I'm looking to work my a$$ off on the summer holidays and upgrade my 2nd gen. My budget is something around the $6,500 - $11,000 mark and I'm definitely getting a 3rd gen. These are my options.

1) cheapest option - TE, it would a 1996 3L manual TE advance

1996 MITSUBISHI MAGNA
TE Sedan Advance 4dr Man 5sp 3.0i (Oct onwards)
average kms 135,000 - 165,000
trade in price guide* $5,100 - $6,600
national average price - private sale* $6,300 - $8,400
price when new (RRP) $30,680

has ABS, 4 speaker stereo,drivers airbag,cruise control, power mirrors, e/i, k/e.

2)
1999 MITSUBISHI MAGNA
TH Sedan Advance 4dr Man 5sp 3.5i (Mar onwards)
average kms 90,000 - 110,000
trade in price guide* $8,900 - $10,800
national average price - private sale* $10,400 - $12,800
price when new (RRP) $33,390

purely for the 3.5L engine and has additional features over the TE advance of power windows, dual airbags as opposed to driver airbag.

By the time I purchase one It will be probably Januray next year cos I want to wait to the new year as all prices of cars go down in value purely because because they are one calendar year older so I've been told beginning of th e year is the time to buy. Question is A 3.5L TH advance really worth the extra $4,000 ? 3.5L engine, power windows, passengers airbag are additional over the TE advance. Being young and all I'll prob go for the TE advance. It would depend on how much better the 3.5L engine is than the 3.0L engine. Can anyone shed some light between the 2 engines and if a few $1000's extra are worth it for the 3.5L?

I'm looking to work my a$$ off on the summer holidays and upgrade my 2nd gen. My budget is something around the $6,500 - $11,000 mark and I'm definitely getting a 3rd gen. These are my options.

1) cheapest option - TE, it would a 1996 3L manual TE advance

1996 MITSUBISHI MAGNA
TE Sedan Advance 4dr Man 5sp 3.0i (Oct onwards)
average kms 135,000 - 165,000
trade in price guide* $5,100 - $6,600
national average price - private sale* $6,300 - $8,400
price when new (RRP) $30,680

has ABS, 4 speaker stereo,drivers airbag,cruise control, power mirrors, e/i, k/e.

2)
1999 MITSUBISHI MAGNA
TH Sedan Advance 4dr Man 5sp 3.5i (Mar onwards)
average kms 90,000 - 110,000
trade in price guide* $8,900 - $10,800
national average price - private sale* $10,400 - $12,800
price when new (RRP) $33,390

purely for the 3.5L engine and has additional features over the TE advance of power windows, dual airbags as opposed to driver airbag.

By the time I purchase one It will be probably Januray next year cos I want to wait to the new year as all prices of cars go down in value purely because because they are one calendar year older so I've been told beginning of th e year is the time to buy. Question is A 3.5L TH advance really worth the extra $4,000 ? 3.5L engine, power windows, passengers airbag are additional over the TE advance. Being young and all I'll prob go for the TE advance. It would depend on how much better the 3.5L engine is than the 3.0L engine. Can anyone shed some light between the 2 engines and if a few $1000's extra are worth it for the 3.5L?
You might try the auto auctions. I attended the govt. & fleet auctions at pickles at belmore last monday and saw a series 1 tj magna advance with $45,216 Km go for 13,900 & magna sports with 43,375Km go for $16,000

mate if i was u pick up a 97-98 manual which has 100 000+ on it (so you dont have o do big service :) ) for around 8-9g then spend rest on modding i suggest lowering, rims n tint

for around 11-12g u got a nice magna that will stand out abit more from the norm

']mate if i was u pick up a 97-98 manual which has 100 000+ on it (so you dont have o do big service :) ) for around 8-9g then spend rest on modding i suggest lowering, rims n tint

for around 11-12g u got a nice magna that will stand out abit more from the norm

Yeah cheers something around the 130,000 - 140,000kms range would be ideal for me. Thanks for the input guys. Just one thing. Is the 3.5L that much better than the 3L? Can anyone who has driven a magna with both be able to tell me how much better the 3.5L is?

You might try the auto auctions. I attended the govt. & fleet auctions at pickles at belmore last monday and saw a series 1 tj magna advance with $45,216 Km go for 13,900 & magna sports with 43,375Km go for $16,000

Hey. I was there too. That was a nice Magna Sports and cheap too. You can pick up some cool cars for good prices. The pickles cars all come with an NRMA inspection report too. You definitely get more for your money.

On the question of 3.0L vs 3.5L, I would definitely go for the 3.5L. Having owned a 2.6L, 3.0L and now a 3.5L, the power difference is huge and the response is awesome.

Just my 2c worth. You should probably test drive both and see what you like.

its up to the driver dan, you will obviously have more torque witht he 3.5 being a larger capacity engine, but the 3.0 is known to rev much more fluently and smoothly. so in the end its up to u. theres nothing to suggest why u cant beat a 3.5 with some mods on a 3.0. i love my 3.0, so yeh, maybe im biased, even thou i have driven the 3.5's.

give us a yell when ya go lookin. we'll find ya a beast

Trav

Sweet. Thanks for the help guys. Will keep my eye out and I have a long time to find a "steal". Can't wait to go from 85kw at the engine to 140kw+ :D Also don't forget blackvrx that the 3.5L engine in your car now is 163kw at the engine as opposed to teh 147kw standard 3.5L engine so that "huge" increase is probably since your driving a VRX. I think it will probably be cheaper for me to buy a 3L for like $4,000 or so cheaper and just some of that $4,000 on doing it up and in the end it will be faster anyway and having slightly less fuel consumption than the 3.5L. It will probably look similar to your car, black and everything but hopefully it will be an advance and I will most likely put the TJ rear lights onto it. Put on a K+N panel filter, lukey LR2779 muffler and clear VT side indicators. Those are are given and I may look into pacemaker extractors and a better exhaust and then loweing and wheels will come after that.