Just bought a 2014 Mirage 5-speed (got 57.4 mpg on the 70 mi. trip home)

[3dplane]

Hi!

Today I bought a new 2014 mirage 5 speed!

My poor 94 protege developed an intermittent spark loss and even being a mechanic I am tired of my fleet of old vehicles braking down.
It was time to upgrade!

Had to drive about 70 miles to a dealer that had a 5 speed. Funny thing is I work at a buick-gmc-mitsu dealer but we only have the cvt automatic ones.

I was concerned about the gearing of the manual,but my concern about high rpms quickly went away on the test drive. I consider the rpm-vehicle speed great for such a tiny powerplant.

40 MPH = 2000 RPM (5th gear)


50 MPH = 2500 RPM (5th gear)


60 MPH = 3000 RPM


70 MPH = 3500 RPM


Sorry for some bad pictures,I tried snapping several times but without perfect lighting conditions my phone cam just can't handle it.

This is on the way home following my wife through a mix of city traffic (Jacksonville FL) and highway/country roads.

The average MPG reading started at 37.X at the dealer, but I reset it on the way home as we came to a stop at a red traffic light.

I never shut the engine off but did my best to hypermile this thing while not loosing my wife ahead of me. (following her). Including some neutral coasts when beneficial. By the time we got home (night,headlights on about 70 mile trip) the MPG on the display was showing 57.4 MPG.


This is stock straight from the dealer,no tire pressure bump or any mods.
We shall see how she does on my normal commute in the future!
Just thought I would share!

[euromodder]

Ohhhh ... it even has an ECO light

Have fun with the new ride !

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by 3dplane

Today I bought a new 2014 mirage 5 speed!

Congrats!!

I was concerned about the gearing of the manual,but my concern about high rpms quickly went away on the test drive. I consider the rpm-vehicle speed great for such a tiny powerplant.

Great mileage on your return trip!

But I still think it's geared too low. Just drive the CVT to confirm: the CVT is quite happy running along on the flat at nearly 1k RPM less at ~65 mph. Think of how much more fuel you'd be saving if the manual were geared more like that. The manual European 1.2L Mirage is geared taller than ours is, and even the 1.0L version is geared lower than our 1.2!

Hope you'll post your impressions of the car in the owner reviews section at MirageForum.com.

Looking forward to reading more about the car from you.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Ohhhh ... it even has an ECO light

Have fun with the new ride !

Some countries (Japan, and I think most of Europe) gets a 4-bar Eco gauge. We only get the idiot light. The gauge is more useful for eco-driving/hypermiling.



And while it's excllent that the car has a factory MPG trip gauge (resettable), it has no "instant" MPG readout. So I'd still want to have a ScanGauge/Ultragauge in the car.

[LeanBurn]

It doesn't seem to hurt your initial results but dang those are some high revs...the Corolla is doing 75mph at 3000rpm....I don't get good fuel economy at all at those speeds though...

[spacemanspif]

That eco gauge would be real nice to have...as always though, America doesn't get any of the good stuff...

x10 the manual is geared too low. I understand the 3cyl is not very "torque-y" but its still geared too low...

[3dplane]

Thank you guys!

Yes I agree it would be nice to have taller gearing,the engine could certainly handle it torque wise.

What I should have said is I expected the gearing to be worse=higher RPMs so I was glad to see that it is not that terrible : )

I did drive the CVT automatic and indeed it runs at a lovely lower RPM with a light foot, however I can not give up the control and the piece of mind the manual gives me over the auto.

Funny to me that these engine RPMs do not sound high while driving. For example the same RPM from a 4 cylinder would drive me nuts.
I guess it is the harmonics of the 3 cylinder has sort of an audible illusion of a lower RPM ?

Another thing to mention. This morning got in the car to go to work,and as I'm backing out of my parking spot I look down to the average MPG display I see 17.X and climbing...I parked it showing 57.4 what happened?
(BTW you know you're an ecomodder when you are looking at the MPG display during reversing..)

Well, looking into the manual I learn there are auto reset and manual reset modes that are to be switched from one to the other by scrolling to the RANGE display and then hold down the button to go from "A" (auto) to "B" (manual). Anything automatic to me means "it will do something out of your control that you did not want to happen" : ) So now it is manual reset mode.

Just to mention:
This thing is not tiny on the inside.
I'm 6'4" and I have plenty of leg and head room.The gray blob is my knee.


Random image of the car:

[Daox]

Congrats on the new car! I can't wait to see the fuel log on it. The Mirage should be capable of matching and even beating a lot of hybrids.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by 3dplane

This morning got in the car to go to work,and as I'm backing out of my parking spot I look down to the average MPG display I see 17.X and climbing...I parked it showing 57.4 what happened?
(BTW you know you're an ecomodder when you are looking at the MPG display during reversing..)

Well, looking into the manual I learn there are auto reset and manual reset modes

That's likely a trip average indicator, so in auto mode it resets after every trip - which can be every time you shut down, or after a set period of time that it's not moving about (the way it is on my up! ).

[3dplane]

Originally Posted by euromodder

That's likely a trip average indicator, so in auto mode it resets after every trip - which can be every time you shut down, or after a set period of time that it's not moving about (the way it is on my up! ).

Correct! it is a trip average. According to the owner's manual if it has been shut off for 4 hours or more, display "A" resets.
Also even if I leave it in display"B" mode (manual reset or overall accumulating until I reset it mode) every time I key off the car,(no matter how long) upon turning it back on, it will "automatically" (again why is this happening against my will?) switches to display "A" mode so I have to scroll to display RANGE (estimated miles to empty) and hold the button (and hit it one more time)if I want to see overall average MPG.

I can live with this "feature" but I wish it would stay where I left it. Still love the car though!

Daox: Thanks! I just filled up tonight at a little over 200 miles on the odometer to start my actual fuel log at next fill! Car also entered in the garage.