Hi Guys,

We'll finally after 450,000k's my TJ Magna's Transmission went today on a routine 200k highway drive.

The car slowed down and kept jumping along with the N light flashing.

The engine has a few engine leaks and the car is probably overdue for a new timing belt so I've figured I have probably pushed the car as far as it'll go as including the transmission it's probably due for 3k+ worth of repairs which is more than the value of the car.

So the question is, due to the fact that there's no new magna's for me to move on to, is buying an old 04/05 magna with 70,000 on the clock a good idea?

I've read in some places that even if a car has low km's just the fact that "it's old"can still mean things like electrics etc can still be a problem despite the low km's.

Looking for an opinion or two if you had the choice between a low km(but old) magna or spending say 15k on something what would you do?

I used my old one mainly for highway driving and a bit around town.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Smithy

Buy a 380. There are plenty of bargains ou there and are an absolute dream to drive on the freeway.

There are many options available to you, remember that just because a car only has 75k on the clock does not mean it has been cared for. Many of these people service a car to the km interval ie with it has done 45k a service is done then when it has reached 60k next service even if it took 3 years to get there. Oil will often on these short trips these cars do get contaminated with moisture, the sulphur in the fuel mixes with the water and creates sulphuric acid and all of a sudden you have a mix which is certainly not good on the bearings. Think of a Taxi, often these get to over 600k on the first engine because they are always running and always keeping warm, they burn off the moisture and thus the motors even though have done many more km than the standard car has they are in better shape

Other parts of the car will not suffer the same way.

So if you can get a car with this mileage make sure services have been done on a regular basis

Thanks guys.

I've found a 380 GT with about 70,000 on the clock which looks good, I'm going to check it out and if it seems to add up I'll be moving onto the 380.

I test drove an 380 ES and I very much felt at home, they may be branded 380 but they still have the magna feel.

My only concern with the 380's is fuel economy but with the amount of highway driving I do it shouldn't be a problem. Still, I wish they stuck with the 3.5 when they did the 380 and not move to 3.8

Thanks for the advice.