1990 Mitsubishi Magna TP SE review from Australia and New Zealand

The battery was found to be dead the day I drove it home, as I'd stalled the car turning right at a set of lights (due to an unfamiliar clutch)!

Cracked headlight rotator switch - cost $5 from a Mitsubishi wrecker.

Rear left handbrake caliper seized in the closed position, leaving behind huge amounts of brake pad smoke!

Brakes tend to squeal (the pads are currently between 30 and 60% worn).

Paint on horizontal surfaces is slightly crazed (I think due to dodgy re-spray job).

Nowhere to hook tie-down straps in the boot!

Clutch seems to have a longer travel distance than my father's 1985 Nissan Patrol!

Blue-coloured dash doesn't really match the rest of the (grey) interior - I think the original cracked in the sun and the previous owner replaced it to sell the car. The rest of the interior is clean and in excellent condition.

The car has obviously been looked after well and meticulously maintained - I have the original Mitsubishi manual with a record of all services performed up to 100,000 km.

When clean, this car looks superb with its very dark tinted windows, deep maroon paintwork and shiny factory alloy wheels.

Very smooth and quiet - a luxurious level of instrumentation including tinted power windows, cruise control, air conditioning, and a CD player (which I had carried over from my old car :) ).

The vehicle has enough space to seat 4 adults comfortably with their luggage, a massive boot and enough power to move you at a reasonable pace with all that and the boot full of camping gear and my own luggage. The engine pumps out a pretty decent 93kW, as opposed to the mediocre 83ish kW of the carby models (some Executive and GLX), and the manual transmission helps to move things along a little bit quicker.

Handling isn't bad, but you notice the downfalls of the front-wheel-drive on twisting roads - the old (rear-wheel) Mazda was good at holding the road, whereas you can't be too rough with the Magna due to noticeable understeer and body roll.

All in all, a lovely car to look at and drive - I'd seriously consider a brand new Magna when the time came to move this one on!