Mirage vs Kia Picanto

[Teasmade]

My main criterion is reliability. Reliability before everything else. On that basis alone: can you recommend the Mirage unreservedly?

When buying a car, one always runs the risk of purchasing the 'Friday Night' car, no matter the manufacturer. However, speaking from my experience of the Mirage and of several Mitsubishis before it (a couple of Colts and several late '90s Galants), I must assume that Mitsubishi don't run their production lines very often on a Friday evening(!).

Put simply - I've never been left at the side of the road in any of my Mitsubishis and I expect my Mirage to be similarly reliable. Yes, in the past I have had the occasional niggle, but never anything especially serious. The worst fault I've had (that wasn't caused by any circumstances other than mechanical failure) was an alternator failing on one of my Galants. It was 12 years old at the time and had covered over 100,000 miles.

Seeing as you've never had a car before, I must stress again that no car will ever be unimpeachable. But I think the Mirage is a good way of minimising your risk - both in terms of reliability and in terms of the impact on your wallet.

[philby]

We have had three cars in my family: 2 Toyotas and one Suzuki. I was always surprised at the amount of beating the three - and the Suzuki in particular - took, yet always reaching the intended destination. That Japanese cars are the most reliable is now a truism. It was Mitsubishi's reputation for reliability along with the low price of the Mirage (Space Star) that made me look to this brand in the first place; the Mitsubishi Lancer is by many considered the most reliable car in the world. Thanks for your input; it was very helpful.

[cyclopathic]

Bad tires and alignment? How severe are these faults? Will they cause the car to come apart if I regularly transport heavy loads?

And do you know that max towing weight is? According to the official specs the max allowed total weight is 1290 KG. I assume that that includes the weight of the car itself which is 845, which amounts to saying that the max allowed weight is 445 KG? Am I doing it right?

read a these threads:
http://mirageforum.com/forum/showthr...Prius-C-review
http://mirageforum.com/forum/showthr...replacement%29
http://mirageforum.com/forum/showthr...way-bar-review

with rear alignment some of them do have issue and others do not, it is just a luck of draw. The suspension is very soft and isn't suitable for heavy loads, but supposedly 2017 model due in March will address this. Our did have front slightly out of spec, but that was adjusted by dealer (covered by Mitsubishi) for free. Car should not fall apart but may bottom out if you overload it. It is ok with 4 people and some luggage.

The suspension was designed for 3rd world countries, so it feels great on potholes, gravel roads and frozen tarmac, but produces excessive body roll at higher speeds. If most of your driving is in the city or country side with speeds well below 90-100km/h, you will never have issues, and if the roads in Finland as bad in winter as they are in our snowbelt, you will actually appreciate it. If you are technically inclined replacing rear springs is not difficult. Would not stop me from buying, as next cheapest car in US would cost many thousands more.

They probably use different tires in Europe, so it may or may not be an issue. In US they use Dunlop Enasaves which are good for economy, but do not provide best of the grip, esp if you have minor issues with alignment. I think some of the tires are more forgiving to alignment than others, and Enasaves definitely on more sensitive side. They were ok after we had alignment done.

The biggest issue that there are virtually no tires in US in 165/65R14 size, and in general it is increasingly difficult to buy anything less than 15 inch. It could be different in Finland. As much as I'd love to get Nokian tires, they do not sell anything in 14 inch size in US.

[philby]

What sort of configuration would you suggest for driving in the cold nordic climate? That you need special tires for winter goes without saying. Are there minimum requirements in your view? The version that I intend to purchase offers the following:

ASTC active stability and antispinn
ABS/EBD brakes
TPMS tire pressure sensor

Is there anything else that I will be needing?

Thanks in advance.

[philby]

The suspension was designed for 3rd world countries, so it feels great on potholes, gravel roads and frozen tarmac, but produces excessive body roll at higher speeds. If most of your driving is in the city or country side with speeds well below 90-100km/h, you will never have issues, and if the roads in Finland as bad in winter as they are in our snowbelt, you will actually appreciate it. If you are technically inclined replacing rear springs is not difficult. Would not stop me from buying, as next cheapest car in US would cost many thousands more.

Thanks, I look forward to reading your review. I will generally be driving at speeds well below 90 kmph, but occasional long trips at high speed will be required by others.

[cyclopathic]

ADDITION: I am now reading the thread about the alignment issue. Sounds very serious thus far. i.e.,
"The bad news is that everything points to the impossibility to realign the rear wheels in the Mirage."

From what I read Honda Jazz/Fit and some other cars from other mfg have similar issue: the hubs were welded to axle as a cost saving. I am not exactly happy about it b/c in the past 2 of cars we had owned needed new hub. Both times hub cost was $200-250, and on this car it would be new axle $600+.

When you get to later posts in alignment thread, you will see how people had fixed this by fitting a tie/chain/cable and pulling 2 hubs together. If you're not in the hurry to buy car wait for 2017 model it may be fixed there. Our does not have this issue, and if it did I would do the fix.

Body roll:
You will not have any issues at freeway speeds, it drives w/o any issues at speeds 70-80mph (120-130km/h). The driving in the mountains or very irregular rural roads at speed 80-100km/h can produce excessive body roll. I admit I am bias since I love driving on such roads and take every opportunity to do so.

[philby]

From what I read Honda Jazz/Fit and some other cars from other mfg have similar issue

Funny that you mention that. I just read about a Toyota Yaris with the same problem.

And now Mazdas with the same problem.

One last thing: according to one prolific commenter on youtube, the Space Star has been optimised for European conditions. Hence the reason why it is not called Mirage. I don't know if it is true or not, but he sounds like a reasonable guy.

[25Plus]

There are some different specifications around the world. The european Space Star has a very long gear ratio in gears 1-3, therefore it has - compared to most older cars or turbocharged models - a very bad acceleration in these gears. In my opinion it is so lame it is really no fun to drive anymore in the city, especially with the bad clutch feeling. Therefore I would never have bought the 1.0 liter version. But the 1.2 liter engine with the european specification has more power and torque (80 PS, 106 Nm) and in 5th gear can also climb steeper hills, so when the car is rolling it is unbeatable economical (especially because of the good aerodynamic and low weight).

[inuvik]

What sort of configuration would you suggest for driving in the cold nordic climate? That you need special tires for winter goes without saying. Are there minimum requirements in your view? The version that I intend to purchase offers the following:

ASTC active stability and antispinn
ABS/EBD brakes
TPMS tire pressure sensor

Is there anything else that I will be needing?

Thanks in advance.

A good set of snow tires will get you through most everything. Members have stated that the Mirage is very good in the snow. The only thing I would consider is that if you're going to be driving in deep unplowed snow, turn the traction control off. Sounds counterintuitive but you don't want reduced power, automatic braking in those situations. For example: A couple of years ago my wife called me and stated that she got our AWD CUV stuck in some snow. It was about 10" deep. She said it just started slowing down and then got slower and slower even when she gave it more throttle. So I went out to her location and tried it myself. The traction control was the problem. Turned it off and powered right down the road. Sometimes, especially in snow you need to be able to spin your tires to keep enough momentum to blast through the deep stuff.

[cyclopathic]

Funny that you mention that. I just read about a Toyota Yaris with the same problem.

except the hubs are removable and can be shimmed to correct alignment on Yaris. We also have Prius C (Aqua) which rides on stretch Yaris platform.

In many cases the issue with rear alignment is due to technician mistake; they are suppose to equalize rear prior to getting it on the stand. But generally this is the common problem with torsion beam rear axle, and if roads in Finland in winter as bad as in neighboring country to the east, (or in our case neighboring to the north) and the pothole related damage is possible, I would be concerned.

From my understanding the EU Space Star also comes with smaller 1.0L engine, and 1.2L with manual transmission has higher final drive, so it would get better fuel economy at expense of worse acceleration in 1st and top gear. From experience changing final drive on motorcycles you get used to different shift points, so the driving dynamics btw lowest and highest gear do not suffer.