is disgraceful in comparasin .....the quality of the plastics, stoneage electrics and fasteners used are just bad in the w124. My car was built without most of the sealant missing around the rear window resulting in waterleaks and severe rust in internal roof structure. MITSUBISHI has massive quality of design and construction.....
FWD is NOT progress. Why do you think most performance cars are RWD? FWD is cheaper to build ... that's the only advantage!
The first-gen Magna was a revolutionary car that other Japanese manufacturers copied. It was the first Japanese car to be designed as a full-sized wide-bodied car for western tastes. Tax laws in Japan at the time dictated a 1700mm width restriction. Nissan and Toyota copied it for their 1989 J30 Maxima and 1992 XV10 Camry respectively, which were a big deal in North America and were inspired by Mitsubishi Australia’s efforts in 1985. The centre rear seat pass-through hatch is common in many Australian sedans too (Holdens and 80s Falcons), along with the high boot loading lip, it seems Mitsubishi Australia was going for maximum torsional rigidity. Unfortunately, these cars had a terrible reputation for mechanical durability. The engines had issues with cracking blocks and heads, as well as timing issues. The automatics were failure prone as well. It’s been years since I’ve even seen one driving around at all, let alone in this good a condition
I still remember my dad in 1994 stripping the engine down on our 1990 Wagon (bought new) as it had a dodgy valve which had been mushroomed over and shortened and caused it to be noisey... Dealership just said it was past warranty at the time....
I remember seeing an awful lot of TP Magnas broken down on the side of the Kwinana Freeway, always white sedans (despite them supposedly being more reliable). I liked the second and third-gen Magnas, though.
Having the head or block crack any time would be bad timing ;)
......and it nearly sent Mitsubishi under / could be argued it still hasn't
recovered.
When the engine broke down you had been silent shafted
Being from the UK I've never even heard of one of these, but that interior is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!
I had a MK1 Magna wagon I brought fir $300 off the lady across the road when I was 22. I brought it to drive around while I was restoring my 69 Premier and I fell in love with it! I’m a tall guy and it was just so comfortable. I put a thin mattress in the back and slept in it (I’m 6’6) and I drove it far and wide! I was only supposed to be front it for a couple of months, but it became my daily and when it finally died (bless her) we brought a TP Elite like this one for my little brothers first car.
Love the old Magnas!
A friend had one of these and he and his family would travel far and wide on holidays all over Australia towing a small trailer with their camping gear. It did sterling service for years and clocked up several hundreds of thousands of Ks. On a sad note, he eventually died in it, luckily while driving alone. He suffered a massive heart attack and just drifted off the road and into a field. BTW, wonderful watching you drive on very familiar roads. As a kid 60 years ago I used to muck about in boats in the creek just behind you in the opening section and you drove past a flat I used to live in.
G'day it's Steven here
My very first new car was a 1990 TN Mitsubishi Magna Elante', this was the sporter version of the car, a brilliant car at the time and twelve months later we bought a brand new TP Magna Elite, similar to the model you've reviewed today, may I also add that earlier models came with a carburettor engine only and later was the multipoint fuel injected motor ( 93kw + 205nM ).
Loved these cars and all my following Mitsubishi vehicles too.
These were actually good cars though the early ones did suffer from transmission problems. People wanted more than what Holden and Ford had to offer but were reluctant to go for a Saab or Audi so the Magna did well to bridge the gap. Skylines were a few years away.
Skyline was the following year, 1986, same as the VL Commodore, both sharing the great Nissan drivetrain, though the Skyline had a habit of developing noisy diffs, and the VL had cooling issues and was appallingly built. By this time the Magna's faults were appearing, from dodgy transmissions to engine issues and even rot in the roof.
They sure had a lot of transmission problems I spent a lot of the 90s rebuilding them!!
Magna, very much a Granddad's car in Aus. Bowls hat and cardigan optional.
My Grandad had a couple of them bank in the day. A very underrated and smooth car that used to go more than adequately when my grandmother wasn't aboard. Slightly more subdued when she was though...
Surely you meant Camry?
@@clintonepps3666 Nah. The Camry (or any Toyota) is always the choice of the blue rinse set. Check out the car park of any of the places that lawn bowls are played.
Cardigan cruiser!
Love the way people dismiss technically-interesting Japanese cars as "grandad cars", then go out and buy crappy Fords and GMs, which are as interesting as watching paint dry. Sheep is what you are.
At one place I worked we had a station wagon (estate) version of these, which I was allowed to take home each day for about a month. Thoroughly loved the car and was gutted the day I had to give it back. Ours didn’t have the digital dash or single spoke steering wheel but was pretty much the same otherwise. As to the owner’s reference to smoky 1980’s Mitzis, I once owned a 1986 Mitsubishi Tredia which had travelled 84,000km when I got it. Even from day one it used about a pint of oil a month. Three years in I was driving through Auckland late one night and the oil light came on, and it dawned on me that it had been some months since I’d checked the oil. Stopped at the first service station to buy a pack of oil and it took the lot - the dipstick was shiny and clean. It wasn’t long after when I traded the Mitzi in for a Toyota Corolla. Apart from any damage done to the motor I obviously couldn’t trust myself to keep checking the oil.
The Magna was widened from yhr Ssigma to fit the 2.6 litre motor. My mate had one as a company car. I remember the first time I rode in it and auto just seemed to keep changing up...FOUR speeds in the auto. Pretty radical in 1985!
As someone else below mentioned, the Magna did have a V6 cylinder engined variation (2nd gen. onwards) known as the Verada. It was also exported under the name Mitsubishi Diamante. Today the Diamante (a slightly updated one, but essentially the same format and size) is still produced in Taiwan.
Really? I can't find any info on the Taiwanese Diamante.
The V6 was the V3000, designed for the NZ market (and mostly bought by the NZ traffic cops), the Verada was simply the badge version of the V3000 for the Oz market before Mitsubishi moved all of the orphans onto the global Diamante name.
@@nakoma5 In Taiwan, Mitsubishi has a joint venture with a local firm called 'China Motor Corporation', even though they are in Taiwan not China. The firm CMC makes cars of the previous Mitsubishi generation in Taiwan,, it currently makes the Galant Grunder which is based on the North American platform (not the smaller Japanese Galant) and has its design roots (size/dimensions) in the Australian Magna/Diamante.
the Verada was a Longer wheelbase version, I have one sitting in my Driveway, it is a 3 litre V6, I also have a 3.5 Litre V6 , my first Magna was a 3 Litre V6 on LPG. all have been used in the NT with open speed limits I had the LPG Version up around 200 KMH on LPG!
@@adriaandeleeuw8339 Veradas were V6's, but built on the same wheelbase as their respective sedan and wagon Magna models.
Had one of these for 20 years, mine was bottom of the range, manual and carburetted. Mitsubishi provided free replacement of the block under warranty, even though mine was fine. Took the car to Carburetter Service on Parramatta Rd Burwood and told them I was going to travel Australia so they jetted for more mileage and I regularly achieved 750km per tank before the low fuel light appeared and on a couple of occasions I achieved 800km when I had to keep driving to the next town before I could get fuel. A great vehicle for Australia's big distances and the shape is great for high speed stability, you could feel the car being pressed down from around 160 kph and beyond. The downsides were heavy steering at parking speed if not powered, rust proofing could have been better and the valve guides would wear and smoke on acceleration.
Good old Mordialloc and Beach road then Sandringham, my old stomping grounds
? I remember those first generation Magnas they looked futuristic at the time they looked like a large Sigma
Love the flattened rear wheel arch shape. The Cordia had this design element as well. A touch of class!
The steering wheel & cockpit reminds me of the late 80’s Subaru vortex!
The ECI multi had 93 kw and 205 nm in the TN and the carburettored engine was 83 kw and 195 nm.
Hmm, N m, not nanometres !
Bang on, and for the time (1985) the 83kw compared very well with the VK Commodore's 3.3lt 6cyl which made 86kw. The Magna was lighter and the 4sp auto was a big advantage.
@@Techo1329 Didn't help that the Commodore was using a 20 year engine design.
@@MrFister84 Indeed, just putting some perspective that whilst the 83KW sounds inadequate by today's standards, at the time it was more than adequate, particularly when driving a 1200kg chassis. The Magna was whisper quite and just loped along effortlessly anywhere from 80-140kmh. They were a big step-up in that regard from a VK or XF.
@@MrFister84 Fortunately the Black 3.3 was replaced by the vadtly superior RB30 Nissan engine in the VL, but the VL was not well built, making the drivetrain a good thing looking for a good car...which it got in the Skyline.
My daily driver is a TP Magna Elite. Thanks for the video
OMG...We had one of those! That basic platform was marketed as the SIGMA in the US, with a V-6 engine, and different tail lights and grill. It was an upscale, short-lived model rushed to market to compete against the then-new Acura Legend. According to the VIN, we had the 113th one built. The rush to market showed. It had a nice power seat, but no tilt steering wheel, something that was readily available in the lesser Galant model. You couldn't get outside air from the dash vents without also running the air conditioning. It had power windows, but no power door locks. It had the most obnoxious key-in-ignition-door-open alarm I'd ever heard! It was like fingernails down a chalk board! They must have know it too...in order to unplug it, I had to remove the center console, the heater controls and half the dashboard to get to it. We bought it used as a low-mileage, 3 year old trade-in. It had been on the dealer's lot for 10 months and had lost almost 75% of it's value since new. I had a friend who worked in the service department...the dealer tried to dump it at the auction yard but the only ones interested were junk yards that only offered scrap metal priced bids.
Interior looks like you're driving around in a giant stereo. Very nice.
That interior screams "Star Trek - The next generation". Cpt. Picard would feel right at home behind that dashboard. Make it so! :)
Surprised to see that grand old girl still on the road. Did you get to see one of Mitsubishi's other "Australia only" cars- the 380? A mid-size sedan with a 3.8 litre V6 built between 2005 and 2008, which was when Mitsubishi closed its production plant.
The 380 was really the last evolution of the Magna. So lasted in production 22 years. Lots of other cars did not last as long as that. especially Austin X6 Tasman/Kimberley, Marina and even the Torana.
The 380 is a rebadged version of the 9th generation Galant US model. It was sold in a dozen or so countries around the world. It was never "Australia-only". The 3.8l was just the US market "Ralliart Galant" fitted for right hand drive.
@@iatsd I think you might be wrong - the 380 "looked like" the Galant, but was again re-engineered, was wider and stronger for Australian purposes.
@@rorylyons277 Very true that they had to upgrade the engineering (eg. reinforcing the rear half of the chassis for increased towing capability (they didn't widen it, btw - it was only the Magna they widened for the Oz market)) but that doesn't change the fact that the 380 was built on the 9th gen Galant platform.
Whether it counts as "new" or not depends on where you want to draw the line on "new". Given that ~80% of the car was the same as the US market car I fall on the "It's essentially the same" line of things. YMMV, obviously.
Regardless, I think we can agree that the 380 wasn't an "Australia only" car given it was sold in Australia, NZ, Saudi Arabia, Chile, and Kuwait.
@@iatsd Beg to differ. On the information I have, it was the need to lift the Galant into the large car category that made Mitsubishi Australia's decision to go ahead with the 380 so gut-wrenching and expensive, when sales had been waning for years. And ultimately so ruinous for the local franchise.
If you look at a 380 in the metal, it's a BIG car. And photos I've seen of the v9.0 Galant have the look of what you might call a generous mid-size car.
We moved to Australia in 1986, My dad bought a 1985 Magna, after we had a Camira (Cavalier) (gutless). He liked them, we had 2 or 3, including a red GLX Wagon he bought new in 1990. We also had a P76 and there were a lot of styling similarities, hidden wipers etc etc. As an 11 year old, All I wanted was for us to get an Elite. Alas we were a GLX (base model) family...
That interior stole my heart.
It reminds me of the 90s protons just a pity they didnt have the cool dashboard
The Magna was an incredibly successful, popular car in Australia. Released in 1985, it was a Japanese sigma that Mitsubishi Australia engineered for the Australian market by longitudinally slicing the car down the middle, front to back and widened to compete with the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore. Mitsubishi sorted out the astron engines hunger for head gaskets as a lesson learnt from the sigma experience.
Great video as usual, thanks for making the trip out here and the trouble you go to for our viewing pleasure 👍🥂😉
Love the ‘She’ll be right” sticker lmao. Loving the 80s Japanese style -reminds me of my dads 1986 Camry GLXi which was a sea of angles and blue velour inside too, not far off that dash to be fair, and it also had a digital dash. And that stereo.... I had to have a word with myself over that! There used to be a Saporro near me as a kid. What a fab slice of 80s goodness. Great test Ian!
I had the 2.6 Astron in carburetted form in a 1992 NZ L200 ute. Fuel economy was atrocious at 19 MPG on a trip and power was lack luster. My local dealer suggested a mod in the carb which consisted in drilling out a hole somewhere, and ripping out the wheeze inducing EGR exhaust manifolding and fitting extractors- possibly also the reason for this one having extractors also. This transformed it into a brisk and torquey wagon with fuel economy improving to 21 MPG average. Back then we had Compressed Natural Gas as a vehicle fuel which I fitted and made it more economical again but also caused valve recession despite upper cylinder lube. Fond memories of that lovely smooth Astron whine.
I owned one of these back in 2001 whilst backpacking in Australia. It was a horrible pastel yellow colour on New South Wales plates, purchased off a couple of Dutch lads. That's what I did. Edited due to slightly drunken spelling mistakes.
We sort of did get those in the UK, oddly. During the '80s, in the life of the first front-wheel drive Galant with the wedge styling, they did also sell a vehicle called the Mitsubishi Sapporo, not the two-door coupe from the late '70s-mid '80s, though that was also (rear-wheel drive) Galant-based, but a large-ish 4-door saloon which, like this car, was very highly specified. I'm not sure that the car we got in the UK had the wider and, it looks like, longer shell of this Magna, but it certainly had the 2.6 engine and the super-futuristic electronic dashboard and all the toys. At the time they came with more equipment as standard than the Rover Sterling and Ford Granada Scorpio. Sadly, they didn't sell many here, I've never seen one on the road and I would have noticed as I always had a big soft spot for that generation of Galant, especially the turbo-diesel which really took on the domination of the French in the diesel car market at the time. Sadly, although the Galant sold well in the UK, I haven't seen one in a very long time, which suggests that most of them have taken their last ride to the scrap yard some time ago...
When I visited Aus (pre-moving there) the then girlfriend had one just like that, but "executive" aka Poverty spec. Was really comfy for long journeys for sure. Later on, my daughter's first car was also a Magna Executive, but a wagon (estate) in a lovely shade of metallic brown. Apart from ruinously expensive spare parts (needed for initial roadworthy) it was bullet-proof and very useful for the tip run!
I think these were the best looking Magna model. They looked particularly smart in Elite form. I always thought they had some Citroenesque features which to me ads to the appeal. They went more mainstream after this model which was a pity but I guess the Aussies are pretty conservative with their choice of car. Thanks to owner and Hubnut for bringing us this test.
The TN Elite is, in my opinion, the best looking of the first gen Magnas. Those wheels were easily the prettiest of any wheels available at the time on any car.
The later Magnas from '91 on, lacked the crisp styling of these earlier ones, and their sales were never as strong.
I'm quite taken by this one. Ticks a lot of my boxes, and that interior is really extra special.
Nice one Hubnut. I remember when these were everywhere. The dash and gauge cluster should be called the Atari.
My grandparents (RIP) had a red Mk1 Magna with beaded seat covers and Victorian 'Garden State' plates
Proper period interior, velour, square plastic and digital instruments, then you came to that stereo. OMG nothing like that will every see the light of day again and that is such a shame because its immense.
Don't normally do Japanese stuff but I'd have that every day of the week, love it 👍👍
I have the same model from 1990 in a wagon!
nice car, must have been really futuristic in its time, good to see all that dash stuff all working, stereo setup reminds me of Bang and Olufsen way back. Remember the Sigma and the Sapporo, weren't they branded as Colt then? Thanks Ian
My lecture took 4 of us down to Melbourne from Bendigo in his first magma wagon. It went along just nicely, plenty of poke.
Mum had two Magnas in succession. The Cherry Red Executive was her last car. Big comfy seats and very refined for road noise. Nice cars to drive, great cruisers.
Once you experience a 4 Cylinder with balance shaft for a period of time, it's hard to go back to a regular 4cyl engine because you miss the smoothness and effortless revving nature. I missed it so much, I bought my 89 Galant back! It does make timing belt changes fussier though.
Interior is sublime! Got the look of the Cortina/Granada about it, love it Mr Hubnut and thank you 👍❤
I did my driving test in a base model Magna of this vintage. Passed first go too!
Beast haha. I’m based in Australia and Melbourne where this car is based. They were always everyday shitters but with anything car related older it gets the more followers they gain.
Street Car Culture the Magna won various car awards when released in 1985. It was a nice handling and riding car, although the engine was rather breathless and thirsty.
It was far and away the best 4 cylinder family car at the time.
My first car back in 1999... it was 2.6 on LPG gas. Was a hand me down from my parents and since that time I made money and drove several way more expensive and prestige cars since and none lasted anywhere near the 400000+km as this beast did. Mine you I was a unemployed uni student back then so I barely had it serviced. Maybe once every 2-3 years. Only major issue was the auto transmission replaced once, power steering tank replaced and eventually retired it because the LPG pump died. Replaced it with a brand new mk v golf gti that lasted less than 200000km... still miss my old magna.
Great to see some of these are still around!I used to drive one from time to time (A manual GLX spec), seemed like a good performer in a straight line, but a bit scary in the wet when driven enthusiastically, probably not something a typical Magna owner would do on their way to the bowls club!
Had a TK magna with the 3.5 for many years. Absolute beast of a car, never late going anywhere in that.
The 2.6 was quite heavy on fuel. Also, the SE was the top model with everything you saw, with blinker repeaters on the guards and more little refinements. The SE was the top of the wozza since the CL Valiants from the same factory. Without power steering the Magna was incredibly heavy. A medium range type car, very popular in Adelaide where they were built.
I bought that magna in this video 3yrs ago from a lady in Boronia that she bought for her husband brand new for $27,000,they used to tow a small caravan with it.
Beautiful car to drive and I ended up giving it to my son to drive and he sold it late last year.
Thanks so much for the background of this car.
So many are still wondering about the big bolt nut on the extractors though.
Any idea what the nut at 2:36 was for?
I had a 1985 Magna. It was an extremely comfortable, lovely ride and very, very quiet. That said, it was a mechanical and rust nightmare. Timing chain issues, oil pump issues, and the roof panel (and other areas) rusted easily and badly. I loved it and hated it at the same time. It kept me poor in repair costs.
My old man bought a Mitsubishi V3000 in '87. Was quite a big step up in quality from the XB Falcon he'd had since new. After a couple of speeding tickets (well into his sixties at this point) he traded it for a Subaru Legacy... which was even quicker but not as lux inside. I loved that V3000, the ride was fabulous.
I had a 1990 tp elite same colour. Minor differences were the graphic equaliser was not hidden and had a rudimentary climate control where you slid a lever to the desired temperature setting. The wheels were also different being an alloy multi spoke look. Sadly the car was written off circa 2011 with less than 170 thousand kays. It was a cool retro vehicle and I was second owner.
Great video, thanks! Two quick notes, the power of the ECI Multi 2.6 cars was 93KWs (the carb cars were 83KWs) also, whilst lane discipline is a bit dodgy in Australia, it's actually illegal to pass on the inside just FYI Mate!
Quiet, comfortable and eat up long distances unlike the wheezy narrow commodore of the time and the agricultural falcon.
What a handsome car! Love the angular shape. I had a 1979 1.6 Colt sigma back in the 80s and i loved it it was so smooth and comfortable and full of goodies other cars just didn't have. Two things that amazed me at the time was that the boot lid acted as a radio antenna and the fuse box which was under the dash had a little light that illuminated to check the fuse .
Great car! Thank you Hub Nut (:
Years ago I had to drive one of these from Toowoomba to Sydney and back. It made it to Sydney but then free revved at a set of traffic lights.....got repaired and made it back to Toowoomba but boiled over as soon as I stopped in the driveway
Thanks for testing a common 80's vehicle. These were also commonly used as company cars...
Paraphrasing: 'I quite like a six or eight cylinder engine.' Said a man who loved his new 3 cylinder Matiz so much that he bought it back again, years after selling it. We just have to love Hubnut! Thanks Ian. 🖖 🙂 👍
The Sigma /Magna line was pretty long and convoluted in OZ .I remember a car dealer here in Brisbane specialising in used ones .His car lot looked like a Mitsubishi graveyard with all sorts of variation in models.
But in the 80's a guy tried selling kits to install Chryslers Small (LA series ) V8 engine into them. The only one I ever saw was his own Coupe.
I had the GL version and was one of the most quietest comfortable and WELL HANDLING due to its wideness cars I have ever had . Th e generation after was fantastic as well again super quiet and reliable . I lived in this area where the car is being driven a place called Sandringham in Melbourne Australia 👍🦘
I had a 1987 NZ assembled Sigma, exactly same colour scheme, blue over silver. It's in the dashboard where the widening of the Sigma by the Ozzies, to make a Magna, is most obvious, the centre air vents are attached to the instrument cluster and not over the centre consol, like they are in the Sigma.
YES!! I was hoping you'd do it
It is even one of my favorite looking car even though I know they are know to fail badly... I am always surprised to see one around sometime...
13:13 The 3rd gen Magna does have a remote boot release, it’s electric and located in the glovebox.
Niiiiice ❤️ very cool dash and buttons, reminds me of KITT 😎 fantastic stereo 😍
My father owned the same car back in 90s, it was called Mitsubishi Eterna in indonesia. The ride quality is really smooth and the engine quite powerful.
I have been hoping you would find one of these. The interior is just full of '80s goodness and style, brilliant. A couple of years ago I looked for an estate to buy but couldn't find one. Great test and lovely Beach Rd scenery too. Cheers
We hade a 1989 it was definitely way ahead of its time, including the shock absorber in the engine bay to stop vibration in the cab and noise, something Porsche did, it was a nice car to drive even though the one we had was rusted badly and the shocks were gone. It was comfortable and with that 2.6 Chrysler Sigma engine was a bullet proof motor.
I had a 2nd gen 1995 Magna wagon when I first moved here.
It had the silky smooth 3.0 v6 that pulled like a carthorse.
It was one of the only ones around where the valve stem seals hadn't worn out. (you could always spot them as they pulled away from the lights and left a puff of blue smoke lingering behind them.
It had 380000 kms on the clock when I bought it and promptly used the government grant of $2000 to fit an LPG kit.
I went for the 50 litre doughnut tank in the spare wheel well which meant I could do Melbourne to Sydney (1000kms) on a single fill (switch over to petrol when the LPG ran out)
The aircon was truly amazing, if you cranked it up full on a winters day (15c outside temp) you could frost up the air vents and get snow coming out.
There was a fantastic feature of an air vent under the steering column pointing straight at your crotch.
If you wore a paint of baggy shorts your willy would be flapping around like a dog's tongue with his head out of the window.
Forgot about the crotch vent! Had one in our second-generation Executive!
I heard that it was called because of the overseas model's width being magnified for Australian production. This strategy was used by Holden when they widened the Opel Senator for the 1988 Commodore.
As a kid in primary school I would get driven to school by my mates grandmother in a brand new Elite. In the day they were so quiet and smooth and much nicer to drive in than the VK Commodore/Calais or the Falcon/Fairmont although those cars were fitted with similar luxuries they weren't as smooth. It wasn't as much fun to be in as mum's 360 V8 powered Chrysler though.
The Magnas also suffered from a 'fleet car' image, especially the lower spec models. Sales reps who had these as company cars usually hated them with the lack of power & weekend/holiday towing capacity compared a Falcon/Commodore/Skyline, and it was common to see mis-treated ones when new, mostly in the hands of reps who used to drive a 6-cylinder Falcon or Commodore. High spec models like the Elite & SE's were usually driven by Bank Managers, etc. Company car policies here in OZ up to the mid 90's was generally 'take what you're given', then it was user-chooser (usually with an Australian-made policy), now it's generally a $20K car allowance, and go out & buy your own car...
Having a look at one of these on the weekend for my first car, only done 130k kms. So keen.
Engine aside that cars lovely! That interior absolutely gorgeous! An obvious reason for the death of a lot of British marques. Cheers
Worked in a Mitsubishi dealership in Sydney in the late 80s as a driver. These were comfortable to drive, went ok but lacked handling and heavy on fuel. Not able to compete with the 6 and 8 cylinder Fords and Holdens even though they sold alot of them.
To be fair to the Magna, it competed well in performance against the XF Falcon, which had no V8 option at the time, and the lacklustre VK Commodore 3.3, a very tired motor. Fuel economy was quite poor though it did improve in fuel-injected models like this one. Later, the VL Commodore greatly out performed the Magna.
Fell in love with a daffodil yellow wagon that I saw online in the leadup to getting my licence. They were already a rare sight back in 2016 - now they've practically disappeared except for the occasional country town survivor.
It sold before we could look at it; probably for the best, a little more fragile than the other cars of the time, I was told by anyone who remembered them.
Daffodil with a brown interior - I call 'em Cheesecake Magnas! There's one near my workplace; unfortunately it was not there the day prior when Hubnut came by!
When I lived in Australia my sister had I think the 3rd generation magma which if I recall have a 3.5L V6 in it..... lovely
From the 2nd gen on (I think but certainly from 3rd gen) Mitsubishi Australia offered the Magna with the basic 2.6L 4pot, as well as a choice of TWO V6s - a 3.0L and a 3.5L. Not sure I'm aware of any other mainstream offering with a choice of V6 engines.
@@johnphaceas7434
The 2.6 was only offered in the Sigma and 1st and 2nd generation Magna....the 2nd generation had the option of a 3L V6....the 3rd generation had the two V6 offerings in Australia no 4cyl.
@@AUmarcus Early third series had a four cylinder 2.4 litre option - same engine as the Outlander .
@@johnphaceas7434 VE and VF Commodores had 3.0 and 3.6 engines depending on the spec and when they were built. The 3.6 was came in two power levels, model dependent, in early VE Commodores, later the 3.0 replaced the lower spec 3.6.
@@AUmarcus Early 3rd gen, the pillarless door ones that came in 1996 had a 2.4lt 4-cyl on base models. Later ones, from about 1998/9 had only V6 options, even for fleets.
Another great video Ian! Thanks for sharing. I owned three third generation Magnas at one time or another. Two 1999 TH series and a 2005 TW series. With the ever reliable, powerful and smooth 3.5L V6 engine they made great cruisers! In 2003 I drove my first Magna from Townsville to Melbourne, (a distance of around 2600kms) with a night stop over in Brisbane. It never missed a beat. :-)
Here in Canada I had a Dodge D50 pickup (Mitsubishi) with that engine. I'm going from memory now, but I believe it had two counter rotating balance shafts to try to quell the secondary vibrations from that big four. All was well until it started burning oil, and then gulping it. A fellow I know who worked in a machine shop told me that they took a two litre engine and bored it to the point the cylinder walls were thin, and over time they had a tendency to balloon. Mazda borrowed that engine for the B2600 pickup for a couple of years, carbureted, and there were lots of problems with it. They kind of copied the design, complete with the balance shafts, fuel injected it and improved it, turning it into something pretty much bullet proof.
Wow! This is a TN, the second iteration of the first gen Magna, the same car I first learned to drive on. You don’t see too many of them on the road any more. When introduced in 1985, the TM Magna was quite the revelation and went on to become one of the best selling cars in the country for many years, often third behind the Falcon and Commodore. So it turned out to be very much the solid competitor Mitsubishi were spruiking it to be. The original 1985 TM won the Wheels magazine Car Of The Year for 1985. The Magna was also instrumental in Toyota’s later introduction of what it dubbed the “wide-body Camry” in the early 90s. The TM/TN Magna was truly a game-changer! So good to see an Elite in such good condition. Even the third gen Magna still sold very solidly for its first few years on the market but, like you say, it was during its life cycle (1996-2005) that Mitsubishi Australia lost its way, resulting in its eventual departure from Australian manufacturing in 2008. Interestingly this car doesn’t have original badging on the boot - I wonder why?
Had a tr Magna, the second gen round shaped one, solid old bus, the counter balancer was a issue, so was the timing chain, aside from that they were cheap and survived well
I had a 90’s Sigma estate with the Chrysler V6 and an auto. I loved it. Super smooth for cruising up and down the A34/M40. Wouldnt mind one again, it had plenty of the quirks of this one.... it surprised more than one or two reps in their Vectras snd Mondeos but was reasonable on the juice
@10:30 From memory I think the trim levels went: GL/X, Executive, SE, Elite. The cargo space in the wagon was cavernous. Miss the old Magnas.
There was also the Elante as well just under the Elite with a sports bodykit.
@@jeremyryan770 Ah yes. So there was.
@@george2916 My mate owned 1 and it was a good car, I had an 87 Elite many years ago but it was pretty tired by the time I got it.
@@jeremyryan770 Nice. Big fan of the Elites, especially the two tone paint and alloys. I drove a red TR Executive (with the horrible dark grey hub caps) around for work for a while. Roomy, nice to drive and good performance, but a step backwards in styling over the TN/TP in my opinion.
@@george2916 I had the choice of a tr exec or a VN back in 96 for my 1st car, went the VN cos I didn't like that model at all.
Wow, seeing this as made my day! The interior - with the exception of the electronic display, is exactly the same as my old 1985 Galant. Seeing this brings back some very comfortable and very happy memories of the car. To this day it was the most comfortable car i have ever owned. Absolutely fantastic to see one of these interiors again. The exterior body is pretty much identical, with the exception of the bonnet, the Galant had a totally flat bonnet. Sadly the rust bunnies killed my Galant, which is a shame because the engine and gearbox where still very strong. So glad you found this little gem downunder, where obviously the rust bunnies are not so rampant.
Quirky barge that's rare as over here, a particularly unusual configuration of vehicle given the wider frame but a big 4 banger with futuristic whistles, the interior, blew my little mind. That is spectacular the rev counter is spesh but I really lost it at the graphic equaliser. Absolutely adore that. Sumptuous seating, what a cabin, what a quality product. From the inside, spanking. Lovely test.
I had this exact car in a 1.8 version, exact same body and interior including dash, in Thailand. I bought it in 2001 and it was an old car then, it had started life as a manual with carb and been converted to a auto with fuel injection. It was named the Mitsubishi Royale in Thailand and was fairly rare. I bought it from the original owner who had lived next to the sea, the car had quite a lot of corrosion which is unusual in Thailand. I think I payed the equiv of $2000 which was very cheap for any car at the time, we drove it around Thailand and Malaysia down to Singapore and back and then sold it for the same as i paid for it. The cam belt snapped after I'd owned it 2 months, to be fair the seller did recommend changing it. Anyway the damage included 16 bent valves, the repair bill was about equiv of $350, labour was very cheap in Thailand back then.
This car seems to have achieved what the Camry of the 90s and early 2000s needed but didn't have, torque. The low end performance this car has and where in the rev range it seems to be potent is what every 4 cyl should have, low rpm grunt. I used to have 90s Camry and you'd have to stomp it and wait to get power, whereas this one seems to flow easily off the line, very impressive.
These Mitubishi's had more get up and go than the advertised specs suggest, in about 1981 I had an informal traffic light grand prix with a Sapporo in My Beta 2000, I didn't pull ahead until an indicated 110mph. Don't worry, I've calmed doen a bit now. Advertisers defintely seem to watch your vids, I didn't clock the company but the advert at the start of this was for battery and brake disc checks, it was only yesterday that I watched you struggling at the back of your Delica and now you don't want to switch this off because the battery is knackered..