Belated welcome from another Mirage owner, smallie!
And congrats on your new Mirage. I suspect finding a 5-speed Mirage sedan is a rare thing.
FYI: Mitsu discontinued the sedan option in Canada after just a couple of years -- sedan sales were only in the
hundreds(!). It seems that Canadians generally won't buy a small sedan if there's an equivalent hatchback offered.
Out of curiosity, why did you go for the 5-speed?
Sadly, I suspect most Mirage shoppers interested in fuel economy are mistakenly lured into getting the CVT by its slightly better EPA ratings compared to the manual transmission.
You'd have to be a genuine MPG nerd to know that, despite the ratings, a motivated eco-driver can beat the CVT's MPG by a significantly higher margin with the stick.
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Originally Posted by smallie
To my delight, I was able to stay in 5th gear for the entire ascent.
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^ You know you're a Mirage owner when.
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Originally Posted by smallie
Also the back seat is surprisingly roomy.
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Yes, it's surprisingly roomy! There's literally more usable rear leg room in the back of a Mirage sedan than in my folks' 2006 Camry. Partly that's because the Mirage front seats are mounted higher off the floor, so you can make use of the under-seat space to stretch out.
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One interesting detail about this car is since the radiator is only about 2/3 of the length of a typical one, the factory incorporated a small partial grill block into the grill design.
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Even more interesting: the size of that factory grille block is different depending on whether the car comes with the CVT or manual transmission (more area is blocked in the manual trans version).