Their not what you guys would term as "fast" without major mods but for what they are their a very good "touring" car and probably represent one of the few correct front wheel drive chassis setups seen on the Australian market.
The VRX 3.5L developing 163kw from a SOHC 24 Valver and the 180kw 3.5L Ralliart donk were very good v6s for the time (2001 for VRX, 2002 for Ralliart); and were also arguably better performance than the standard pre BA falcon and all over that Buick from that other car company.
It was also the first Australian built car with a 5 speed auto (reasonably liked), and the first Australian built AWD.
Unfortunately for MMAL though, the Magna was tarnished from the old TM-TR days with the Astron/Astron II engines and unreliable gear boxes.
By the time they made the third generation Magna in 1996, most of the issues were sorted out (although the 01 onwards cars are the pick of the bunch). Had they gone with a model wide AWD option from 1996 I'd say they would have been right up there with the sales, especially during the dark days of the AU. But I guess it wasn't to be.
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