Magnum Opus Hey Drive or die, I own a Magnum too(LT Aug 2008) and I can tell you that the car is an absolute gem. I have done 28k kms so far and have driven far and wide in my Magnum Opus and she is always ready to get on road and rule it ofcourse.
Some things which I just love in the Magnum :
1.Exhilarating Power - The car is a rocket even as a stock car and I have added the Pete's tuning box and I can tell you that the performance is top notch. I have not had any vehicle overtake me on the highway unless I let them overtake me. The Pete's box also gives me the cushion of extra power when I want to overtake in overdrive , I dont need to downshift at all, one tap on the gas pedal and the car just takes off like an airplane leaving everyone behind. City driving is a pleasure too with no turbo lag. I think adding the Pete's box and the Green cotton (Storm) air filter is worth every penny.Go for it!
BTW, The FE also increases a bit. I used to get 13 on the highway and 12 in the city and now I get 14 to 14.5(highway) and 13(city) regularly. ( Reserve to reserve fuel filling)
2. Great Comfort- I've driven some long distances in my car and have never felt tired when I reached the destination. I recently did - Pune to Bangalore in 9 hours flat. ( Left at 6:30 am , arrived at 3:30 pm) and the drive was amazing and we did not feel any fatigue at all and we were 3 of us. I guess the seats are really effective and add to it the lumbar support of the driver seat gives that extra bit of comfort.
3. Rear leg room- My folks travel quite a lot in the car with me , and they never complain of the lack of leg room at the back. There is ample leg room even for someone who is 6 feet tall and doesn't restrict leg movement which is very essential on long drives.
4. Handling and Stability : I have done speeds of 195 and 200 kms( on the mumbai-pune expressway and other roads where the road and visibility was clearand after changing stock tires to Michelin PLC) and the car is as stable as a rock even at these speeds. I have never had any issues with the car losing stability when negotiating curves at 140- 150 kms. Great handling! but with non-stock tires
5. Super- Silent Cabin: The cabin is absoutely silent at low or high speeds , there are hardly any rattles or vibration which creep into the cabin and ever since I got the Michelin PLC's the ride quality and has gone up a notch , it feels much more premium and the there's absoultely no road noise heard in the cabin. I guess the underbody rust proofing also helps here.
6. Door Damping: I think the damping provided by GM is really nice , I did not have go in for any additional damping for the ICE as there was no vibration even when i upgraded from the stock speakers to Polk audio components both on front and rear doors.
7. Storage Space: I feel the the magnum has great storage space, the arm reast in the middle is just ideal and helps on long drives to rest my left arm plus it has storage for my 80 GB harddrive, remote control etc. The front and rear door pockets are quite large as well . There are other small but useful storage spaces like and underseat tray , a specks holder and the roomy boot. I have a 12 inch sub in my boot and it still comfortably holds luggage for 4 people ( 2 suitcases and 2 duffel bags with other small bags thrown in).
There are so many other plusses which I can think of , but I will stop at these for now.
Here are some issues I faced so far:
1. Brake Rotor/Disk issue: I faced this when I driving to goa. The brake would pulsate and then shudder at speeds of 80-100 kms. The shuddering was so much that the rear passengers could feel it when I braked. I callled Sundaram and they directed me to a Chevy dealership in Hubli. When I went there, the SE tested the car and told me that it was an issue with the rotors/discs and the surface not being even. They needed to skim the rotors to fix the issue. I agreed to get it done and it took them 4 hrs to get the lathe peron to skim the rotors and we finally left hubli late evening. I did not have to pay anything as I had the CPC.
2. Fuel Pump Failure: Very recently the Engine Malfunction Light came on when I driving in the city. I thought it may just be a temp issue and would go away if I restarted, but the light stayed. I took the car to sundaram and they checked the ECU with their "Tech 2" equipment, lo and behold it was the dreaded fuel pump failure. Thanfully, I have the CPC (Chevy Promise) and I got the pump replaced free of cost the same day. The thing to note here is the blue sticker on the faulty pumps of cars released in 2008, the new ones have a yellow sticker (atleast the one I got had a yellow one) . It may be a good piece of info for other 2008 Magnum owners on the forum.
These were the only 2 major issues I've had so far . To the the Magnum's credit it has never given me any problems on long drives( touch wood). I have developed a special bond with the car and every drives seems to be filled new excitement. Hope to millions of miles with my Princess.
Here are few pics of my Platinum Metallic Princess: |