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View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)
I have a love for performance hatchbacks, particularly from the 80s, and go crazy for flip up headlights. If I had money to burn, these cars would be in my driveway...
1984 VW Rabbit GTI (my first car and desperately want another)
1987 VW Scirocco 16V (love the design)
1993 VW Corrado VR6
1989 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo
1988 Mitsubishi Starion Turbo
1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR4
Nissan 280ZX
1992 Nissan 300ZX
1989 Nissan Pulsar NX SE (typical 80s style with quirky unique ability to change look from coupe to wagon)
1992 Nissan NX2000
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL (13b motor. I love the classic style. Used to own an 84 with 12a)
1989 Mazda 323GTX (rare)
1990 Mazda RX7 convertible (used to own this as well. Sweet car)
1992 Mazda Miata (used to own. Pure driving fun)
1993 Mazda MX3 GS V6 (novel tiny V6)
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo (love the design and rarity)
1991 Isuzu Impulse RS (gotta love the "handling by Lotus" badge)
1989 Subaru XT6 (it's quirkiness attracts me)
1992 Subaru SVX (love, love, love the style)
1986 Acura Integra 2 door
1990 Acura Legend coupe (simple elegant style)
1991 Honda Prelude Si
1991 Honda CRX Si
1991 Honda Civic Si
1987 Honda Accord LXi hatchback
1995 Honda del Sol DOHC VTEC (was my dream car in 93 at the age of 13 when my love affair with cars started)
1992 Dodge Daytona IROC R/T
1990 Buick Reatta
1992 Toyota MR2 turbo
1988 Toyota Celica All Trac Turbo
1992 Toyota Celica
1989 Toyota Supra
1985 Audi Quattro
I feel I'm missing a few.....some of these were so rare that I have zero hope in ever finding one in good condition.
Last edited by Carfreak09; 01-27-2017 at 05:17 AM.
I have seen that video before! Bulletproof in one way doesn't quite mean bulletproof in every way huh hahaha.
A couple of the vehicles I listed are oddly well equipped for safety. The Citroen, for example, I believe was the first mass production car made with crash mitigation that would route the engine down in case of crash. I wonder how hard after market air bags would be to safely install... haha
My dads first car was a Datsun b210, or so I have been told. It's hard to think that he ever drove anything cool, or at least cool to me.
I have an anecdote about specifically the 1993 Toyota Tercel, oddly in that colour. So when I bought my Mirage, I bought it on the other side of the country with the intention of driving it back over, as my girlfriend was relocating over this way. Our plans were put on hold however, as she had a summer word contract that ran a few weeks longer than we were expecting, unfortunately I had bought a plane ticket by that time.
I was in the unfortunate position of needing a place to stay for a few weeks, so I looked into whatever was available in any drivable big city within Canada for a few weeks. I settled on this boarder house in Calgary that was owned by this very elderly, but kind Jehova's Witness couple that was surprisingly tech savvy enough to post their rooms on Airbnb for very low fees.
A few people came and went as I stayed there, and many of the boarders were people from Europe that came to Canada for the summer under something of a Work/Vacation visa. One such gentleman from France one night drove that exact Tercel in from 8 hours away. We became fast friends and hung out quite often. It turned out it was his first car and was intending to drive it across country. The first night he came, I told him he needed CAA (AAA) coverage if he was planning what he was planning. He ignored me.
He was planning on staying for a week and a half and take in some of the sights. He and the other boarders took a drive to Banff one morning in the Tercel. I wasn't quite feeling up to it that day so I stayed home. It did not go well. The car had catastrophic failure en-route, and he paid $600 (!!!!) for a tow back to town where the mechanic essentially told him that the failure was beyond repair. I don't fully remember what went wrong, but they sent me the pictures as I had a local number and it looked like everything down there was hit by oily shrapnel.
I felt so bad, he was a fresh university kid with very little money to begin with. He did alright though, took a flight straight to Montreal instead and had a lot of fun there.
A well maintained car is one thing, but I guess a cheap car is likely cheap for a reason sometimes hahaha
Cobrajet (02-02-2017)
The 90s are kind of a dead spot for me in regards to styling. That isn't to say interesting things didn't come out of the 90s, but if they did, they usually looked like they were from the 80s hahaha
How weird would it be to find NOS of cars. I was reading an article about how that happened a while back in Canada, but aparently the heavy salt we use for our roads essentially melted the bodies. They were not stored well. It was an article outlining the prolonged effect of our heavy salt deicing method.
Nice list. I'm curious to know if you considered other Chrysler models.
Dodge Omni & Plymouth Horizon (L body)
Dodge Charger & Plymouth Duster (L body)
Dodge Daytona & Chrysler Laser (G body)
All of which were eventually available with various versions of the Chrysler turbocharger setup, and some were worked over by Carroll Shelby.
Shelby GLHS
I owned a 1987 Plymouth Horizon and a 1988 Dodge Daytona Pacifica and put a lot of miles on both. The Horizon got fine fuel economy for it's day. The Pacifica was an upgrade in driveability and performance while maintaining fuel economy. From the experience of interstate travel with the Horizon, the Mirage is a luxury car.
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View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)