Another Mirage!
 

I'm sure there is going to be a lot of us Mirage guys floating around on here now :) I have always been into high mpg because I like to travel and drive, I managed to finance a Mirage yesterday and I am already killing mpg. I put 126.6 miles and used 2.1 gallons =60mpg (all stock off the lot 140 miles)

The car is so smooth and easy. I did my first few upgrades just now, the tires were at 22psi (when I achieved 60mpg) so I put them at 41 psi to start off slow, I then upgraded a few of the bulbs to led.

http://i58.tinypic.com/nox082.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/1z174uf.jpg

http://i60.tinypic.com/28ckec0.jpg

Los Amigos de blanco!
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Congrats on the new car. It really is an mpg champ! I look forward to seeing what you do with the car and what the car can do!

Looks good in white. Much better than that weird purple color they are trying to paint every one of those cars lol

Yeah this is pretty much exactly how I wanted my mirage, white ES trim 5 speed with the mudflaps and the rear bumper black trim. I got lucky :) no wild colors for me! I prefer my vehicles white.

I am going to do as much stealth mods as I can, although I have seen a clear kamm extension that looked pretty cool!

http://i61.tinypic.com/jtxv5v.jpg

Congrats, cool car. That's 60mpg US correct?

What does the kamm extension do?

I was looking at some pics of modified Mirages, and some of them look really slick.

Are there body kits and rims, etc available for these things in North America?

The kamm extension is to help with the aerodynamics of the rear of the car, its often the second thing forgotten about, right behind the underside of the car.

There's a few modified mirages out there and there is body kits as well as oem body styling kits. Wheels are very easy to come by with the 4x100 lug pattern that is very common. I hope to get some 13'' wheels and snow tires for the winter soon. The most popular modification to the body of Mirages is plastidipping the front end to make it look like other mitsubishi's.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2iizt77.jpg

This is an example with Civic VX wheels and plastidipped front end.

Congrats again on the car. You're going to have fun squeezing the MPG out of it.

Are you satisfied with the handling, or planning to tighten it up with the rear stabilizer bar?

And... welcome to EcoModder!

I can see where the criticism comes from the Mirage, yes I will be adding a stabilizer bar, the car does handle fine when going around corners at posted speeds and driving responsibly but if you hit a corner say, one I'd hit with my civic fast enough I am close to the limits of the tires and I feel the body roll the Mirage feels unsafe and leans in much more at the rear. With a way a stabilizer bar will solve this issue and give the confidence to take the curves faster but the narrow tires are going to lose traction if pushed a little more. The rear springs are soft and that combined with no stabilizer bar gives this issue, stiffer rear springs may help as well, but I enjoy the spongy ride. I will be ordering my rear stabilizer bar soon.

Yes, as you point out, for a small car it has a remarkably plush ride.

The stabilizer bar will preserve that nice ride over many bumps (ones that affect both sides of the car). But will make "one-sided bumps" more noticeable.

I'd still add the bar. I think the car's stock handling is OK in cornering once the suspension takes a set, but "S-turn" combinations are rolly to the point of being hilarious.. and slightly unnerving.

I'm glad the aftermarket stepped up with the rear bar relatively quickly.

Yup!

I hope some day I can get to drive a Geo Metro. There's one at work but it makes me sad because its automatic. The Mirage gives me the quirkyness of a 3 banger with all the new added safety and features of a modern car, as long as the metro owners don't mind I don't mind my Mirage being referred to as the modern metro, I hope holds up as good as the metro's for the long run!