Why One Young Woman Bought a 2014 Mitusbishi Mirage: Frugal Shopping

[cookiemonster]

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...rugal-shopping

"As the daughter of an engineer, she built a spreadsheet--of course--with all the necessary information about the vehicles under consideration ... The surprise hit of all these vehicles was the Mitsubishi Mirage, which is marketed as "A New Breed of Fun!" ... The sale shows it's possible to get a new car in America, with more features than you might expect, for far less than you might predict--even as your friends continue to look for the largest, most luxurious, most prestigious vehicle they think they can afford."

[MetroMPG]

Thanks, cookiemonster!

Someone else emailed me that one today, too.

I read that site most days, and the guy who wrote that article is a regular commenter there. I think that's his first "article". I actually knew that his daughter was considering the Mirage because it came up in the comments under other Mirage & Spark articles on that site.

I commented over there.

[Alpha_One]

I noticed that most of semi-intelligent negative/skeptical comments about the Mirage (that is, other than those stupid arse "Take the bus or walk!!!" and "Buy a used Mercedes 300D instead!!!" remarks) tend to be saying "Why not buy a Fiesta/Mazda 2/Fit/Spark instead?" I observed that for those who ended up buying the Mirage and who did consider those alternative cars, including myself, the reasoning tends to be somewhere along the lines of:

• The Fiesta is a fun car but is way too cramped
• The Fit is great, but it's outside the budget
• The Mazda 2 is fun to drive, but costs much money for too little car
• The Spark is too small and not very economical

The Mirage ends up getting bought because (surprise surprise) it actually fit some people's need for a cheap and practical car (which happens to be surprisingly loads of fun). I imagine the skeptics who are saying "Buy a Fiesta/M2/Fit/Spark instead!!!" probably aren't in the market for a new small car themselves.

[festiboi]

I noticed that most of semi-intelligent negative/skeptical comments about the Mirage (that is, other than those stupid arse "Take the bus or walk!!!" and "Buy a used Mercedes 300D instead!!!" remarks) tend to be saying "Why not buy a Fiesta/Mazda 2/Fit/Spark instead?" I observed that for those who ended up buying the Mirage and who did consider those alternative cars, including myself, the reasoning tends to be somewhere along the lines of:

• The Fiesta is a fun car but is way too cramped
• The Fit is great, but it's outside the budget
• The Mazda 2 is fun to drive, but costs much money for too little car
• The Spark is too small and not very economical

The Mirage ends up getting bought because (surprise surprise) it actually fit some people's need for a cheap and practical car (which happens to be surprisingly loads of fun). I imagine the skeptics who are saying "Buy a Fiesta/M2/Fit/Spark instead!!!" probably aren't in the market for a new small car themselves.

That's exactly what I've found in this market, and the Mirage seems like a perfect compromise

The Fiesta is a fun car to drive, but it is just miserable to sit in for long periods of time. I can never find a comfortable driving position. The Mazda2 also feels cramped, and like you said, it becomes very expensive, and doesn't have good fuel economy. The Spark doesn't offer a spare tire or a CD player, that's a deal breaker right there. The Versa is lacking in standard features and feels even more penny pinched than the Mirage.

IMO the Fit and the Accent (which was strangely missing in this cross-shop) are the toughest competition, and both are very good cars. The Fit is higher in price, but a base 2015 LX starts at $16k and comes almost as well equipped as a Mirage ES, that is $1k less and doesn't offer the flexibility of the Honda. The Accent starts out in GS trim at $15k and comes well equipped as well, and matches the Mirage's warranty, and is roomier and almost twice as powerful with 138hp

However, the Mirage is still a bargain for the space, features, and warranty that you get. It's a good time to be a small car shopper, but also leads to some tough decisions

I just spent an hour or so at Budget at LAX hopping in between an Accent hatch and Mirage (as well as a Fiesta) they had on the lot side-by-side, and I still can't decide which one to get in a few months

[aydu]

I've spent 2 weeks each with the Accent and Note as rental cars.

I liked the Accent and found that it had a surprising amount of room in the passenger compartment. Handled well on both the highway and around town, getting pretty good gas mileage on both. A/C worked well and the auto tranny shifted nicely. Interior was average for an inexpensive compact car.

The Note went forever on a tank of gas. It drove fine and the CVT behaved like a regular geared transmission. I didn't notice any droning noise from the CVT and it had decent pickup in highway and around town driving situations. It spelled "cheap" everywhere. The interior defined "cheap plastic" giving the impression that it was built for the warranty period, no long term use.

The Note won on interior room, especially the back seat. You could put a lot of stuff in the Note and yet get good gas mileage on a day to day basis. The Accent was average in the cargo and seating capacity area.

Having this experience, I didn't seriously consider either of these cars when I bought the Mirage.

The Mirage trumped the others when it came to gas projected gas mileage. Real world numbers verify the EPA estimates as being realistic.

The "funk factor" title goes to the Mirage. It just looks different with the small wheels and the retro exterior styling. The 3 banger engine works very well and doesn't seem to strain. I'm in the Midwest, so I don't encounter large hills or mountain driving, so extra power for these driving situations isn't a factor to me.

What really appealed to me with the Mirage was the feature set offered for the price and the civilized passenger cabin. While not a luxury car by any means, the Mirage offers features that aren't seen at this price point. Proximity key, navigation, cruise, auto air, and front seat leg room are all impressive in the Mirage.

The cabin doesn't look like a Benz or an Audi, but it is very livable and avoids the "you bought a really cheap car" look. Fit and finish are nice, The piano black finish on the dash looks worlds better than the plastic "wood" look of many high priced vechcles.

Finally, the colors available. We picked Plasma Purple and love both the color and the reaction we get to it. Green was our second choice.

The Mirage offers these "off the wall" color choices, or, the more traditional choices.

We beefed up our Mirage with options, and still came it at what we considered a value price for the vehicle. Other economy vehicles came out significantly higher when you started adding options to make the equipment equal. When you do this, you find that your price for a loaded "economy car" starts to overlap with the next model up, more modestly equipped.

The Mirage's pricing structure is pretty simple, similar to the pricing system Honda uses. The Mirage and the Lancer are very different cars, so if you want one, you're probably not looking for the other. You're probably looking at the Mirage vs MIEV, with the Mirage starting at 1/2 the price and without the range and battery issues an electric vehicle brings to the table.

With all that being said, where else are you going to get a purple car?

[Ares]

Awesome read. Someone should post a link of this page to all those negative reviews.

[MetroMPG]

18 comments on the original article at GCR now.

[grsupercity]

I hate consumer reports, and everyone on that site refers to it like its the holy grail lol