1997 Mitsubishi Magna TF 3.0Litre V6
Summary:
An extremely reliable and well-built vehicle
Faults:
Nothing much has gone wrong with the car. There have only been two times that the car has needed to go to a mechanic. (Apart from scheduled servicing).
The first problem that we had was nothing major, just a flat battery that required replacing.
The second problem occurred at 165000km when the bearings for the air-conditioning compressor packed up. It cost $400 to be fixed. Again nothing major.
General Comments:
The TF Magna is a good all round vehicle.
It is a very solid and well-built car and there seems to be no structural problems.
It is very smooth and quiet to drive and is a very refined vehicle.
It handles very well for a front wheel drive vehicle; especially cruising on the open roads it drives well through the wide-open bends.
The 3.0Litre V6 is quite powerful, but I would prefer the 3.5Litre engine of later model Magna's. Although, it is quite happy to rev out for overtaking or a quick take-off.
The automatic transmission is excellent. Very smooth and with quick, crisp changes.
I've had the car for almost five years now and it still looks and goes like it's brand new.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 5th June, 2003
18th Jun 2007, 18:44
My 1997 Magna station wagon has been really reliable until recently when the transmission started "sticking" between second and third. Apparently, this is a known problem caused by the transmission computer - in particular a software fault that causes it second and third to engage simultaneously. The cost of replacing this electronic part has been quoted as $1400! I'm not sure I can justify that, given that I previously had a Magna wagon and had the motor replaced, only to then have the transmission go as well. $1400 seems a lot, considering the transmission might need doing at some point. So, a good, nice driving, reliable car, but some bloody expensive parts might need replacing. Chris.
4th Jan 2012, 00:02
My understanding is that the ECU for the transmission has fuzzy logic, which learns your driving style & adapts the shift pattern accordingly. I think you would find that if you continued driving the car in a more sedate manner for some time, the shift pattern would revert to changing up earlier & changing down later.
25th Jan 2007, 02:45
I have noticed when I drive my Auto '97 magna hard, like rev it out to 5000+ rpm and then drive it under normal conditions, (2000-3000 rpm) it will not change gear untill it revs out to 4000+ rpm.
Once turned off and let sit there, it will drive as usual (change gear at 2000-3000rpm)