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!

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.

"A blend of Magna and Sigma?" - Is the result 'Smegma?'

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!

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!

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.

Mitsubishi had a great thing going on in the 60s-90s! Almost painful to see what they are building nowadays really

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. 😂

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.

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.

No wonder you were a little nackered during the trip. My goodness you were prolific in making movies.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 👍🥂😉

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

That interior screams "Star Trek - The next generation". Cpt. Picard would feel right at home behind that dashboard. Make it so! :)

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. 🖖 🙂 👍

Magna, very much a Granddad's car in Aus. Bowls hat and cardigan optional.

Interior is sublime! Got the look of the Cortina/Granada about it, love it Mr Hubnut and thank you 👍❤

HubNut you are utterly bloody brilliant. Thanks for entertaining me with your motoring videos. Pete UK

That interior stole my heart.

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.

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.

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. :-)

Interior looks like you're driving around in a giant stereo. Very nice.

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.

Had a TK magna with the 3.5 for many years. Absolute beast of a car, never late going anywhere in that.

My daily driver is a TP Magna Elite. Thanks for the video

Good afternoon from Manchester. U took me back 2 memory lane

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 (:

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 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

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.

Love the flattened rear wheel arch shape. The Cordia had this design element as well. A touch of class!

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!

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.

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.

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 lecture took 4 of us down to Melbourne from Bendigo in his first magma wagon. It went along just nicely, plenty of poke.

Nice , I like the extras like the sun visor and the dash rug too ! 👍

Thanks for testing a common 80's vehicle. These were also commonly used as company cars...

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.

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.

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.

It reminds me of the 90s protons just a pity they didnt have the cool dashboard

I did my driving test in a base model Magna of this vintage. Passed first go too!

This is superbly retro - and the interior is wonderful. I would be very happy to own one of these!

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

That stereo is MENTAL!

I'm quite taken by this one. Ticks a lot of my boxes, and that interior is really extra special.

Niiiiice ❤️ very cool dash and buttons, reminds me of KITT 😎 fantastic stereo 😍

Thanks very much for this Magna vid, Ian :) Contemporary reports cited early 80s aero 'C3' Audi 100 as a design inspiration for this generation of Mitsubishi Galant / Magna / Sigma.

Nice one Hubnut. I remember when these were everywhere. The dash and gauge cluster should be called the Atari.

I have the same model from 1990 in a wagon!

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 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.

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!

Great videos can't wait to see more like this

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 rear windows go all the way down from what I know and I love it

Love this interior. Wasn’t expecting that.

Great vid.. Takes me back to when my family had the wagon version of the first gen Magna. The wagon styling was quite ungainly compared to the sedan but it carried heaps of cargo. Just on keeping left, the keep left law (in New South Wales at least) only applies where the speed limit is over 80km/h. That may explain your experience compared to home. Have especially enjoyed your test of veteran British cars, many thanks.

Having a look at one of these on the weekend for my first car, only done 130k kms. So keen.

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!

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.

My father had one exactly the same in every way loved that car

The steering wheel & cockpit reminds me of the late 80’s Subaru vortex!

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.

What a beautiful area you're in!

Emil, love the car. My dad had four Magnas over the years, the first gen was pure Japanese 80's with those squared lines, the 2.6 Astron and a wafting ride. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

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 👍🦘

Great video. I have an Elite wagon on my channel that I bought a few months back. Same colour as the sedan you featured.

That is a car radio to be proud of.

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.

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

Cracking job Mr Seabrook

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..

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.

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.

This was my first car in 1998 it was a great car I wish I still had it, it got stolen. Done 187kmph flat out and would sit on 140kmph all day

Very nice car there Emil. Didn't realise that Mitsubishi did a 'Morris Minor' and split this car down the middle to widen it! Very interesying indeed.

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.

Engine aside that cars lovely! That interior absolutely gorgeous! An obvious reason for the death of a lot of British marques. Cheers

Owned 7 of these in NZ, which were marketed as Sigmas and V3000s (3.0 V6). Very nice cars, have yet to find more comfy seats. Very stylish in their day and Star Trek interior exuding 80s excess! ❤

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.

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

Ah brings back sweet memories when I was studying in Melbourne and my uncle got a white magna stationwagon, it was huge!!!!:)

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...

This reminds me of the time I was learning for a car mechanic and doing an internship at a Mitsubishi garage.

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