City ecodriving comparison: 2014 Mirage CVT vs. Mirage 5-speed vs. 1998 Metro 5-speed

[PaleMelanesian]

I see two across the street right now at the dealer.

[sully06]

Originally Posted by Daox

The Mirage is already for sale in the US. It has been for a month now.

Oh ok great I googled it and all I found was Canada haha

[LeanBurn]

I was hoping to see steady state highway cruise numbers compared. At 90km/hr or 55mpg, same stretch of road, there are less variables to contend with than city driving.

[MetroMPG]

Agreed! And I'd love to do that as well.

It takes some time to do these things... and there's no Mitsu dealership in my small city. I should get around to seeing if the company will loan me one for more thorough testing.

Until then, I can offer you the speed vs. fuel economy graph of the 5-speed only... we haven't yet seen one for the CVT (but it should be better).



Source: Speed vs. mileage/fuel economy chart - Mirage 1.2L 5-spd

This data was collected by EcoModder member niky (thanks again!). And the AC was on. And the car had the drag-increasing "sport" spoiler instead of the aero spoiler.

I think it's a fair guess the CVT will outperform the manual on the open road. That's why I took a crack at comparing their urban performance first. It was a bigger unknown.

[spacemanspif]

38mpg @75mph is pretty darn good for a 1.2L 3cyl engine. I'm intrigued by this car. I have my doubts about CVTs though, are they getting any better? Just seem like an expensive repair waiting to happen compared to the tried and true manual...



Just built one on Mitsu website...just like everyone but Honda, you have to have the fancy trim package in order to get cruise control and in doing that you get stuck with stuff you don't want, like stupid start/stop switch, alloy wheels, fog lamps and leather wrapped steering wheel...

I know CC is super easy to do considering all the fly-by-wire new cars come with, so why can't they just put it on every car??? $1,100 for cruise seems a bit steep...but not as steep as some other companies...

[ever_green]

I dont have either of these cars, however I work with someone who owns a manual version of my impreza. we both take the exact same route home except for the last couple kilometers. yes we are different drivers but we are both hypermilers of same experience. I use scangauge 2 and he uses those bluetooth apps. almodt always I beat him in the mileage tests in city driving. just yesterday I scored 8.2l/100km while he only did 8.8l/100km. however when it comes to highway driving, I cant even match his good mileage. im behind a good 2-3 mpg on the freeways from the manuals unless I draft a truck or something.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by ever_green

I dont have either of these cars, however I work with someone who owns a manual version of my impreza. we both take the exact same route home except for the last couple kilometers. yes we are different drivers but we are both hypermilers of same experience. I use scangauge 2 and he uses those bluetooth apps. almodt always I beat him in the mileage tests in city driving. just yesterday I scored 8.2l/100km while he only did 8.8l/100km. however when it comes to highway driving, I cant even match his good mileage. im behind a good 2-3 mpg on the freeways from the manuals unless I draft a truck or something.

Automatics are not really so disadvantaged in highway after they can overcome the inertia from the torque converter. But I still got quite surprised when a regular automatic delivers better mileage in city, altough manuals currently don't get the gear ratio so optimized for all-around efficiency.

[ever_green]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Automatics are not really so disadvantaged in highway after they can overcome the inertia from the torque converter. But I still got quite surprised when a regular automatic delivers better mileage in city, altough manuals currently don't get the gear ratio so optimized for all-around efficiency.

it's very easy for me to accelerate with a locked torque converter once i reach ~35km/h or when the car shifts to 3rd gear. It's all about throttle management with autos. and at 40km/h i can literally cruise in overdrive at about 1100rpm.

[niky]

Fantastic you finally got a good eco-test in one... not surprised by your results... these cars are quite good, and more is possible with a little trying.

Also matches initial observations. That 1.2 liter motor is a true match for most 1.0s in the economy stakes. Fantastic work Mitsubishi did on that motor and car.

[War_Wagon]

Thanks for the write up MetroMPG, I haven't read a new car shootout article since it was 5.0 Mustang vs IROC Camaro! Wow, that just made me feel really old right there ha ha.