Faults:

Water pump blew up at 239,000 km.

Cassette tape player broke (radio still works).

Bought the car in the South Island of New Zealand; was told the car was in great condition all round, as the bodywork implied the body was very tidy; no rust, good paint.

Good seats, cheap sunroof installed, two new Michellin tyres, recent new testing station WOF.

The car has brake shudder. I noticed that when buying (discs need skimming or replacing).

The car had a bad water pump leak. I did not notice when buying the car at night time.

Timing chain rattle evident. Also rattling balance shaft chain on start up.

Water pump blew at over 110kph with 3 people and luggage on the West Coast of the South Island, heading north 35km North Greymouth (not in a very isolated place like Haast or Fox Glacier), hitched to Greymouth Repco easy, hitched back easy, got the part flown down from Auckland, the car was fixed at a local garage the next day ($170 including new belt). The car has been good since.

Water pump jammed, damaging the separate small drive belt.

Trans is good; the car is still going despite the chain rattle, praise the Lord.

Overall happy with the $650 purchase price and the reliability of the car, bar the water pump.

Good seats, less power and smaller space than the Ford Falcon Wagons I am used to. I like big Fords.

Spaciousness, fuel economy OK for a 1500kg wagon; probably around the same or a little more than a 92/93 Falcon, but the economy is not as good as my EF Falcon wagon 1994; that was outstandingly economical wagon; 15k per litre open road (outstanding 1650kg wagon).

Overall, I like the Magna late 1993. Good interior, strongly built Japanese car that has proved to be a very safe car (sturdy chassis I believe) from the 1992-1997 era (disappointed no airbag though on 1993 or 1996 year Magna Wagons). NZ and Aussie Crash tests according to Wikipedia.org and others, and real life crashes. Should be good cheap cars for people now they are older.

General Comments:

Body strength, interior, seats good, safe, but no airbag.

Look for water pump leaks and timing chain rattle.

Have seen rust on white neglected cars; otherwise fine.

Faults:

Alternator regulator started acting up ($70).

Hose blew ($10 to repair).

Water pump bearing stuffed itself, had to change the water pump ($100).

Steering rack needed replacement ($450 for a second hand one).

General Comments:

Superb car for long drives. Plenty of power, great air-con, lots of boot space.

The Magna is very refined too; no tyre, engine or wind noise at speed.

Miraculously, all the electrics are still working - power windows, power mirrors and cruise control.

Very reliable - I have driven her to all sorts of places, over dirt roads, campsites, standing water etc etc and I have no complaints.

Get the manual because my friend's automatic 2.6L is terrible.

Quite expensive for urban runs, 16 litres/100km is not unusual.

Faults:

Replaced the alternator regulator ($70)

Replaced water pump ($100)

Replaced a couple of hoses ($15)

General Comments:

Fantastic car for students or family. It's reasonably quick and great on long drives with cruise control and a superb air con.

Handling is pretty mediocre, but no worse than you would expect of a big front driver.

Acres of space in the rear pews and boot.

The manual makes a big difference to performance. My mate has the same model with an auto tranny and it's very weak. Mine's pretty decent, overtaking is no problem.

Drinks like a fish, but it's not so bad on a long trip.