Mitsubishi Magna 2003 Review

The Ford Territory and Holden Cross8 are at best still months away from showrooms, but you can buy a Mitsubishi Magna all-wheel-drive today - in fact, they've been on sale since January.

There is even a choice of family, sports and luxury models, all with 3.5-litre V6 engines and the same sort of fulltime total-traction packages that have worked so well for Audi and Subaru for almost 20 years.

The Magna All-Wheel-Drive has created a new edge for the family Magna, which is battling against newer and brighter rivals wearing Falcon, Commodore and Camry badges.

The Ford-Toyota-Holden contenders are all much fresher and have had much more money - more than $1 billion in total - splashed on them through the tough times at Mitsubishi in Adelaide.

But Mitsubishi is picking up the pace and has a committed future, as well as export targets, to the end of the decade and beyond. The bolder facelifted 2004 Magna will be out soon and there is a lot more to come.

The Magna AWD hasn't exactly exploded into action, but it was always going to be a slow-burn sort.

Mitsubishi believes it will be popular with country people or those who need to drive a lot on gravel roads, or want a bit more grip and stability in a relatively powerful V6.

It's not hard, either, to see something more like the Cross8 and Territory joining the local production lines in the future, now that Mitsubishi has proven it can build an all-wheel-drive on the same line as the basic Magna.

The Magna AWD has few straight-out rivals, apart from the Subaru Liberty, because it's much cheaper than the Euro all-wheelers and doesn't have the high-rider look or straight-out space of the bigger 4WDs that sit in its $38,000 to $47,000 price bracket.

Mitsubishi has spread the appeal through the basic Magna AWD at $37,490 to the Sports AWD -- with a more powerful 159kW engine -- at $43,290 and the Verada AWD at $46,460.

The changes for the AWD conversion are relatively minor, with some reworking of the transmission tunnel, a viscous centre coupling snitched from the Lancer Evo VI and the suspension retuned, with upgraded brakes.

Mitsubishi has dropped the traction control fitted to the front-drive Magna. One other difference: a slightly smaller fuel bladder.

The 3.5-litre V6 comes in two tunes, though most people will be happy with the standard 154kW and 310Nm. There's no manual gearbox, just the five-speed auto with Mitsubishi's touch-change sports shift.

The car looks like any other Magna, apart from the 16-inch alloy wheels. Even the "Sports" only has a small rear spoiler. Inside, the dials -- with white faces in the Sports -- get a small AWD reminder across the tachometer.

On the road

WE LIKED driving the Magna AWD. It has better grip, better balance and copes terrifically well with Aussie-style gravel roads.

The Sports Magna we drove was noticeably easier to drive briskly on twisty roads, particularly if they were damp, and didn't have the heavy front-wheel-drive feel of the standard Sports - definitely worth a look for anyone considering a go-faster Magna.

But there are problems.

We think Mitsubishi should have put a wagon in the line-up. Its two closest rivals, the Subaru Liberty and Forester, both have a full family back end available and research by other companies shows more families are swayed by extra safety and all-paw grip when they want a new wagon.

Then again, we could just be getting ahead of the game. We don't know what Mitsubishi has coming in the middle to long term.

Our real concern with the Magna is the shortcomings of the basic car. It is badly overdue for a facelift and update.

It was probably the worst possible time to drive the Magna AWD, because the facelifted Mitsubishi is only a few weeks away, but we know Mitsubishi will be building the "old" Magna All-Wheel-Drive throughout the start-up of the new car, and that's going to leave some orphan cars in showrooms until the end of the year.

What's wrong with the Magna? It looks plain old. The cabin looks grungy, with huge slabs of bland, black plastic.

The airbag cover on our test car was a very poor fit and didn't match the dash colour - the "cave" look has been dropped by rivals moving into lighter grey plastics - and even the trim choices are well behind the Magna's rivals.

That's why we are really looking forward to the Magna facelift.

The mechanical package of the AWD proves, again, that Mitsubishi has extremely talented people in Adelaide. The final tuning of the engine, suspension - and even the brakes - makes it a quick, comfortable, safe package. It turns well, has great grip, and we feel the braking performance is a little better than usual.

The all-paw system copes easily with the V6 power and torque, creating a well-balanced car that's fun to drive.

The touch-change auto can be a bit slow to respond, but Mitsubishi has tuned it to hold the chosen gear. The shift lever is easy to use -- even if we'd prefer the shift direction to be changed to create a backwards pull for upshifts.

And we hope the coming upgrade boosts the headlamps and the horn.