Faults:

Not a lot went wrong, I only serviced it twice the entire time I had it.

At last service, 121000, had the timing belt replaced as was unsure if it had been replaced at 100000kms.

Had new brakes put on at last service.

Had new set of radiator hoses put on at last service, however was told to have them replaced at the 116000 service I had done. They were were soft and leaking, but lasted me til the next service anyway.

Some of the interior fittings had broken, the front ashtray spring had snapped, and the plastic fitting around the right rear door lock had come off.

The driver side key hole broke, so to unlock the car, had to unlock from the front passenger side, central locking still worked though.

The fabric on the roof had started to peel off too by the last couple of months I had it. I think this may have had something to do with the fact I moved and could no longer garage the car, and it was parked in the sun all day.

I also installed new speakers and a new deck in it, as it still had the original tape deck in it. It took a bit of effort to hook the new deck up, and had a short for awhile in the interior lights due to me and my grandpa soldering the wrong wire to the ignition. We fixed that, but not long after the CD player wouldn't eat or spit out CD's properly - but that wasn't really the car's fault, it was a cheap deck.

General Comments:

I LOVED my Magna. It was my first car, was so reliable and never let me down.

It got me from uni to home easy as, could sit on 120-140 and not even notice. It never cost me more than $60 to fill it up, and I got about 500kms to a tank - just enough for 2 weeks of buzzing around the city and a trip home.

It started to drop off in economy the longer I went without a service though.

Its grip was fantastic on the roads, once I tried to make it slide in the middle of a thunder storm, and no matter how hard I tried to lose control, it still put itself back on the straight. Its braking even on nearly bald tyres and worn brakes got me out of quite a few hairy situations in city traffic.

Its pick up was brilliant, even with economy on, but if you turned it off and turned on the power, it fairly flew and beat quite a few of the old Holdens and Fords my friends had.

I'm really sad I lost my car recently. I was in city traffic and had to stop suddenly, and got rammed from behind so hard I got smashed into the car in front of me. My car got written off as a result. If I had of been in a little cyl I would never have been able to walk away from it with only mild whiplash. The whole car crumpled around me, and it was the last time that car saved my life. I will miss it, it was a brilliant first car.

Faults:

Starter motor replaced, thermostat got stuck open (replaced); minor things only really.

General Comments:

Fantastic car let down by a terrible transmission (Automatic). We've owned several Magnas, and the manual ones have been great (And later Automatics with tiptronic have been OK). 4 Speed Auto in TR/TS models is dreadful though. Slow responding, clunks into gears, never picks the right gear, then never moves from the wrong gear. Even changing down gears manually takes forever, and the gears clumsily stumble in. Get a manual, never look back.

Competent engine, economical, very, very smooth and refined. Cruises well, takes off well, does everything well.

Competent handling in the dry, good ride. Wagon has plenty of roll as expected, but still manages good grip and composed manners on twisty roads.

Compared to my previous Camry, it is light years ahead. Fantastic cabin, very spacious, practical and well put together - better than my previous Camry.

Alright on dirt roads. The suspension and steering are actually very toughly put together, and it has coped with abuse from many many kilometers of dirt roads (not always in the best condition) remarkably well.

It's a dog in the wet - too big, too much power for the front wheels to cope. Take off VERY gently. Loads of understeer and torque steer (only in the wet though).

Engines blow blue smoke from early on, and start using loads of oil. They last forever afterwards (seen some with well over 500,000kms), but you have to take care of it from early on. Just not as long lasting as my previous Camry. All the ones we've owned have been the same.

Manual V6 Magnas get about 10L/100km easily. Automatic ones... more like 12L/100km. Avoid 4 cylinder versions. They drink very heavily and break down often. In V6 manual form, it is pretty much unbeatable value.