2014 Mitsubishi Mirage 3-cyl coming to U.S. & Canada this year - 40 MPG (US) combined

[razor02097]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Never mind that: most people will not be able to steal your car!

I can see it now...

"WHERE THE EFF IS THE D?!?!?!"

[MetroMPG]

Mitsu Canada revealed the specs for the Canadian edition of the car today.

1.2L engine, 5-speed and CVT confirmed, "class leading fuel economy", and priced in the "low teens", around $13k.


2014 Mitsu Mir age 3-cyl North American debut: Jan 17th in Montreal


They're still being strangely coy about what the car will be called, though - even though Mitsu Canada's PR manager confirmed to me in an earlier e-mail that it will be called "Mirage". I'm wondering if there's a trademark issue in the U.S. that's holding things up, or if they're debating whether to resurrect "Colt" since that's what we used to call the smallest Mitsu offering here.

[roguethunder]

O.o Am I really the first one to say this?

... So little torque O.O. My god that thing will be useless anywhere with real hills, much less mountains. *maybe* if you live in the flat parts of the country...
They claim it accelerates pretty fast... Maybe with a 70lb person as its only cargo and with a tailwind on a downslope?

Actually don't much mind the looks--could use some work but clearly the aerodynamics are quite decent.

[Daox]

The engine is perfectly big enough with enough torque for daily driving.

The 2000 Geo Metro 3-cyl (which nobody here really rags on) had 58 ft/lbs vs the 74 ft/lbs the Mirage has. They both weigh around the same amount. The Mirage is more aerodynamic too.

There are plenty of other vehicles around the world with smaller engines and less torque/power.

[MetroMPG]

Power corrupts.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by razor02097

1. Starter failure or battery almost dead? You can bump start it and be on your way.
2. Most people will not ask to borrow your car.
3. Coasting or decelerating especially down a hill is completely controlled by you (auto transmission are pretty smart but are no match for a manual)
4. It impresses girls. Especially ones that don't actually know how to drive a manual. I've been asked things like "how do you know when to shift?" and "How did you do that?" (no handbrake hill start)

I've already had some starter failures in a Pontiac Trans Sport with an A/T, and it really sucks. No wonder an uncle of mine once converted an old Trans Sport to M/T.

About hill starts without handbrake: in some cars the position of the pedals is not so favorable to that

[MetroMPG]

Well, on the transmission question, we learned a few more interesting tidbits this week:

1) Australia expects to sell about 30% of its Mirages with the manual 5-speed, 70% with the CVT. (The Oz Mirage officially went on sale this week.)

while...

2) New Zealand won't get the 5-speed at all in the Mirage. "No demand," their sales/marketing contact told me. CVT only.

Sheesh! Are Ozzies and Kiwis really that different?

Still don't know what transmissions will be available in the US, where only around 6.5% of new cars have manual shift these days. You can understand why a company might say "why bother".

[MetroMPG]

Oh - and I also did a bit of digging concerning the name game that Mitsu Canada & Mitsu U.S. are playing. (They still haven't told us what the car will be called.)

It appears to be a U.S. trademark dispute. It also appears they're actively working on it - still pursuing the M irage badge.

The fun part: 3 different companies are vying to own the name in the States, and the US trademark office hasn't granted it to any one of them ... yet.

In Europe, Mitsu ran into a similar trademark issue and ultimately dropped plans to use the name. So here's what a European M irage looks like:



(Maybe you've heard of Gemballa before.)

So in some European markets (Ireland, Netherlands & others), Mitsu is calling the new Mirage... wait for it... WAIT for it...

>>> SPACE STAR!!! <<<

Kinda rolls off the tongue, don't it?

[niky]

Doesn't Mitsu still have rights to the Colt nameplate?

[MetroMPG]

I'm no lawyer (I just play one on the Internet), but it looks to me like you can't "own" a trademark if you're not actively using it - you can't hold it in reserve to keep others from using it. (And Mitsu hasn't marketed a Mirage here for many years.)

All jurisdictions with a mature trademark registration system provide a mechanism for removal in the event of such non use, which is usually a period of either three or five years.

In the U.S., failure to use a trademark [...] will result in abandonment of the mark, whereby any party may use the mark. (Wiki wiki wiki)

That's how they lost the ability to use Mirage already in parts of Europe.

Mitsu is still selling the Colt in some markets, so they'd have rights there. But not in Canada or the US. I don't think they ever sold the Colt themselves in Canada, anyway - it was marketed through Chrysler.

Psst! Anybody wanna buy a Space Star?