Faults:

Put luggage in the boot and knocked out the speakers where the tab and wire connects, as they were not protected, but they could have been after market speakers and larger than normal.

The little cover for cup holder would not engage unless it was banged down. Just cosmetic, but it's a bit annoying when things don't work smoothly.

Oh, and the driver's door auto window was clunky, and if lowered too far, would not go up for ages. Really stressful as you wonder if it's going to be able to lock when you get to your destination, and not nice in winter. Not great at 90K. It should have had heaps of work left in it. Again, tacky/poor quality.

General Comments:

Braking system good to excellent, while on my Falcon you needed to stand on the brakes, even with 1/4 wear on them.

Suspension smooth and excellent ride, especially for people with joint or back injuries. My Ford was bit jolty on bumps.

Driver's seat has good support, and the adjustments are particularly good, as electric adjustments are easily accessed and simple to operate for a person with limited movement. The Ford had manual adjustments.

Dash lighting is nice at night, as it is green, and the radio is a nice blue. The Ford was average.

The model I had was late 2005, and had a very nice design on the seats, and overall extremely nice interior and condition, with a more executive finish.

So when I let the dog in the car, the nice finish did not stand up, and snagged the seat material and scratched the plastic. The Ford Falcon's interior is not as plush, but stood up to the dog. Just different finishes; not one or the other superior, just pick the car for the use you want it for.

A downside is the poor turning circle. The Ford had an excellent turning circle.

Fuel economy is not the best highway or town driving. The Ford had excellent highway economy, but was not good around town.

Cruise control was not as refined as the Ford's system, nor as easy to use.

The Magna's auto box is a more direct clunky change, because of front wheel drive and the general setup of the auto. Fine when driving quick, but if driven sedately, it holds on to first for too long (had it checked out by an auto specialist and Magna dealership; both said the same, nothing wrong, just how they change, but older Magnas setup is better, and some people do put older parts in them, the Mitsi mechanic said).

Ford's auto is excellent. Extremely smooth changes, and appropriate to the revs and speed.

All in all, if you're looking for a car that is hardy and you can race around town in, then you will not notice what I'm saying, but if you want to drive it like a limo and sedately, then it will hold on to first gear and go through the gears less smoothly than a Ford.

The Magna has side impact air bags for the front seat.

Sitting in Magna initially was like being in a small car, which was strange because of its size, but what Mitsubishi has done is made its doors especially thick, and place the seats close together, thus making occupants in the car more cocooned within its structure, and further away from any side impact

My 1999 Ford had no side impact airbags, and the seats are placed extremely close to doors. Doors are normal thickness, giving approx 8" less room before a side impact would engage with an occupant.

Faults:

Fuel pump seized/rusty tank (plastic tanks DO make sense).

Continual running by previous owners on LPG, no doubt resulted in the petrol side of things dying. Other than slower starting compared to petrol and a sticking throttle body, the car performs 1005 once the engine has warmed up a little.

Current situation - replacement pump, tank, in-line filter, injector rails and injectors waiting to be fitted. Total cost so far: under $200. Next step is to fit it all, but not desperate just yet. :-)

General Comments:

Ex-taxi - so we didn't expect everything to be perfect. No doubt it may have had an engine rebuild at some time, but not fussed as we bought it based on its road performance, not what the mileage was showing.

That having been said, overall the car would easily outperform our previous 1997 3.5 V6 Magna, which was written off after hitting a kangaroo (despite which, it still towed our caravan for a week while on holiday!)...

Satisfaction level - high.