Our 2015 Mirage DE vs 2016 Toyota Yaris

1 Attachment(s)

Well, first off, we bought our 2015 Mirage DE about 2 months ago. Like other recently new members, it was a rental from Hertz. We picked it up in excellent condition with 31K for about $7K. We needed a third car with excellent MPG, no payments and reliable. There were no other even close contenders when we made the purchase. FWIW, our other two rigs are a 2010 AWD Toyota Matrix and a 2012 Tacoma 4WD, as we do live in snow country.

Things to love about the Mirage after 2 months:

• MPG, MPG, MPG All fill-ups have come in at 48-49 mpg with mixed driving.
• No payment
• Good basic sound system, loaded 1000 songs on a USB stick and we're good to go
• Super roomy for a tiny car
• No hybrid complications
• Friends assume we bought it for $15K and think that would be a good deal
• So far has performed well in light snow and slick conditions even with Enasaves

As it turns out, after lurking here for the last two months, a number of you are former or current Metro owners. We owned 2 in the 90's. Both paid for themselves in gas versus car payment for a long commuter cars. Before reading this forum, and after the test drive on the Mirage, we said it felt like driving a new and improved Metro.

So this weekend, we had a family emergency and had to go to the Bay area. My wife needed to stay there, and I needed to be back home today. The cheapest and fastest solution was to rent a car one way - just about the same as a bus ticket but arrived in half the time. That rental happened to be a Toyota Yaris. I like the Mirage a lot more than the Yaris. Here's what I found:

• Only 33 mpg in freeway driving, driving in the same manner I would drive the Mirage
• The auto tranny downshifted on the slightest grades to a gear that caused high revs, and a buzzy noisy cabin
• No keyless remote entry
• No remote control for exterior mirrors, mirrors are too small
• A very busy ride
• Rear seat belts hang from ceiling and obstruct rear view
• Difficult to operate radio while driving and poor sound quality
• The cyclops uni-windshield wiper leaves a big corner untouched in the upper right

All of those tradeoffs were not worth the additional power the Yaris offered. This morning, I had a choice of cars for the work commute: the Yaris or the Mirage. I chose the Mirage even though I could have put 100 more free miles on the Yaris.

The Yaris looks like a giant in the garage compared to the Mirage.

Welcome neighbor, nice to see that you also have a white Mirage from Hertz.

Hopefully you do not loose it in the snow up there :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by InTim

Welcome neighbor, nice to see that you also have a white Mirage from Hertz.

Hopefully you do not loose it in the snow up there :-)

Yup, saw that you are in Reno. White was not our first choice but it was in much better shape than the blue ones on the lot. The pearly white is pretty.

Yes, you don't see the tiny scratches on the white color. And for some reason the overall shape of the white cars was much better. I appreciate that Mitsu does have the pearl white and not a plain white color on this car. I had no preference on that, but due to the better condition and the summer weather in Reno I think it was a good decision.
I like the possibility of easy modifications. Just added the outside temperature to the MID.

Quote:

Originally Posted by InTim

I like the possibility of easy modifications. Just added the outside temperature to the MID.

Awwww man...could you do mine? My wife really wants that feature!