Hey Jibles! From MN too!
Drove it this past winter without any issues. I drove it on the stock dunlops too. I think with snow tires, it would be even better. I have a 15' 5-spd Mirage. Car handled pretty well in the snow. With the Traction Control on, it actually does very well. Below was my review of the car with Traction Control On. It does feel notchy but after it warms up, the notchy feel to the shifter goes away.
Traction Control On:
In my opinion, it's pretty good. It definitely regulates the car from massive wheel-spin. When it 'senses' a slide on the front wheels, it will automatically adjust itself to slow down and make sure you don't crash or slide any further. It will do everything it can to prevent it from sliding any further. You can hear and feel the abs and sensors working.
From a stop, even with 2 inches or so of slushy snow, the car relieves itself from too much wheel spin. Acceleration isn't bad, especially with a manual transmission. Compared to my 02' Maxima I had, there's far less wheel spin probably because the Mirage is lighter and has much more skinnier tires. The traction control repeatedly flashes to notify you that it's working very hard as well, haha. But really, traction control does it's job really well in the snow. Personally, I'd rather have it off. I feel like I'm not in complete control of the car. TC is great for your average daily driving snow experience but if you really want to feel how the car drives in the winter, turn off the TC.
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View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 43.4 mpg (US) ... 18.5 km/L ... 5.4 L/100 km ... 52.2 mpg (Imp)