Half way though my 4100 mile (6600 km) Mirage road trip/vacation ...

[JimInMichigan]

Man, what a rough 3 day drive that was. The Mirage did great through the 1st two tanks of gas ( see my fuel log ). Then I got into the Ozarks and the outside temp/humidity cause me to turn on the A/C. Combine that with driving 70 MPH, a bunch of steep hills and the poor cruise just couldn't compute what it was supposed to do. Dropping 4 MPH starting up a steep hill, then the cruise would realize it was lagging behind and it would hit the gas, causing the CVT to downshift and running the engine up to 4500/5000 RPMs. Then it wouldn't let off the gas until I was going 3-4MPH over the set speed. I tried working the gas pedal myself, to try and anticipate what position it needed to be in, to keep the RPM's from jumping so high. That was a learning experiences in of itself, since I was used to a gas pedal hooked to a cable. What I " used " to do ( on all of my other vehicles ), was just push the pedal a bit harder, to give more fuel from where the cruise control had the pedal. But with a computer controlled gas pedal, the pedal is limp as if you were sitting idle at a stop light, even while your driving 70MPH. So now I had to learn to really push that pedal until I felt the engine pull the little Mirage faster. This method worked, but it was also taxing, taking away from me relaxing during my drive. Mitsubishi, please figure out a software fix for this...PLEASE...Then I got into a pretty good side/head wind. Fuel economy suffered even further, but so would any other vehicle I would have drove, I suppose. My biggest worry was the little 3 cyl engine and the CVT being over worked. By the last leg of the trip into AZ, when I got to Deming, New Mexico, I decided to give the 75MPH speed limit a try ( I was tired and wanting to get there ). Again, it's hot, I had the A/C going and was encountering some steep hills. That was the worse MPG of the trip. The water temp even hit 210 for a sec ( I immediately lowered my speed until the temp went back down to 190 ). I had been watching the water temp most of the trip, and it would pretty much stay in the 188-195F range, riding at 190F most of the time.

As for ride and comfort, the Mirage did ok. This, coming from a guy who used to drive a Cadillac and big comfy Chevy Silverado's, says a lot. My biggest discomfort was my left leg leaning against the door arm rest and right leg leaning against the center console. I kept moving my legs into different positions, so I didn't have to lean them against those two points for long. A person of average weight might not have that problem, but I am a big guy at 300lbs and needed to sprawl out some.

Some of the trips stats:
2 persons and a dog ( Pomeranian )
Guessed total cargo weight including persons: 650 lbs
2038.6 miles driven in 3 days ( last day was only 6.5 hours )
Fuel used: 52.5 gal
Fuel cost: $135.40
Avg MPG for trip: 38.83

Again, see my fuel log for a blow-by-blow of my fill ups.

On the trip back, we are planning on a stop into Roswell NM, then heading up to Michigan. I am thinking of dropping my speed down to 65MPH. I am also considering lowering my speed to 60MPH during the steep hill climbs, just so I can use the cruise ( and keep the RPM's down ) and enjoy the trip more.