Anyone read today's Australian motoring section. Not a very good review of the new 380. First drive by a certain Phillip King. He seems not too impressed with the 380. He thinks its an alright car, with good aspects, but

"Steering wheel feels cheap"
"No reach adjustment for steering wheel, unheard of these days"
"Console display hard to read"
"Rear doors lack pockets and the cheap looking handle cut-outs have a visible screw"
"No curtain airbags consigns 380 to four star safety rating, when five is becoming the norm"
"Tonsley Park has not done enough to cast off the US car's rather bland, dowdy looks"
"On paper the engine looks a little behind the times"

"In many of the big ticket items the 380 delivers, its the details that let it down and a feeling that its just arrived as its rivals are preparing to move on. Unfortunately for Mitsubishi Australia, being good may not be good enough"

I guess not everyone is going to love it.

well I can't see anything he mentions being a 'fail to buy' if someone otherwise wanted the car. He's probably a Porsche driving cognoscenti (Italian for W*nker) - the auto press is full of the type.

Thats the first negative comments i've seen about the car, but seriously, visable door handle screw? His got to be joking. Sounds like he had a bet with someone to see how many faults he could find. I doubt this report will cost MMAL sales

"rear doors lack pockets"? oh yeah, coz they always come in handy, and really make or break a car...wtf?! was this guy just out to nitpick? jeeeeesus! even if i was negative about the car (which i aint) i'd still reckon this guy was just finding petty things. some ppl :nuts:

yer, i was also dissapointed MMAL didnt fit Satellite Broadband Internet as standard!! - in fact there are no options on any of its models!!!

not to mention no built in fridge in the centre arm rest!!!

mate, im convinced, no 380 for me


:nuts:


(seriously that, wayne i think it is, KING is a tool, my bad, its Phillip King, but might as well be Wayne! :nuts: )

Lets not dis the reviewer till we get a Member who has one in there hot little hands..
I agree that the Door Handle Screw is a Lame excuse to knock a car back, but nearly all cars on the modern road have a Visble screw somewhere...
Why the hell cant MMAL embrase the the Concept of the DOHC.. Holden and Ford have!!!

Why the hell cant MMAL embrase the the Concept of the DOHC.. Holden and Ford have!!!
IMHO, i think they have, but its due for a mid life upgrade ;)

i personally think that they have a "better" 380 behind closed doors, but they need something to capture the intrest, then *WHEN* holden / ford / toyota release there "new" models, the 380 will have somewhere to expand.

possible lineup when;
new camary is released // DOHC + up the kW
VE Commy released // AWD, and a few kW on top of the FWD varients
2007 Falcon // i would hope something along the lines of AWD + Turbo and some nice figures (270kw+)

i think if MMAL is thinking the above ^^ then they will secure their place in australian motoring

Lets not dis the reviewer till we get a Member who has one in there hot little hands..
I agree that the Door Handle Screw is a Lame excuse to knock a car back, but nearly all cars on the modern road have a Visble screw somewhere...
Why the hell cant MMAL embrase the the Concept of the DOHC.. Holden and Ford have!!!
Yeah, lame excuses.....

However, the first model of a 'new generation' of car is always the worst - look at the VN Commodore and the EA Falcon. The VP's and EB's had almost all the bugs ironed out of them.

And DOHC - that leaves them somewhere to go with the new engine. Expect that with the next model, 2-3 years time (not the facelift). ALso needed to keep costs down. Once they start making some money, DOHC can become an option....

Firstly I don't want to be a negative nancy about the 380, I think they have done a good job, the initial power outputs and specs though might not have enough appeal for someone to see it as a real option against a falcodore and not necessarily get fleet or cardigan wearing camry (sorry camry owners) drivers to change.

I do wish them the best of luck for all of our sake ( imagine the drop in resale value of a magna if MMA went down in flames)

Sounds like the journo is being a bit picky though. But may have some points - but again he has to remember its a 30k car, not a $100k audi, bmw etc

I think people will still be hung up on FWD issue though, I mean even though front wheel drive is more effecient and our magnas are all great, but how many times have we all had to defend our fwd cars?

Sure Camry (FWD) sell heaps of cars but its in a slightly different market to commodore & falcon in the fact the most slightly more conservative people would go for a camry, and people who aren't buy falcodores (sorry generalising)

I know there would have been reasons for it, like finance, R&D etc, plus the 380 is based on the US galant, I guess still kinda 6G74 based etc, but surely if this is mitsubishi's be all and break all, go down in history or go down in flames scenaro. wouldn't it have just made sense to give the miss informed masses a damn rear wheel drive, whack in DOHC, MIVEC etc?

Still it does look good and people are generally saying good things, so fingers crossed :)
Go 380!

Yeah, lame excuses.....

However, the first model of a 'new generation' of car is always the worst - look at the VN Commodore and the EA Falcon. The VP's and EB's had almost all the bugs ironed out of them.


That is true, the old TM wasnt much of a car (mainly autos dying) either.

With the VN - I fail to see why there were so many problems, it was a 1962 model engine with EFI FFS.

The EA - most problems were fixed by EAII except for the weak heads. They werent resolved until the AU.

Frankly I think this guy is an idiot, I'd love to see what he says about Falcadores though

...

I do wish them the best of luck for all of our sake ( imagine the drop in resale value of a magna if MMA went down in flames)

..
Still it does look good and people are generally saying good things, so fingers crossed :)
Go 380!

Ahem. I paid $42K for my TJ Series 1.5 in August 02. I'd be lucky to get $12K for it now. There is no re-sale value for Magnas. Not since the goddam fugly POS that was the TL. was released. :)

I know there would have been reasons for it, like finance, R&D etc, plus the 380 is based on the US galant, I guess still kinda 6G74 based etc, but surely if this is mitsubishi's be all and break all, go down in history or go down in flames scenaro. wouldn't it have just made sense to give the miss informed masses a damn rear wheel drive, whack in DOHC, MIVEC etc?


Does Mitsubishi even make a RWD car?
Imagine the R&D cost in doing so!

well i think he is being overly picky.. he has picked up some pretty lame reasons to bag the car, after having a proper look and poke around of the car i can say with confidence that there are MANY more good things to talk about this car.. those things he has brought up pale into insignificance in relation to alot of other things about this car

yeah it could have DOHC ill cop that, but i think booya hit the nail on the head when he said that MMAL are just giving themselfs room to move with future upgrades. As for no cutrain airbags? remind me, does commodore or falcon have these? didnt think so, no reach on the steering wheel? everything else in the car is so adjustable that it doesnt matter, no door pockets on the rear doors? umm which cars do? visible screw? jeez he must have been looking hard! although i will admit that the door handles feel a bit "cheap" steering wheel feels cheap? pfft no it doesnt! engine looks behind the times on paper? as any good reviewer SHOULD know, it doesnt matter what it is on paper, what matters is how it performs!

As for its minor detail making it feel like its arrived as the others are about to move on.. well i dont know what he really means there cos the minor details makes the car feel ALOT better then all of its rivals! If you didnt know what the car was when you sat in it, you would half expect to see a BMW or merceedes badge looking back at you on the steering wheel instead of a mitsubishi badge. I think this is just a case of an up and coming car reviewer trying to make a name for himself by being extra picky

Yes the Buick Based V6 may have been an Old Design but it was originally an East-West mounted engine so Holden North-South'd it into a RWD hence the teething trouble Build Quality was also a Big Problem as it seems they rushed it..

Ahem. I paid $42K for my TJ Series 1.5 in August 02. I'd be lucky to get $12K for it now. There is no re-sale value for Magnas. Not since the goddam fugly POS that was the TL. was released. :)
Canberra VRX, geesh Are you sure only 12K for a VRX if you're lucky? was that trade in value, or private sale value, because most VRX's are still going for av 15-19k on carsales.com.au
http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales/!cs_content.valuation_search?value_type=&service_id=21&make_id=3&model_id=57&release_year=2001&base_desc=TJ%20VR-X%20SEDAN%204doors%205seats
But you have to get someone to actually pay you that!

Even I was shocked just then to see the value for a VRX listed at $14k private sale price
Dang! just saw my 99TH sports private sale value between 9.6 - 12k :cry:
Thats bad, but not quite as painful of the value lost in ya VRX, still its a nice car! :)

Ahem. I paid $42K for my TJ Series 1.5 in August 02. I'd be lucky to get $12K for it now. There is no re-sale value for Magnas. Not since the goddam fugly POS that was the TL. was released. :)

lol magna resale was crap well before the TL was released :bowrofl:

Regarding crap resale values, I guess mitsubishi doing run out sales of slightly used, just past current model V6 magna's for $19k doesn't help.

With the 380 now I suppose we'll see some super heavy discounting on current magna stock too :cry: but life goes on.

Back in 2001 when I had money to spend, I was toying of trading my 99Th sports in on a 96 BMW E36 M3. It was 85k with all the extras, nice black -drool :D But insurance was quoted at 8k a year so I backed off and got my need for speed with a CBR1100xx instead and kept the magna:)

That same M3 would have had a private resale value now of 36-42k, thats like over 40K loss in just under 4 years, so my 23k hit on the magna in nearly 6 years isn't too bad :)

I just read it. The guy is a wank.

With that out the way, I did agree however on the lack of curtain airbags.

The rest was just nit picking.

edit: he whinged about not being able to see the steering wheel mounted controls. MORON! You shouldn't be looking at them when driving anyway! ( I know I don't )

Beethoven had his critics too - bet your cant name two of them.

IMHO, i think they have, but its due for a mid life upgrade ;)

i personally think that they have a "better" 380 behind closed doors, but they need something to capture the intrest, then *WHEN* holden / ford / toyota release there "new" models, the 380 will have somewhere to expand.

possible lineup when;
new camary is released // DOHC + up the kW
VE Commy released // AWD, and a few kW on top of the FWD varients
2007 Falcon // i would hope something along the lines of AWD + Turbo and some nice figures (270kw+)

i think if MMAL is thinking the above ^^ then they will secure their place in australian motoring

I certainly hope so, I KNOW what mitsubishi can do, this car just left me speechless. Like, is that all? IF they have planned a car that looks pretty good, is damn reliable due to 5-10 warranty, want a car that lasts, is built extremely well, is cheap to build, can sell cheaper and hopefully more of them to build up the money in the mitsubishi coffers, they have delivered 110%. If they want a car that makes technological geeks like me drool and wet themselves they haven't (so I so hope it's the former they were aiming for).

You know they had a awd 'magna' back in 1990? Plus a turbo 2L that developed I THINK 130kw back in 86 fitted into a 'magna'? 200kw 3l mivec in a 'magna' in 95-96. So it just left me gobsmacked that this new 380 has so little to offer considering the amount of INSANE **** that mitsubishi has made, AND PULLED OFF! The car is built EXCELLENT! I love it (the looks are a bit iffy atm, probably get used to it). But, the lack of tech just shocked me.