2003 Mitsubishi Magna TL (third gen, facelift) - another Aussie oddity! 

The Magna was quicker than the 380. Look at the Ralliart Magna for example. Some of the model's put out 210kw while weighing 1450kg. The 380 had 175kw & weighed 1650kg in comparison. Plus the Magna offered AWD model's. I did love the TMR 380 mind, still can't believe the size of the brakes.

Yeah, no wonder he was knackered is it

I remember this Discovery (type of) series called Australian Border Police or something like that. I can just imagine HubNut trying to convince the 25 yo border police that he is really here to test all sorts of cars that are totally unfamiliar to this bloke/lass..... "So you flew over here to drive a Mitsubishi Magna and an Austin What?? And you are telling me they are made here?"

@@hugobloemers4425 I used to watch the New Zealand police series, and heard a bloke on there that came from Ipswich in Suffolk! That could've been a nice meet for Ian!

I remember to this day being at the 2006 Melbourne motor show and visiting the Mitsubishi stand with the new Magna replacement, the 380. I looked the car over thoroughly and one of Mitsubishi Australia's executives came up to me and eagerly asked what I thought of it. I tersely replied that 'You're going to go out of business, I was that underwhelmed with it' little did I know I would be so prophetic. By the end of 2008 the once proud Tonsley Park factory was shuttered and the 380 had come to an early, but necessary end.

Mark Griffiths I like the outside of the 380 but the killed the Magna name killing sales more and the interior it’s just ew

@@markgriffiths3804 One of the reasons why Mitsubishi went out of business was, petrol prices were going sky-high and people werent buying 6 cylinder cars. Holden, Ford & Toyota were able to weather the storm because they had sufficient other models to see them by, but Mtisu didnt. And to make things worse, GFC struck mid-2007. And to rub salt into the wound for Mitsu, petrol prices came down 2008. But by then, they had already made the decision. Pity.

@@wizzard5442 yes, the 380 was the wrong car at the wrong time. Personally I think they should have done what they did the first generation Magna and taken the smaller Galant, widened it and used the 2.4 4 banger and the 3.0 V6 instead of the frankly pointless bloated 380. The Toyota Avalon was a similar attempt (and dismal fail) to introduce Australians to large front wheel drive cars. The Magna and Camry proved that their size was a handy niche that had plenty of buyers

@@markgriffiths3804 You're so right re first gen Magna. That was the whole idea of it - roomy inside but short on length for better road dynamics & easier driving. And also with the 2.4 litre. Yes, the widened Galant with 2.4 would have been ideal. Alas, its not going to happen. Times have well & truly changed.

Ah no, I’m pretty sure the 380 was transverse FWD like the Magnas. I remember because the various Australian police forces were not enamoured with FWD cars, but when Mitsubishi came out with AWD Magnas they were more than happy to buy the higher powered versions of them; but when the 380 came out the AWD option was dropped, so the policed stopped buying then due to their bias against FWD. I suggest you go do a search.

@@mickvonbornemann3824 lol. Yes, it was also transverse FWD - like a million other cars! It’s a different platform though. It shares the Magna engine, but that’s about it. It was also available with a 4 cylinder in the US, and the platform was able to be made in AWD. It was never AWD in the Galant (or 380), but there was an SUV version called the Endeavour that was AWD. Research is good huh ;)

And another tab to open it from behind the rear armrest.

But he didn't even know how to unlock the rear door LOL ! ! ! You tap the unlock button TWICE, the FIRST press unlocks only the driver's door for safety in solo occupant situations, and the second press unlocks all the others. DUUH !

Awesome, I have a TJ wagon (2002), done less than 160,000km.

And the sigma was exported to the UK as the Lonsdale Satellite to circumvent the Japanese import restrictions at the time, if hubnut can find one he should test it

Sadly thought to be extinct.

When I worked for the Commonwealth Bank in 2005-06 we had a metallic beige wagon for transporting bank documents around town. It was about as exciting as that sounds. I remember it had a massive turning circle and the women in our team christened it “the Tank”

@@bafg182 Second only to a Landcruiser 70 series...

In NZ (without the more stringent Oz emission restrictions) the TL produced 164 kWs, and you buy the bits to convert it to 180 kWs if you needed or wanted even more grunt. 180kWs is the standard Ralliart output from the 6G74 engine. With the manual gearbox option these 180 kW cars REALLY honked..!!

AUmarcus Like a wart

Another factor was that Mitsubishi essentially launched the 380 by saying "here's the new car, if it doesn't sell we're closing our Australian factory". I suspect a fair few potential customers were scared off by that and ended up looking elsewhere, even if they were in the market for a sedan.

Thinking back on the 380. It was 1 car in 1 market in 1 body shape expected to sell at least 30 000 a year. It was'nt going to make it.

@@captainpesmo Also, remember the ABC ran "OMG! Mitsubishi's on the brink of closing!" articles regularly. It may not have been the only thing (especially with Boulay's restyle) but it didn't help.

Coming from a KJ Verada, even the top 380s felt awfully cheap inside. No sale.

I wonder if the 380 would have retained the magna nameplate and offered a wagon version if it would have sold any better?

It's the time of the year. Combed my cat on Friday and the amount of fur that came away in the comb far exceeded previous years' amounts in one combing session !

Ha, that means it is a modern car because all previous models look better than what is coming out now.

The TJ Sports and VRX were the ones to have....more powerful engines.

@Hugo Bloemers, not necessarily - The VE Commodore shat all over the VZ for looks, the BA Falcon looked much better than the fugly AU etc

The only downside about the TJ, is almost every one I see has a dent in the 'beak'! 🤣

I have owned a TJ (Sports) for years. Good car and there is no dent in the beak.

@Stephen Graham as Mitch says, the Verada was the luxury model. I believe that there were some models of Magna available with the option of the V6 (in addition to buying the Verada with the V6, if that makes sense!)

Mitch09 huh I find Fairmonts and veradas are about the same value

Yeah, some printer fonts look very deceiving ;)

There's another boot release if you get on the back seat and pull down the arm rest and open the flap that allows access to inside the boot, put your hand in and there's a cable to pull to open the boot incase of a flat battery.

When I got this example second hand, I was so happy with the condition and the fitted accessories that I was able to overlook the nose. 😉

Or iced coffee it seems

@jason9022 read all the comments jason ..and you will see what i was on about.

Yes i shit myself when that light come on.I could not for the life of me what it was.Turned off the car and it never came back on.The same thing happened in my 380 also and i decided to look in my 380 book and felt like such a knob when i discovered what it was.

@@samkaur4098 Hahaha. After owning my Magna for nearly 8 years exactly the same thing happened to me for the first time recently!

I like the rest light, I'm relived that its not something serious.

Mitsubishi had the same problem in Europa with its modell Carisma. Based on the platform of Volvo S40 and Ford Focus, it was something like a Europeen Lancer, but it did not became very popullar due to a rather doll lock. But a qaulity product, never the less, my father had a 96 modell and it was a nice ride.

I totally agree. Mitsubishi started losing traction around the time the Diamonte cancelled, and the Galant took over. Then, because I believe Mitsubishi was having financial problems (the NUUMI plant where they manufactured the Galant closed, or partnership with Ford end, confused on the dynamics, my memory is hazy on this subject), that even the Galant started to look cheap, and sales dropped off precipitously at Mitsubishi, to the point where it is now part of Renault. And remember the commercials at the time? Dirty Vegas was featured, Days Gone By playing during the commercial, to which they took off. So advertisers played a role in that to remember Mitsubishi by.

In Australia, if you spent more to get a Verada over the Magna variants, then you saw those featues, like the climate control, CD stacker and fake woodgrain.

The Australian Verada spec Magna probably matched the Diamante exactly. But Verada was expensive here. Wonder if we payed more to subsidise US exports of Diamante? US market seems to get lower prices of everything imported. I wonder if cross subsidies are being made to get a competitive price in the US market.

@@johnd8892 Not sure. Perhaps Fuzzdog can answer, but my recollection from this side of the Pacific was that it was pitched as a premium offering in NA. Even if the exports were cost-neutral, the additional volumes would drive part and build costs down at the plant. For a long time, Australia had schemes in place for Australian automotive manufacturers and suppliers to give tax relief and subsidies apart from the occasional bail-outs.

Single cam, 24 valve for Magnas :)

@@marklindsay4804 stand corrected and educated, thank you, didn't realise you could get sohc and dohc of this engine

Nah ES is often base model for most Mitsubishi's sold in Australia at that time

I had a 98 verada, I could not fault it, until the rear main oil seal went. Too expensive a repair, I relinquished the car. I'd have another of these magna's in a heartbeat, preferably an AWD model next 👍🥳. Great car's 👍👍

In America since the late 90s Mitsubishi switched down their marketing scheme and became the go to for people with bad credit, the worst of all owners apparently in terms of neglecting care and maintenance.

@@nakoma5 Yeah not sure what it was in Australia. Dregs of society tend to buy them used, with a few exceptions (like my Dad, lol).

I still got 1993 Verada. Its getting tired so it will be going to car-heaven soon. But amazingly or unbelievably, I prefer it in lieu of my current 2003 KL. It has more feel than the cotton-wooled KL. Dont agree with your "owners dont look after them".

I spotted at least one when I was in the US for work in ~2007, but that's some time ago now. It was interesting how it was pitched as a mid-level luxury vehicle for you while here the range covered the market down to the base specification for its class.

iatsd That is why it looked so bland! I think the 380 was the death of MMA, no wagon, no AWD. Geez if they had made an AWD wagon with a 3.0 turbo diesel (straight out of the Mitsubishi Japan engine list) in upmarket spec, they could have marketed it around 50 grand. Nothing on the market like that, except a VW Passat 4motion or an Audi Quattro (at around 70 to 80 grand!). Holden (the Adventra was a disaster) and Ford had nothing near it (Territory was Falcon petrol six only).

@@tedburnard841 Bear in mind that Mitsubishi was flat skint at the time. It had pissed away all it's money developing the 9th gen platform for the US market that was supposed to be a new global platform too (& it *was* a damn good platform), but then had no money to develop cars for anything other than the US and Japanese markets. Mitsubishi Australia wasted $500 *million* making changes to the US Galant just for the Australian market. It was never going to recoup that amount, and they never should have spent it. It forced them to close the Australian operation (among others) and try to survive for almost a decade on face lifts only in most markets. The only place getting genuinely new cars was the Japanese domestic market.

@@iatsd Those were that days that MMC nearly went under after years of recalls and warranty issues

iatsd You are right there. Such a shame really. I knew people working at the Tonsley Park headquarters here in Adelaide from the early 70s through to the end. Remember being on a primary school tour of the Tonsley Park plant marvelling at watching AP6 Valiants being made as well as the odd Dodge Phoenix (showing my age here)

The 2.4 four was a gem by all accounts. Then they quietly dropped it.

I've never found it to be a problem, but then I generally don't push that hard. I did get to try a jellybean Taurus once. My one attempt at heavy acceleration saw the car jumping into the adjacent lane!

yes.. the photos often don't do it justice ..it was quite sculptural in the metal.

Oh, but this one has an outlet in the floor, squeezed between the rear seat and the door! It's not mentioned in the manual, so they must have squeezed that in as a late addition!

We had a 2000KJ Verada. Best car we ever owned. Had it for 17 years and 350.000 km, still in immaculate condition - then I drove it through a fence. :(

@@peterwilding7248 Cant trust those fences.

At least the Aussie paint fades less than the imported stuff. My Territory has faded (I happened to notice the contrast between the body beneath the tailgate), but it's nowhere near the red Japanese car I saw at the shops last night that was various shades of faded pinky-red.

We did get the estate version at one point but very few sold

Yeah ..rental cars always go better in tha dirt ..lol Same as reps cars have better suspension and steering.

UMMM ..you do?

@@planestrainsdogsncars4336 Well maybe slight exaggeration, but they certainly aren't extinct

I saw one the other day so that's good enough for me. Go forever. So essentially in keeping with the Valiant that was built at the same premises.

I took "oddity" as meaning cars that Brits wouldn't be familiar with in the UK.

@@roadie3124 Ah yeah, definitely a car built for the Australian roads!

I think you had to either get the base model or one of the sports variants to score a manual. It was that way for the TH series.

AWD was part of the production line up on the Magna.

Adelaide maybe if you do not count Melbourne having Holden Port Melbourne Fisheramns Bend head office and design office , 48/215 launch and early manufacture and engine plant always, Ford at Geelong then Campbellfield (called incorrectly Broadmeadows by some), VW manufacture at Clayton, Toyota at Port Melbourne then Altona North, AMI Port Melbourne assembly of Rootes Hillman and Humber, Vanguard then Triumph, Mercedes 220S and 220SE and Rambler, Heidelberg West for Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, NSU and Studebaker. Later Clayton for Datsun and Volvo then HSV. Holden proving grounds at Lang Lang. Ford proving grounds at the You Yangs. International Harvester Trucks at Geelong. Kenworth at Bayswater North. Repco at Richmond and Maidstone also making the Repco Brabham F1 motor taking the world championship in 1966 and 1967. Bolwell at Seaford and probably a few others I have forgotten.

You missed Lightburn (Zeta)!! The famous Concrete mixers, industrial washing machines & CARS!! They were strange devices built in Sth Australia somewhere & l think Villiers 2 stroke powered that you had to stop the engine & switch the starter in reverse by a switch on the dash then the engine would run in the opposite direction so you could stick it in 1st gear to reverse!! Also don’t forget buckle body builders who built the famous or infamous Goggomobile in NSW, also Kingford smiths Southern cross car & the Australian six amongst others.

@@johnd8892 Adding to the list: Holden: Pagewood (Sydney), NSW, Dandenong (Melbourne), Victoria, Acacia Ridge (Brisbane), Queensland. Ford: Homebush (Sydney), NSW, Eagle Farm (Brisbane), Queensland. Every state wanted a car plant or two at some stage!

@@jamesgovett2501 Yes the Zeta should be added to the South Australian makes. Not so sure it changes the balance too much. I was just concentrating on the Victorian products which I think still outweighs any other states contribution to Australian motor vehicle production. Hubnut will be upset you left out Austin, Morris, BMC, BLMC then Leyland at Zetland NSW, but their products were pretty forgettable. Add the Tarrant to Victoria. Colonel Harley Tarrant built his first car in 1901. After a small number of motor vehicles were built, it became apparent that it was uneconomic to build indigenous vehicles, in the face of overseas technology. Tarrant assumed the responsibility for distribution of Ford automobiles in Victoria in 1908, and production of Tarrants ceased. The Tarrant automobile was a 2 cylinder vehicle and contained only 2 seats; the driver and the passenger. About 16 cars were built between 1900 and 1907. The last surviving Tarrant was acquired by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria in 2002. In 1984 the car was featured on a postage stamp, part of a series of five depicting early Australian automobiles, issued by Australia Post. First petrol powered car made in Australia.

I couldn't agree more! To go from the Aussie styled TJ, to that.. What a backwards step.

Big lights were the go then ...but yur right ..ugly as sin

Sales figures agreed. I knew a Ford guy who said it was the beginning of the end of the Australian industry, since losing Mitsubishi would be a big dent to the economies of scale. He was spot on.

@@steved3702 Toyota would have kept going here too, quietly exporting the majority of their production. Also being highly regarded by Toyota head office. But with Ford then Holden going partly by having no exports in number to speak of, the economies of scale of suppliers were further lost.

@@johnd8892 Yeah, I think they were able to cope with Mitsubishi exiting, but as soon as one of the remaining three announced closure the remaining dominoes fell. As it was, the car companies were paying a premium for Australian-manufactured product over the equivalent in other locations, but the need to have a certain economy of scale and sentimentality on Toyota's part for their first overseas manufacturing location could only help for a finite time.