Attn cheap used car buyers: 200k+ Mirages have now been sold in the U.S.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Xist

Can you slap people who say "CVT transmission?"

What about:

"I had to go to the ATM machine to get money for my CVT transmission replacement."

SLAP! SLAP!

What about people who complain that they cannot feel CVTs shift?

I wonder if that's primarily for auto journalists, who are traditionally old-school gearheads, and almost universally hate CVT's. Pet peeve: when reviewers say something like "the CVT is noisy when accelerating". No, it isn't. The engine may be noisy if the CVT permits it to stay at a steady, high RPM when under load.

I like the idea of CVTs being the most efficient, but I do not see myself buying one in the foreseeable future.

I was pretty impressed with the lengths Mitsu went to program the Mirage's CVT to be very efficient. Was able to beat my dad's Civic hybrid in a head-to-head city & highway MPG comparison. And I prefer driving the Mirage CVT to the Civic's.


They're much better than traditional slushbox autos, but still aren't as efficient as a manual in the hands of a skilled eco-driver. Though the gap is closing. (That said, any use of EOC widens the gap considerably.)

[Xist]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

What about:

"I had to go to the ATM machine to get money for my CVT transmission replacement."

SLAP! SLAP!

I swear that I have heard people say "ATM machine" and "PIN Number" in the same sentence and I am sure that people have also used "hot water heater."

It is like they are taunting me! Everyone knows how ATMs work! "Oh really, tell me more about these magical machines that give you your own money! Do they require urine samples and ask you security questions?"

I wonder if that's primarily for auto journalists, who are traditionally old-school gearheads, and almost universally hate CVTs. Pet peeve: when reviewers say something like "the CVT is noisy when accelerating". No, it isn't. The engine may be noisy if the CVT permits it to stay at a steady, high RPM when under load.

Could you imagine if auto journalists knew what they were saying?

I was pretty impressed with the lengths Mitsu went to program the Mirage's CVT to be very efficient. Was able to beat my dad's Civic hybrid in a head-to-head city & highway MPG comparison. And I prefer driving the Mirage CVT to the Civic's.

How do their CVTs behave differently?

They're much better than traditional slushbox autos, but still aren't as efficient as a manual in the hands of a skilled eco-driver. Though the gap is closing. (That said, any use of EOC widens the gap considerably.)

Huh. People always claim that automatics are more efficient than humans, which is undoubtedly true of them, but I am smarter than average!

[I always figure they justified wasting money on a mentally disabled butler. What does that make CVTs? Butlers with learning disabilities?]

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Xist

I swear that I have heard people say "ATM machine" and "PIN Number" in the same sentence and I am sure that people have also used "hot water heater."

It is like they are taunting me! Everyone knows how ATMs work! "Oh really, tell me more about these magical machines that give you your own money!

Butlers with learning disabilities?]

Maybe they only used their Rush card at Walmart to get their paycheck?

Then when they ended up with too much metal change in their pocket they would go to the green change machine that charges 10% to exchange it for paper dollar bills

[Hersbird]

Just doing a nationwide autotrader search most all the used Mirages are over $5000. There just a handful under with the lowest $3900. The problem is those dealers probably did get those $5000 cars for $3000 or less, it's just the markups they operate on. My problem is we have never had a Mitsubishi dealer remotely close so they don't show up much on craigslist or Facebook marketplace being sold used from private parties. At $5000+ for a 8 year old one, I'd rather find a under $10,000 new one. Seems not that long ago there were new ones at $8999.

[Xist]

I used to know a Guardsman that worked for a used car dealership and offered to take me to an auction, but the couple of times since that I messaged him and asked how he was doing he did not respond.

If only I could have gotten him to use his forces of evil for my benefit!

[rmay635703]

For what it’s worth Only about 3% of cars under 10 years old get sold private party.

Not sure why that is but it’s the trend since 2009

[Xist]

Things went crazy in 2009 with Cash for Clunkers. They went through the allotted billion dollars in six days and $2 billion more in the next twenty-four days.

A 2009 paper in The Economists' Voice concluded that for each vehicle trade, the program had a net cost of approximately $2,000, with total costs outweighing all benefits by $1.4 billion.

A 2012 study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that care sales were so slow for the ten months after the program ended that it balanced out and there was "no evidence of an effect on employment, house prices, or household default rates in cities with higher exposure to the program."

People received $3,500 - $4,500 for their trade-ins. That would suggest around 750,000 running cars were scrapped and their engines were destroyed. Wikipedia mentions 680,000 "transactions."

One article concluded that 45% of people who participated would have bought a new car anyway.

"A 2017 study in the American Economic Journal found that the program, intended to increase consumer spending, reduced total new vehicle spending by $5 billion."

In October 2011, former Obama administration economic advisor Austan Goolsbee stated that, "the administration misjudged how quickly the country could recover from the economic damage of the 2008 economic collapse" and now knowing that it has "proved a longer, tougher ride than we thought at the time", he would not have created this short-run program to stimulate the economy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Al..._Rebate_System

Excuse me if you guys knew all about that, I was shipping out to Germany during that time, and just knew that demand exceeded supply when I came home in 2012.

Imagine how many fewer stories I would have shared had I bought a 1999 Accord instead of my Forester. I would not have had the drama with my ex because I would be happy with the Honda. I would not have all of the repairs, particularly the head gasket.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Just doing a nationwide autotrader search most all the used Mirages are over $5000.

I have an email alert for Mirages under $4500 within 500 km of here, and I get a couple of hits a month. Most, as you noticed, are higher than that.

But like you...

My problem is we have never had a Mitsubishi dealer remotely close so they don't show up much

Same thing. Nearest dealer to me is 100 km away.

The bulk of Mirages in Canada are sold in Quebec (historically the biggest lovers in Canada of cheap, basic, small cars). So most of them are 200+ km away from me. Not surprisingly, that $1250 one I posted was in Quebec.

[Xist]

When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be,
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up and buys you
When I go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who drives along with you
If I get drunk, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk and takes a taxi
And if I haver up, yeah I know I'm gonna be (?)
I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you
But I would walk 804.672 kilometers
And I would walk 804.672 kilometers more
Just to be the man who walks 1,609.344 kilometers
To fall down and buys you.

The Canadian version is weird!

[MetroMPG]

Asking $2500 (was originally posted at $3k a week ago).




Top-spec 2014 model with a manual transmission and high kms (237k = 147k miles).

"95% highway driven"

Very tempting, but it's WAAAY too far outside my beater radius. This one's ~6 hours each way.


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/...age/1455464720