(Top row: the actual two Mirages I tried out. Yes, I drove around Ottawa with that lettering plastered all over the car.)
The new Mirage is yet another in the crop of small cars that gets a better EPA rating for the automatic than the manual transmission.
The rating for the CVT is actually higher for
both city and highway:
CVT automatic, city: 37 mpg US (6.4 L/100 km = 44.4 mpg Imp.)
CVT automatic, highway: 44 mpg US (5.4 L/100 km = 52.8 mpg (Imp)
5-speed manual, city: 34 mpg US (6.9 L/100 km = 40.8 mpg Imp.)
5-speed manual, highway: 42 mpg US (5.6 L/100 km = 50.4 mpg Imp)
Despite the manual's apparent handicap, it's been my experience that a motivated, efficiency-minded cog swapper can beat the
city rating by a bigger percentage than in the automatic.
I suspected the same would be true of the wee Mirage, and this weekend I finally got a chance to compare them head to head, in Ottawa (thanks to
the friendly staff at Donnelly Mitsubishi -- plug! plug!):
Route:
- 10.6 km (6.x mi.)
- residential and arterial Ottawa roads
- moderate traffic (but no stop & crawl)
- cool, windy conditions (5C / 41F), damp roads
- speed zones from 40 through 70 km/h (~25 - 44 mph)
- 7 stop signs & 18 traffic lights
- Google map of the route
here
Driving techniques:
I intentionally kept it very simple: plain Jane vanilla eco-driving here, with anticipation and minimization of braking being the main tactics.
No pulse & glide, and no engine-off coasting. I even left the engine running at all stops, regardless of length. I wanted non-hypermilers to look at this and think... "
hey, even I could do that."
With the manual: moderate acceleration; relatively early upshifts (no more than ~2500-2700 RPM); going right to top gear at low engine loads & low speeds where possible; a little bit of downshifting for fuel cut-off engine braking mode when stronger sustained slowing was needed.
With the CVT: acceleration at the lowest practical RPM, plus I made sure to lift slightly once at cruise to ensure the Mirage's fancy 2-stage sub-gearbox (this is in addition to the variable pulley/belt system) shifted into high gear for lowest engine RPM whenever possible. A couple of downshifts into "B" mode for sustained deceleration fuel cut-off. (PS: downshifting a CVT is kind of fun -- completely unlike other automatics or manuals!)
I kept up with traffic (though of course I let them pull away when I saw a light change to red ahead, for example, and I got off the gas well before they did). No rolling roadblocks here. (Despite that, the Mitsubishi sales guy who rode with me said I drove like a grandma!
)
Results:
OK, let's be clear this isn't really a "test". There are piles and piles of uncontrolled variables -- way too loosey-goosey. So a "comparison" it is...
CVT automatic, city: 42 mpg US (5.6 L/100 km = 50 mpg Imp)
= 13.5% over EPA 37 mpg city rating
5MT city: 48 mpg US (4.9 L/100 km = 58 mpg Imp)
= 41.2% over EPA 34 mpg city rating
Bring on the Flea!
Then for fun, after I finished trying out the Mirages, I took the Firefly for several laps over the exact same route to compare it as well.
Three flavours of driving were employed in the Flea:
1) Plain Jane ecodriving (exactly the same style as in the Mirages)
2) Plain Jane ecodriving, but with engine off approaching stops longer than 10 sec.
3) Using advanced P&G / EOC (plus foundation elements of ecodriving, as above)
Results...
1)
55 mpg (US) = 4.3 L/100 km = 66 mpg (Imp)
2)
59.4 mpg (US) = 4.0 L/100 km = 71 mpg (Imp)
3)
73 mpg (US) = 3.2 L/100 km = 88 mpg (Imp)
Considering the Flea is quite modified, and had a ~350 lb weight advantage (lighter car to begin with, with one less person in it), I was suitably impressed with the little Mitsu. Also, it had just ~33 PSI in its tires. Plus, it was pretty cold (5C / 41F) and windy (24 kmh / 14 mph). Considering all that, the Mirage is definitely in "stock" Metro mileage territory right out of the box.
It's just too bad about the manual's gear ratios that limit its highway fuel economy. Though there will be final drive swap options in the future (from the UK/Europe Mirage parts bin)...
Links for more info:
- Full, gory details of the CVT vs. manual comparison:
Gas mileage/MPG test: 2014 Mirage CVT vs. 5-speed (sub/urban Ottawa route)
- General impressions after my first drive of the Mirage:
Brief test drive: Mirage CVT and 5-speed (Donnelly M itsubishi, Kanata/Ottawa, Canada)
- Why the heck does that white Mirage say "64 MPG" on its flank??
Mirage rated 64 MPG highway in Canada, 44 MPG in the US? WTF?!
.