Originally Posted by
wellswebdesign
Welcome, kevhaw. My car previous to the Mirage was a 99 Saturn. I loved it. Bought it fresh off the lot in 98, and drove it forever. Well, 17 years, at least. But it was time for something new, and the Mirage was it.
My commute is suburban, stop and go traffic. My Saturn was an automatic, but my Mirage is a manual. It's such a light clutch, it was easy to make the transition to manual. "Worst" part about manual in the Mirage is with the AC on, it can bog down. But it's not too bad, and you're shooting for the no-AC model anyway. Getting the revs up to 3000rpm before shifting, I'm still getting ~44mpg city.
To be honest, I got a manual because I was a little concerned (as others were) about the longevity of the CVT. Another user posted recently (I forget names) that is in charge of 30 Mirages for a Canadian delivery company, all CVT. If I remember correctly, they had one car develop a bad ignition coil, but other than oil and tires, the cars have been nothing but dependable. One of their vehicles is at 220,000km.
I'm at... 15,000 miles I think. No additional engine noise. I've got a 2015, and from what I understand, the 2014's didn't have as beefy of a motor mount, and it is a little shakier. 3 cylinders will do that. Fixed in the 2015 with a larger/better mount, which presumably has carried over to the 2017s. I also understand that the CVTs are a little shakier than the manual.
The Mirage is the perfect car for someone wanting basic transportation and good fuel economy. Love mine.