Test drove a 2015 Mirage (update: bought it ... 5-speed manual)

[user removed]

LOL, The wife says, it looks like her Sorento had a baby on mothers day.

regards
mech

[dirtydave]

looks good buddy going to follow your foot steps soon. looking at a 14` for $8k

[digital rules]

Congrats on the new car. How does she do out on I-64 with all the crazy rat race drivers?

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

...The decision was solidified when I got the $12871 (2014) price quote. When I handed them the two checks and they offered me a year newer for another $94 and it was not black, the deal was done. While to an observer it might have seemed fast, it was more like a trap being sprung.

Thats a great price, that translates to ~8,400 GBP, a new Mirage here (a 1.0 manual poverty spec stripped out model) is 8,999 GBP. The basic 1.2 model is 12K GBP.

Not many sold here as it has too much competition at that end of the market - e.g.

[roosterk0031]

Really like the Mirage, but drove the Impala yesterday going to daughers college graduation, half 3 people, half 5 people, 2 coolers in the trunk and mini-frig on the way home. Filled it up first thing in the morning, and refilled this morning. 26 mpg calculated, I'd need 47 mpg with E0 price today to match $/mile. I've pretty much decided based on where I live I can't buy a non-FFV unless I don't really plan to drive it(truck). My choices are down to Focus or Dart for my next car, Equinox for the Impala replacement. Well really only the Focus.

[3dplane]

Congrats on the new Mirage!

You are going to enjoy it!

Mine got 29K miles on it and I love it just like when it was brand new!

The only ONE issue I had with it is the rear alignment being not adjustable and out of specs so it chopped the rear tires and they became noisy!

Rotating the tires would've masked the issue with a quicker overall tire wear but I refuse to rotate the tires!

The front tires are still going strong with plenty of meat left on them, the rear set that came off the car recently to be replaced,I saved and the Mitsubishi district rep took them with him last week! And told me that they are looking into the issue!

At the time when I replaced the chopped rear tires,I did something crude (that I'm not going to share publicly due to liability) to bring the rear alignment into perfect specs and it has been working great,car is quiet rolling at any speed,tires are not chopping anymore. (I am a mechanic at a dealership)

Oh yeah and why someone with automotive experience ever wanted to buy a new car?

Because after many many years of dealing with everyone else's piece of garbage problem vehicles day after day,the last thing you want is to sit in one and wonder if you are going to make it home at the end of the day!

Congrats old mech and happy birthday to pops!

[user removed]

I know how to fix the rear alignment problem. If mine is out of alignment and they refuse to fix it, I'll fix it and send them the bill.

Supposed to talk with a Mitsubishi rep about solutions. Camber is not the main issue, the cross toe out of specs must be addressed or they face a huge class action suit.

Bottom line is they need a jig that bolts to the backing plate holes AND the stub
axle shaft. Both the shaft and backing plate portion of the axle must be "tweaked exactly the same amount. That gets the axle capable of alignment or proves it is aligned.

Then the cross toe requires the mounting point on the unibody to be slotted or bent, just enough to allow the whole axle to be pointed parallel to the true center line of the car. This will fix the critical cross toe inequality.

I had the exact same problem with an 06 Corolla and the selling dealership screwed around with me for 20k miles. I took it to a friend who was the service manager at another Toyota dealership. They checked the alignment (showed it to me on the machine) and tried replacing the axle beam the first time and the specs remained identical. They put me in a loaner, sent it to the highest priced body shop in town, moved the mounting point where the axle bolted to the unibody and he had it on the alignment machine to show me it was perfect, when I came to pick it up.

No reason, no excuse Mitsubishi can't do the same thing. Toyota gave me 4 tires at 19k miles,but they wouldn't give me credit on a set of tires of my choice.

regards
mech

[user removed]

I got the real test today. Stupid municipalities decide this is the time to grind the top layer of pavement off several of my favorite routes, loose gravel and a pack of morons to spray it all over the front end of my brand new car.

They failed.

I did have to get on the interstate and endure the 30 mph average speed bump and crawl whip lash scenario.

I found earlier that the cable clutch (love the no hydraulics) is light enough that I can depress the pedal to the floor with just my INDEX FINGER! This made the interstate traffic crawl much less of a pain and my indicated mpg actually climbed from 49.1 to 49.5 in the bumper to bumper 30 mph crawl. No other car I have owned would do that (MPG going up).

Looks like around 50 mpg average for me. I could get it higher but not unless I change my driving environment. Might go for 100 MPG driving around Poquoson, no traffic lights and 40 mph max speeds, but I could not stand to do that for a whole tank. It would take probably 30 hours. No engine off coasting.

regards
mech

[Miller88]

They are nice little cars. I kind of want one! Came close but ... the Focus isn't worth much on trade-in and it's not even close to warn out. I'd rather use that money for a downpayment on a house. Maybe in a few years ... or when they get super cheap!

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

the cable clutch [...] is light enough that I can depress the pedal to the floor with just my INDEX FINGER! This made the interstate traffic crawl much less of a pain

The Mirage has the lightest, easiest to use clutch of any car I've ever driven. Makes the Firefly/Metro's feel like a dump truck. I keep telling people who are reluctant to choose the 5MT because of city driving to try one before going for the CVT if that's their main concern.

my indicated mpg actually climbed from 49.1 to 49.5 in the bumper to bumper 30 mph crawl. No other car I have owned would do that

Excellent! I also measured the car's MPG gauge at about 4% optimistic vs. MPG calculated at the pump (over 2 weeks and 3 fills, if I recall). Which isn't bad.

Might go for 100 MPG [...] No engine off coasting.

Just FYI, I found the onboard gauge in the car I tried wouldn't properly report engine-off coasting MPG compared to the ScanGauge (using the ignition key). The highest I could get the car to report in a brief session of low speed pulse & glide was 75-ish MPG, where the SG went past 120.