Hello All,
I am a one day old Mirage Enthusiast. Having been a long time owner of a 96 Geo Metro which I have driven nearly daily for the last 5 years, I was super excited to discover the Mirage on the market when my Geo finally came down with a mechanical issue I simply didn't want to pursue any further (head gasket and/or cracked block)
Loved the Geo so much I was seriously considering dropping in a crated rebuilt engine to keep her running. I like to evaluate all of my options, so I started looking for a suitable replacement. I've been eyeballing the Prius C ever since it was announced and as part of my research, I hopped on the website http://tinyurl.com/me23t9r and was pleased to find two new candidates (Fiesta SFE and Mirage) to my list of considerations.
I had nothing better to do this weekend, so I applied for a preapproved loan from my bank and figured I'd go do a few test drives to get a better idea of whether I was going the rebuild engine route or the new car route. My first stop was to look at the Prius and the dealer had made it easy to walk away. I've always wanted to purchase a Prius C 4, and there wasn't one on the lot to look at. I test drove the C (different trim level) and left figuring I had enough of a feel to come back later for a purchase. My local Toyota dealer also has a rental program and I decided that if after I looked at the Mirage, I wasn't convinced, I could go back and rent one for a while to see what I found I didn't like during daily use. The Fiesta was out of the running as no dealer anywhere had one in stock.
So it was on to the Mistubishi dealer. I rolled up, and started eyeballing a Kiwi Green 2014. A sales person was on me faster than a vulture on fresh roadkill and soon I was behind the wheel of a 2014 DE. It took all of about 30 seconds driving the Mirage and I was sold. It handled very similarly to my Geo Metro, had way more creature comforts, had excellent seats (compared to the Geo), the power mirrors, and windows were new to me and I digged them, and although having a .1 liter smaller engine, the three cylinder revved up and carried me around just as well as my faithful Metro had done. I'd read a number of reviews on the car: Shoddy interior - I don't agree, everything is well wrapped and feels good. Loose Steering - Totally disagree, steering is super tight and responsive, the car has a much improved turning radius over my Metro. Wind and Engine noise - I have no idea what the hell they were talking about - the car is amazingly quiet and far quieter than my Metro.
After observing all of the above, and having taken her out on the highway, I was convinced. It was time to permanently retire the Metro. We took the Mirage back to the dealer and I negotiated a sale on a Plasma Purple 2014 ES Mirage. Price out the door was $14,700 exactly to include all the normal BS (tax/tags etc..)
Now that I am a Mirage owner, I remember from my Metro days that the Geo had quite an extensive user's forum. It had served me well many times over the years with repairs, common failures, advice on replacement parts etc.. I did an internet search which led me here.
I hope to find this forum as every bit as practical as I did the Geo Metro forums.
The Mirage absolutely kicks ass. Everyone should have one.