It was inevitable, right?!
But I'm honestly surprised how quickly some of the rough-around-the-edges, high-km/miles Mirages have dropped into beater price territory.
The brand is somewhat tarnished. And the reviews from the mainstream outlets certainly didn't help.
(Thread: The Mitsubishi Mirage is the WORST CAR you can buy! ) But the fact is these are tough, efficient, reliable little cars (with the manual transmission).
This one has 145k kms = 90k miles on it - high for the year. And it's really dirty inside. And there's a wee whoopsie-daisy on the left front corner, plus miscellaneous scuffs here & there. The coup-de-grace: "lot-poison" manual transmission.
So the Toyota dealer that got this one on trade (for a RAV4 hybrid) threw up their hands and said, "let's get rid of this turd ASAP!"
I got it for $2400 plus tax. Plus bus fare to Toronto. (More typical pricing for decent ones of this year with normal mileage is around 4-5k.)
It's a 1-owner with a clean Carproof, and I got a printout of the service history from a Mitsubishi dealer (showing that it wasn't
completely neglected). Mechanically, the only thing it needs is brake pads.
And it's loaded with all the grown-up car goodies like air and cruise and remote and power accessories, and everything works.
Including the alternator!!
It's SO MUCH FREAKIN NICER TO DRIVE than the Metro or Miata. It's going to spoil me. (You know you're used to inhabiting the bottom of the automotive food chain when getting a loaded Mirage makes you feel like you've finally arrived!
)
It showed ~60 MPG driving ~30 km from the dealer to my friends' place where I'm staying in the city, 75/25 highway/city. Uncalibrated though.
Ecomods to come!
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UPDATE, June 2020 - I've sold this Mirage and have already acquired Mirage #2:
Oops, I did it again! (Bought another cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage)