I'm looking at buying a low Km magna and am trying to sus out whether its better to
buy from the auction or go through a dealer. Northshore Mitsubishi offer the balance of
new car warranty plus a 3 year extended warranty. Plus their vehicles seem a little over priced as $17,990 for a series 1 exec. The catch is that you have service the
vehicle with them or else you void the warranty. Ryde Motor Group also offer an extended warranty but I haven't found out if you have to service the vehicle with them so that
you don't void the extended warranty. Magna advance $20,000 approx. So far I have found that you can purchase a series 2 tj exec. for $17,990 from dealers from non mitsubishi dealers and $17,800 fixed price from autogroup. By the same token I have seen a series 1 tj advance go for $13,900 and a magna sports for $16,000 at pickles auto auctions. The only thing about pickles auto auctions is they didn't seem to have much in the way of magnas the two times that I went.The other auctions unfortunately are on at 9:30am so the only way to check them out would be to take time off work. So which way is the best. :confused:

I'd recommend going to auction as you always get them cheaper than dealers. we went to ryde motor group when deciding whether to buy a tj magna for $16000 (with 1 yr warranty from them,55k) or a th magna for $11000 (no warranty. 66k) and yeah they kept telling us about the benefits of warranty and what not. But the way i see it if you are buying a reasonably new car and can get the same car for a cheaper price at auction then thats the better option as you probably wont need the warranty the dealer provides (the things they cover usually arent an issue) and considering the money you save it more than compensates for warranty, atleast in my case it did. I could be wrong but based on my situation i'd go auction/private..so yeah my 2 cents worth

the guys on this forum might have a better idea though

unless you are really well versed in the typical faults of a magna and how to spot them, i would recommend paying a bit more (not extravangtly) to get the warranty. most little problems do play up over time and depending on your luck, they might burn a big hole in your wallet. but typically, most magna's from the 3.5L TH (late 99) onwards are less prone to problems.

Pedro, If it's the warranty that you are after, I was told that you can extend your warranty frpm Mitsu for a cost. Not too sure how it works though. If you get a Series I or II they should still have some warranty left. My understanding is that if you do extend the warranty it doesn't matter where you get the services. With the lower cost at auction, paying a little extra for ext. warranty might not be a bad idea. I'm thinking about it for my VRX.

I haven't actually chased it up yet though. I'll let you know or perhaps someone else on the forum has done this.

Dunno which state your in but we are from sa and just bought a series II tj sports which still has new car warranty till 06 and extended warranty till 09 but the deal is the extended warraty only cover s me if i get it serviced at that particular mitsu dealer. Also i am pretty sure u can get extended warranty from any mitsi dealer even if you dont buy it there at a cost and again conditions apply

i am pretty sure u can get extended warranty from any mitsi dealer even if you dont buy it there at a cost and again conditions apply


Anyone know how much of a cost?

I know a guy that services mitsubishi's and he is also a LMCT. He goes to these places and will look for a car for you. I just picked up a 02 KJ Ei Verada series 2 with 52,000ks for $19,000 yesterday. If it has been stacked or doesnt run properley then he can send it back.
He is in the blackburn area.

Hi Pedro,

I purchased my 99 TH from pickles Auctions. It was ex government and was one year old, which meant it had two years warranty left and was log book serviced by mitsu dealers. The same batch of cars were actually being bought by dealers as well and then advertised the next week with about $3000 tacked onto them. So in my opinion, that tells the story.

In my opinion, warranties are useful, however, when you weigh up the cost of that extra warranty as opposed to not having it, it works out to be a substantial sum of money.

In terms of risk vs reward, all I can say is that the only thing I got replaced under warranty on my car was a cruise control unit. The Magna's as a rule of thumb are a pretty solid decent car. Not a lot goes wrong with them, and when it does, its usually of a minor/annoying nature rather than catastrophic. I think its fair to say, that Magna's are also a fairly simple design, and repairs probably would be in the medium to cheaper price range.

So, in summary, I would recommend auction all the way, certainly I would do it again and I would not ever ever buy from a car yard unless the car was something special which I just had to pay a premium for.

Another thing, whilst you cant drive the car or get a mechanical check done on a car at auction, the fact that they still have factory warranty remaining will mean if there are problems, you can get them fixed. You can view the physical condition of the car as well, so if it looks like a pig, dont get it. Simple. I know also, when I got mine at auction, there was slip on the window, saying the car had been gone over and everything was to spec. Very vague, but it least shows it has been checked over, if albeit, briefly.

Hope this helps.