Don't forget about "motion ratio" or basically how the shock is leveraged. Which, in the mirages case would be "disadvantaged" set behind the spring. ( and not enough so)
It's an oil filled shock so position at rest doesn't matter, either. My guess would be mitsubishi buys premade shocks and adapts them however they need, which is how you end up with that top hat looking bs. The part number directly from tokico is the same for both cars so..
Just saying, maybe someone that works at a parts store could pull one out and look is all