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Thread: Goodbye, 2015 Mirage 5 speed...

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    Goodbye, 2015 Mirage 5 speed...

    Due to recent issues with my wife's grandmother (Whom we care for) my wife and I have found ourselves in need of a larger vehicle. We went back and forth for some time about it, unsure what to do - we both LOVE the little mirage. It's been nothing short of amazing. Dead reliable, unstoppable in the snow, gas mileage in the mid-40s, air conditioner that will just freeze you out, heater seemingly piped in from hell itself.

    But, alas, we have to have room for grandma's walker, oxygen tanks, plus the various impedimenta involved with taking my three year old daughter to t-ball games.

    I looked at a Kia Soul, which seems like it would have a lot of room because, well, it's square. But the test drive left me unimpressed, a view of the cargo compartment left me further unimpressed, and, well... to be perfectly honest, it has less rear legroom than the Mirage, and not much more cargo room. It's slower, it has no spare tire, and the visibility out of the rear is abysmal. Not to mention I can have any color I want, so long as it's black, white, or silver.

    I thought about it some more, and stopped by the Mitsubishi dealer on the way home. I looked at a G4 sedan. The salesman claimed at first a G4 couldn't be had in a manual, but it took me about five seconds to find a white manual G4... And then a black one. Gah. No other stickshifts in other colors, apparently.

    Salesman says he thought there was another one, so he goes to get the key for it. It's the key for a purple ("Wine Red". Whatever, it's purple) 5 speed Mirage G4. It's even cheaper than the black one and the white one.

    We love our blue Mirage. It's been wonderful, and we feel it's a known quantity. So we are more comfortable with this solution. And the trunk is cavernous. Everything fits. The seats don't fold forward, but that's not a huge deal and we can put up with it.

    So it looks like we will be getting a Mirage Sedan monday. It's very similar to the hatchback we currently have. It seems to have less body roll, and sadly it does not have the automatic climate control. But it does have tinted windows, and odd little LED accent lights near where the fog lights would be. Also seems to have more legroom in the rear than the hatchback.

    Anyone out there with a G4, tell me all about it!



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    I sat in and drove both. The sedan for sure has more rear leg room. But it only comes in manual in base trim. I may have gotten it if it came in SE and manual but then again I like the hatch due to being able to fold seats down.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pryme View Post
    I sat in and drove both. The sedan for sure has more rear leg room. But it only comes in manual in base trim. I may have gotten it if it came in SE and manual but then again I like the hatch due to being able to fold seats down.
    Sadly, folding the seats down isn't an option when I have to carry four people.

    We really have mixed feelings about it. Our 2015 Hatch is pretty much a member of the family at this point. It has a personality, I feel. It even has a name. We are pleasantly surprised by how good a car it has been.

    Oddly enough, the Kia "Soul" didn't have any Soul. It was a dead-feeling car, more so than a Versa. The Mirage is an intensely mechanical car to drive. You feel everything it does. At hard acceleration, you can hear/feel the clutch cable vibrate. You can feel the gears engage/disengage when shifting. The engine is a mechanical symphony of valves, exhaust, and intake noise.

    The Mirage is a car. The Soul is an appliance.

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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Sorry to hear about the '15...happy to hear about the '17! Glad you are staying in our little club here! Post up some pics of the new arrival.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tinker1980 View Post
    But, alas, we have to have room for grandma's walker, oxygen tanks, plus the various impedimenta involved with taking my three year old daughter to t-ball games.
    I know what you mean. Last year when I was helping with my Mom I was able to fit her walker in the cargo area of my Speck. Not much else though. I haven't had a problem with something like groceries, where we can fill up the cargo compartment. Bigger, bulkier items we carry in our other car.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tinker1980 View Post
    it has less rear legroom than the Mirage, and not much more cargo room.
    The Mirage continues to surprise me in these ways. It's funny how such a small car can have so much interior room.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tinker1980 View Post
    sadly it does not have the automatic climate control
    A few forum members here would prefer the manual controls as they see the auto climate control as an expensive point of potential failure.

    Glad to hear you are getting a new G4. Here's hoping for many trouble free miles. Was there any chance of having both cars? Also, what do are your thoughts about the G4 ride & handling? I would think it would be very similar to your Mirage.

    If I understand correctly, you installed different rear springs, right? Are you going to put the stock springs back in?
    Last edited by Eggman; 06-04-2017 at 10:20 AM.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log 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)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Eggman View Post
    I know what you mean. Last year when I was helping with my Mom I was able to fit her walker in the cargo area of my Speck. Not much else though. I haven't had a problem with something like groceries, where we can fill up the cargo compartment. Bigger, bulkier items we carry in our other car.

    The Mirage continues to surprise me in these ways. It's funny how such a small car can have so much interior room.

    A few forum members here would prefer the manual controls as they see the auto climate control as an expensive point of potential failure.

    Glad to hear you are getting a new G4. Here's hoping for many trouble free miles. Was there any chance of having both cars? Also, what do are your thoughts about the G4 ride & handling? I would think it would be very similar to your Mirage.

    If I understand correctly, you installed different rear springs, right? Are you going to put the stock springs back in?
    The G4 really feels different than the hatchback around corners and over bumps, on the short test drive at least. I'm also sure that it is quieter, but it has 13 miles on it to my 2015's 60,000.

    I'm wrestling with the question of putting the stock springs back in. I feel that I should keep my springs, and it only takes a few minutes to swap them. Maybe I'd put them in the new car. But I'll wait until I know the rear axle is good... My 2015 was showing signs of being out of alignment, but I couldn't really do much as far as warranty with these big obvious bright yellow springs.

    I won't be running both cars... We already have another vehicle (Chevy Colorado) and we don't need three... And we would have too much going out in the way of car payments if we kept both.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tinker1980 View Post
    I'm wrestling with the question of putting the stock springs back in. I feel that I should keep my springs, and it only takes a few minutes to swap them.
    You could always post them for sale here. I'm sure they would be easier to sell than the 2015 stock springs.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log 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)


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    I love my g4. I just got it on Wednesday and I love the amount of cargo room in the trunk. It drives nicely...a little loud on the highway but I just turn up the music. It's got lots of room in the backseat (I have a booster and 5 point harness in the back seat). I find it a very comfortable drive.

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    I just recently got home with the new G4. Wife is calling it the Raisin. It is awfully... raisin colored.

    We hated to see the blue hatch go. But we really needed the room in the trunk. Hopefully this car is just as good as the blue one. The similarities are startling, but there are definite differences. The rear visibility is 100% better. The car is definitely quieter inside... the blue 2015 was always raspy and noisy inside. The body doesn't roll as much, and the car does feel more sluggish. I think this is part of the new-engine phenomenon, as my 2015 perked up quite a bit after 2,000 miles.

    All told, we won't be driving this car as much as we did the blue one. I drive 12 miles to work instead of 35, my wife doesn't even leave the house every day. So we won't have a two and a half year old car with 60,000 miles.

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    Congrats on the new wheels. I'm sure you'll grow to love it too. Don't forget a new garage entry with some pictures. We wanna see it too.


    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


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