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

[DKaz]

Thanks for the test! Remember too the Mirage also comes with a bunch of safety features the Metro didn't which would attribute to most of the weight gain.

The Mirage trumps my Mazda 3 SkyActiv in the city but not the highway. A couple of months ago I did 1004 km on a 49.3L tank of gas. That's 4.9 L/100km or 48 MPG. A/C was on a quarter of the time to keep the kids cool, averaged 100 km/h, trunk full of camping gear.

[DKaz]

Sorry hit send too soon. I only get 7.5L/100km (31 MPG) average in the city with my 3 however which makes up 80% of the 3's kms, would be nice to get 5.5L/100km in the city! Plus the Mirage comes with auto climate control which my 3 doesn't have. I think auto climate control doesn't bode well with most hypermilers but leaving it on all year did not affect my Mazda 5 the slightest, and allowed me to focus more on driving and less on fumbling with HVAC controls.

[MetroMPG]

Well, we've yet to see a speed vs. fuel consumption chart for the CVT-equipped Mirage.

I expect it will outperform the manual on the highway with its much taller gearing at cruise. Wayne at CleanMPG is testing one this week - hopefully we'll see some numbers soon.

If that's confirmed, then drivers who spend most of their time on the highway (above ~70-80 km/h) should get the CVT car for best MPG. Urban/suburban drivers (ie. the non-brain dead kind, willing to eco-drive) should get the manual.

I wrote about this on MirageForum: Mirage CVT or 5-speed: which should you get for best gas mileage/fuel economy? )

Though in reality the difference in volume of fuel consumed between the two amounts to a hill of beans, and the "payback" on the CVT has to be taken into account if the decision is purely financial.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Plus the Mirage comes with auto climate control which my 3 doesn't have.

FYI, auto AC is standard on the Mirage in the U.S., but the base Mirage ("ES") in Canada doesn't have AC at all.

[Daox]

The speed vs mpg chart we have shows the Mirage also gets 48 mpg @ 100km/h. And that is for the 5-speed. The CVT gets better.

[MetroMPG]

Wayne has posted speed vs. MPG results for the CVT car he's been driving this week.

Conditions:

• bidirectional averaged runs
• 32 - 33F (0 - 0.5C) ambient -- however, the MPG values were "temperature compensated" by increasing them approximately +7.5% by Wayne to estimate results at 70 degrees F.
• 5 - 10 mph (8-16 km/h) side wind

(Read the CleanMPG thread for more info, photos & impressions of the CVT: Most Fuel Efficient Non-hybrid/Non-Diesel and its MT/AT Ratios - CleanMPG Forums )

As expected, the CleanMPG test shows the CVT performing somewhat better than the manual at cruising speeds.

However (!), the two charts shouldn't be seen as an apples to apples comparison. Ideally we need to run a CVT against a manual in the same conditions for the most accurate picture.

Nevertheless, I'm going to combine the data into a new chart just for kicks...

[MetroMPG]

CVT vs. 5-speed manual "comparison" chart with the CleanMPG numbers ...



This combined chart has to be taken with with a large chunk of NaCl: different weather conditions; different rear spoilers (one drag-reducing, the other drag-increasing); and a big consideration is those 100 & 120 km/h figures for the manual are from one-way runs, not bi-directional averages. (The 60 & 80 km/h runs were averaged.)

Ideally, we need to compare 2 cars at the same time, in the same conditions.

It's still reasonable to expect the CVT to outperform the manual on the open road.

[niky]

To note... I believe whenever Mitsubishi has done showoff "eco-runs" here, it has typically been with the CVT.

Just drove the Mirage G4. Impressive. Suspension still way too soft for enthusiasts, but it's still ultralight and very stiff, meaning potential. Still frugal. Lots more space. Lots better looks.



Also have probably one of the first dynocharts for the 1.2 online...


(power at the hubs on a dynapack hub dyno)


(corrected to show bhp)
Related to this article...

Mitsubishi Mirage Gymkhana: A taste of things to come | TopGear.com.ph

Sorry I couldn't get a readout with the AFR. I took a pic of the dynochart during intake design, but forgot to switch the secondary screen to AFR readout.

Not that it would interest ecomodders much... but an intake should be easy to CARB certify... it doesn't interfere with MAP function. But the header removes the pre-cat.

Not an easy engine to modify. See how small that throttle body opening is!

[MetroMPG]

Thanks! I had seen the TopGear.com.ph report earlier this week.

One issue yet to be ironed out: different countries are getting different intake sensors: MAF in some places vs. MAP in others. This also has implications for tuning/boosting.

The sedan is rumoured for the U.S. market in about a year, as a 2015 model. Though officially, the company says they're going to wait and see how well the hatch does. Several reps have publicly mused about turbocharging for power hungry America.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Maybe the sedan version could be a good opponent to the Nissan Versa, and if a turbocharged version of the 1.2L would come there it might be an incentive for Nissan to introduce that direct-injection supercharged 1.2L already used in Euro-spec versions of the Nissan Micra.