Mirage G4 sedan owner's review / impressions (base trim, 5-speed, 1.2L)

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I have a new Australian spec Mirage sedan (manual). When I say "new", I mean that I drove it out of the showroom 2 weeks ago with 21 km on the odometer... but the car was manufactured mid-2014.

Photo says "sample only, not actual vehicle" but I got that actual vehicle (the one that was on display in the dealer's showroom).

Styling

The looks of the sedan kind of grow on you. It isn't a pretty car at first sight.


Engine/performance

Performance is lively enough with just me in the car, but with the whole family (total weight 270 kg, or about 600 pounds) and with the air conditioning on it is noticeable that I need to hold the gears a little longer and shift back maybe an extra gear on the hills.


Interior

The rear seat is noticeably roomier than the hatch. I need to put the seat all the way back and recline it a little as well as I am very tall (6 foot 7 / 200 cm), but even then my wife can sit comfortably behind me. In the hatch the seat behind me would be pretty much unusable by anyone taller than a toddler. The real surprise is the amount of boot (trunk) space, which is not far off what you would expect in a large sedan.

Plastics, trim etc are very, very cheap in the Austraiian spec base Mirage, which probably explains some of the lighter weight. But we do get air conditioning and a decent (by my standards) stereo.

Biggest disappointment is the lack of a split-fold rear seat, which means that carrying longer items is difficult.


Fuel economy

The sedan's extra weight means that it is rated for slightly worse fuel consumption, but at this stage I'm usually getting comfortably better than the 5.9 l/100km (40 MPG U.S.) it is rated for in the city.

In terms of fuel economy I achieved the official rating based on my first real fill-up yesterday. That is for mostly city commuting in heavy traffic, often with the air conditioning running. The claimed fuel consumption should be just about achievable by a reasonably skillful driver doing a mixture of city driving in moderate traffic and country driving.

For the type of driving I do the fuel economy is amazing. And economy seems to be getting slightly better as I'm approaching 1,000 kilometres travelled.

Price

Currently, Australian Mirage pricing officially is:

• Hatchback: $13,940 for the ES base 5-speed manual
• Sedan: $15,990 for the ES base 5-speed manual

I love the Mirage, but I think an Aussie buyer would have to be mad to pay anywhere near that for a Mirage.

Mine was advertised at A$10,888 drive-away but I ended up paying $10,850. Woo hoo!

A quick look on the most popular car selling website here shows brand new 2015 model mirage hatches and sedans still going for just under A$11K drive-away.


Overall

Motoring journalists don't drive like I do, their opinions are largely meaningless to me.

The Mirage is comfortable, gets me to work, fun to drive, economical, and plenty big enough for a 2nd family car.


Sedan vs. Hatch specs:

Australian specs:

	Hatchback ES (base trim)	Sedan ES (base trim)
Curb weight 5MT (kg/lbs)	865 / 1907	925 / 2037
Curb weight CVT (kg/lbs)	890 / 1962	940 / 2072
Fuel economy 5MT & CVT (combined L/100 km / mpg US)	4.6 / 51	4.9 / 48

Source: hatch / sedan

(Note from MetroMPG: the fuel economy ratings aren't comparable to current U.S. EPA ratings. The Australian system is closer to the pre-2008 EPA method, which produces optimistic ratings that many people don't achieve.

Also, the Oz Mirages (both hatch & sedan) are a bit lighter than the U.S. & Canada ones.)

Mirage Sydney: you've posted some good info about your sedan. I hope you don't mind, but I copy/pasted from a bunch of your posts to assemble the above review.

With the sedan due to be unveiled in North America in the next few weeks, I'm sure lots of people on this side of the pond will be interested in your perspective.

I cant wait for the North American sedan to be shown. I hope they put out some specs, prices and dates instead of just showing it off and staying tight lipped!!

Sydney: I'd like to know your impression of the car's steering/suspension (ride & handling).

Also: have you driven the hatch version to compare it? The Aussie motoring press suggested the sedan is better sorted in the handling department than the too-rolly hatch.

Hey, thanks, I just saw "my" new composite thread and I like it.

Today, by coincidence, I parked my car next to a Toyota Corolla sedan, around 2005 model, similar colour to my Mirage. It is amazing how similar the two cars are. Corolla has a slightly longer wheelbase and is a tiny bit longer overall, but the Mirage has a stubbier nose taking less of the overall length, and peering in the windows I would guess that there is slightly more rear legroom in the Mirage. Roofline and general shape are very similar. Boot (trunk) space is similar - 385 litres for the Corolla vs. 400 litres for the Mirage. From looking at the two cars you would never guess that the Corolla is so much heavier (2037 pounds for the Mirage vs. 2530 pounds for the Corolla).


My impression of the handling of the Mirage sedan.... perfectly fine for the type of driving I do. Centre of gravity feels a bit high and there is a little too much body roll, but I'm well into middle age now and those things don't worry me in the slightest. Not as much fun to drive as the hatch, although I only took the hatch for a 2 minute test drive. In the Mirage sedan I don't feel at all like I'm driving a little car, whereas the hatch felt tiny.

I wouldn't take too much notice of the motoring press, bunch of t*ssers that they are. If you regularly cart around a couple of tallish rear-seat passengers and need enough boot/trunk space for a long weekend away or a trip to the airport with 2 or 3 suitcases, then the sedan is a good option. For me it fills the role nicely of cheap and reliable daily commute vehicle that can double as a back-up family car for a family of 4.

Ride is good, I've bottomed out the suspension just the once hitting a big pothole at about 80 km/h (50 mph). You'd expect the ride to be a bit smoother with the longer wheelbase, and it is.

Thanks for the additional info!