The 2003 Magna TL's redesign cost over A$70 million — and A$2 million of that went to its new headlights alone.
Lead trim: Magna ES / LS LPG 3.5 V6 (192 hp) · up to 208 hp
Mitsubishi Magna TL2003–2004
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Mitsubishi Magna TL yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe 2003 Magna TL's redesign cost over A$70 million — and A$2 million of that went to its new headlights alone.
Australia got the TL and KL series (codenamed "XR") in July 2003, after the KL-series Diamante was previewed at the 2003 New York Motor Show: a A$70 million restyle (A$2 million for the headlights alone) by French designer Olivier Boulay that gave what Mitsubishi's global design head envisioned as the new corporate face, with a grille divided by a bumper extension and triangular headlamps — controversial, with sales slowing dramatically. The range no longer featured Executive, Altera or Sports, replaced by ES, LS and VR, with the VR-X carried over, front and side airbags standard and rear air vents for the first time. Mechanically it remained the same as the TJ Series 2, including the AWD and LPG models (with rear stabiliser bars now on all sedans); a Ralliart-accessorised VR and VR-X Limited Edition of March 2004, developed with rally driver Ed Ordynski, had the TJ Ralliart's Koni suspension and Enkei wheels but no engine or brake upgrades.
Collectors Spotted in the Mitsubishi Magna Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Mitsubishi Magna yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
2 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magna ES / LS 3.5 V6 (208 hp) | 2003–2004 | 3.5 L V6 | 208 hp | 233 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| Magna ES / LS LPG 3.5 V6 (192 hp) | 2003–2004 | 3.5 L V6 | 192 hp | 218 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The 2004 facelift quietly gave Australia's Verada larger "US-spec" bumpers — a transpacific engineering footnote on a car most Australians assumed was built purely for their own roads.
The 2003 Magna TL's redesign cost over A$70 million — and A$2 million of that went to its new headlights alone.
The Magna Ralliart's steering wheel was the standard Magna item underneath — but it was sent to Italy to be leather-wrapped in black and red by MOMO.
This Quadtec-badged Magna made local history — it was the first mass-built all-wheel-drive passenger car ever built in Australia, after a AU$10 million development program.
A humble family Magna went racing: in 2001 a Magna TJ Sports won its class at Bathurst, while a V8-powered rear-drive Magna separately ran in Australia's Super Touring championship.
Mitsubishi's VR-X made its extra power with barely any engine changes — just valve timing tweaks and a free-flowing exhaust, enough for class-leading pace among Australian sport sedans.
The TH Magna quietly set an Australian first: the first locally-built car with four-channel ABS and electronic brake-force distribution.
The TF Magna Sports was the first Australian-built car ever to offer a manual-shifting Tiptronic automatic — push forward to upshift, pull back to downshift.
A mid-90s family sedan still holds the record: the TE Magna's 0.28 drag coefficient beats every Commodore and Falcon Australia ever built, decades later included.
Every Magna/Verada wagon sold anywhere in the world under the Diamante or Sigma badge was built in Australia — for years, Australia was the only source on the planet.
Mitsubishi built exactly 1,000 Magna TP Grand Tourers in 1990 — split with almost comic precision into 500 white, 250 burgundy and 250 "Riviera Blue."
The TN wagon wasn't a global platform afterthought — Mitsubishi's Australian arm engineered and built it entirely Down Under, broadening the Magna's appeal from day one.
To satisfy Australians' taste for bigger cars, Mitsubishi literally sliced open the Japanese Galant and spliced in an extra 65mm of width to create the Magna.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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