Final Mitsubishi 380
The last Mitsubishi 380 will go down the production line today, and there already seems to be a bit of interest in securing the very last one off the line. Just like the last Fairlane it will be auctioned off for charity.
Thanks
Carbon Positive - DO IT!!
bad luck about all these people loosing their jobs but 380 was crap car. be suprised if the charity auction makes much
no longer a hoon by association - the commodore is gone
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
what was wrong with the 380?
Carbon Positive - DO IT!!
oh my mistake, it was a very good car and it was backed up with its sale figures.
no longer a hoon by association - the commodore is gone
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
oh ok. yeah i get it now, a car with bad sales figures means that everything will break, paint will fade, engine will use more fuel and break down all the time and the car just drives horribly. my mistake too, i can't believe i ever thought about suggesting that a car may not be 'crap' just because of it's sales figures. my brain isn't what it used to be.
Carbon Positive - DO IT!!
its a shame that you didnt buy 100,000 of these awesome cars, then we could all keep buying them for years to come. Crap or not, Australians thought something was wrong with it and didnt bother buying them. If the car is as good as you say then im sure it would have sold.
380 = FAIL
no longer a hoon by association - the commodore is gone
Donating Member
It looks crap now and its FWD.
Other than that though it is a decent car. Its quick, cheap, plenty of extra's for the price.
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
yeah, 380 did fail and i don't know why the sales went down. sometimes this happens. maybe it was marketed wrong. but it doesn't make it a 'crap' car. there's nothing to be crap about it compared to a commodore or a falcon by your average family car buyer. would you say the fairlane was 'crap' too because they stopped making that?
look-wise i quite liked the 380, although they should have stuck back with the magnas (TJ look, not newer ones) because that looked good.
Carbon Positive - DO IT!!
yeh i should have been a bit more precise when saying 'crap'. i basically meant that the car has failed and therefore i see it as a bad car, not mechanically, but just a poor marketed car.
no longer a hoon by association - the commodore is gone
Exhaust Guru
If this car had a Ford or a Holden badge on it, it would have sold. It won the best value for money category for 2007. It is one of the best engineered Australian designed and built cars. It is a shame that the Australian public didn't support it.
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
definitely agree with that. still hope 380 owners aren't left in the dark, they say they won't be but who knows, might become expensive to own one
Infidel Bear
Mini Putt 2 Champion!
lol, makes me laugh hearing Holden owners say the 380 was a crap car....
Was a great car to drive, i think if it was RWD it would have made a big difference.
If you want a crap car, check out the VE Commodores, almost every VE owner is whinging about something breaking
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
- Theodor Seuss Geisel
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
difference for better or for worse? my dads 99 magna can spin the wheels and it's 200kg heavier than my car and fwd haha. if it was rwd... drift time!
Totally agree with u mate i have driven a 380 off one off of my mates i liked the power of it but looking @ it draw me away from it straight away, they should've just left the magna's from 2000 /2002 as they were they were sweetOriginally Posted by levymetal
, even through i drive a tj Magna , the Tw ones made from 2002 - 2005 , after the tj Looked bad and to top it off , they made the 380 even worse.
Tells it like it is.
Hahahaa my tip is about $472 and that is all the employees chipping in a buck each
The biggest issue with the 380 was the same as the JE Camira. The car was actually quite good but unfortunatly it's badge let it down, in this case Mitsu.
Reaper
Exhaust Guru
The warranty on the 380 has been extended to 6 years. All parts and service items will always be available. Look at any car that has be made redundant. Mirage, Camira, Corona, Cressida, Capella, Festiva, just to name a few, parts are still available for these. Just because the 380 is no longer being made, it in no way reflects the capacity of Mitsubishi to support it or any other model in Australia.
Sad to see what could have been a great car gone. I always had a soft spot for the 4WD Magnas, and a sporty 380 with 4WD could have been a great car for this country.
I think it's main problem is simply economy of scale...we are a small market, and only really have room for a couple of big car makers here, at best. The Button Plan back in the 1980's was roundly critisized for saying that Australian car makers should become more profitable by restricting themselves to a couple of carefully chosen models in each size from small, medium, and large...not endless variations of each model which it is unprofitable to set up production lines to do for a country this size. the Button Plan was hounded down, but looking back from now, it kind of looks like a decent idea. Holden and Ford are only really still making cars here by the grace of the big USA bosses, and it wouldn't take much for them to shut down most of thier production here and bring in RHD cars, or merely have a conversion operation here to do that to knocked-down kits from the USA.
If the economy doesn't improve dramatically here over the next decade, I would bet that we don't have a locally made large car at all. It wasn't that long back that we came awfully close to having the shocking looking US made Ford Taurus front wheel drive replace the Falcon.
One final tip for car memoribilia collectors...go to your local Mitsubishi dealer and try and get a good selection of full color and comprehensive catalogues for the 380 in all it's guises...pack them away in a proper document storage packet for the future. I can tell you that brochures from years gone by, even for common models, are valuable items in the right circles, and even more so for models which are totally discontinued.
I think the 380 was doomed to fail from the word go.
I think, the single main reason of failure for the 380 is the brand name. It was competing in a market with the Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore. Look at most Australian blokes (who would probably be buying this sort of car).... What sounds better on a phone call to your mates...
"Hey man, come around and check out my new SS Commodore/XR8 Falcon"
Or
"Hey man, come around and check out my new Mitsubishi 380"
It just doesnt have that name recognition. They are a good car, especially considering the economy, warranty etc but they just dont have the look or the reputation.
Even if you look at the Toyota Aurion... thats a damn good car. In fact if i had to purchase a new car it would probably be the Aurion although again, still doesnt have that same instant respect as the Commodore/Falcon name.
What they needed to do, was somehow have a V8 Version and take it racing with the commodores/falcons and WIN. Can you imagine that, a V8 version in the supercar league and winning... Trust me sales figures would increase massively. Purely for the bragging rights.
Shame to see a good car disappear though.
Finals Deatils of Last Mitz 380's
Final Details of last Mitz 380s
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
A V8 magna/380 (well it would be called a 500 or something
too bad it was front wheel drive...and i dont think a Mitsubishi would enter the v8 supercar series with a 380 of all cars and win even if it was a v8.(prob wouldnt fit either) they should stick to rally cars. only thing half decent comming from them is the evo
Banned
What on earth do you base that statement on? Holden/HSV have sold somewhere around 200,000 VE/E-Series cars since they were released in 2006. If "almost every VE owner" had something break on their car Holden would have been in trouble by now and we would have heard a LOT more about it.If you want a crap car, check out the VE Commodores, almost every VE owner is whinging about something breaking
The faults with the VE/E-Series are nothing more than the usual teething issues with a brand new model and certainly aren't limited to Holden. EVERY manufacturer has similar problems - however the scale of production of Commodores and the amount of Australians the buy them means a lot more people will experience the faults which are usually MINOR. And let's face it, we're not spending a whole lot of money when we buy one.
People complaining on a Holden forum like this one or LS1 will of course hold their cars to a much higher standard than the majority so it's not surprising there is a perception on forums that there are plenty of problems. But it simply is not the case.
Yes there are problems, yes some are serious and yes I know some dealers are arse holes when it comes to warranty work. Doesn't mean the Commodore is any worse than any model before it or any other car on the road for that matter. Even Jap buzz boxes and Euro trash have problems.
I know plenty of people who are nothing but happy with the VE/E-Series Holdens/HSVs and yes, I am one of them, having owned two now with only 2 minors warranty issues that were sorted as quickly as I noticed them.
Just be thankful they're not full of the same issues the VN and VT suffered when they were released. Moreover, if you check out the specific make sections of this forum, you'll find more people have more problems with previoues Commodores than with the VE. Holden may have raised expectations too high with the whole "Billion Dollar Baby" tagline... More fool them.
Back on topic, Mitsubish built top quality Australian cars and they were built for our conditions. The problem they had was they were two small (in body and engine capacity) and they were only front wheel drive. Hell if they were the same size and power and Fords/Holdens I'd consider buying one. Truth is, the great Australian Falcadore targets a market that practically no other car does. A cheap, large, powerful, rear drive car....
TURN MY HEADPHONES UP
Yeah for you there wasn't much in the way of performance vehicles... But stock I reckon the 380 would smoke a VE or BF. And normal people wouldn't worry about FWD, they'd have no idea... I don't know what everyone on this forum has against FWD anyway! It's fine for daily driving!
Last edited by levymetal; 27-03-2008 at 05:42 PM.
Did the vrx have any extra power at all?
Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise
WA Cruise Moderator
I never had so many problems with any car until I got a Commodore. I loved my Magna's and if we had the cash we would have got a 380. IF I were to get a new car, it would be a Magna or 380. Shame the sales didnt go to plan, I wonder those who say crap car etc have you owned one? or driven one often? You grow to love them, awesome reliable multi-use cars that can go real well and look hot with a few mods. And the whole FWD thing, big deal?
*gets back in her box and awaits the flaming*
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