The trip went really well in the Mirage. Ambient temps were in the 40-50F range. I filled up right before leaving and that got me up there, tooled around, and back about 3/4 of the way before stopping in to fill up. The tank ended up at 47.7 mpg. Really very impressive. I was expecting lower 40s. About half the trip was made at 65 mph, with 1/4 at 60 and the other 1/4 at 55 mph. The vast majority was done with the cruise control set.
The Mirage could definitely use taller gearing as its at about 3200 rpm at 65 mph. There is enough power that you could get rid of some and get even better mileage. I never had to downshift except for one large hill.
I was also impressed by its handling. It was a bit windy on the way home, but I never noticed until I got out to gas up. The Mirage handled the wind like a champ. To qualify that, I am running wider than stock tires on it, and also my own rear sway bar design that does help things out. Before heading out, I did make sure I was aired up to 50 psi all around as well.
The lower grill blocked worked great. With the heater fan on the lowest setting, things were perfect. Once I turned it off, the radiator fan did kick in once every 10-15 minutes as the coolant temps slowly crept up to 220F on the scangauge. Also, this was only at 65 mph. If I dropped my speed at all, it was also fine.
So, overall it was a great trip in the Mirage. I'm really impressed by its handling and its mileage at higher speeds. It definitely did better than I had expected.
