Mirage owners: is 74 hp (or 78) "enough" power?

http://mirageforum.com/forum/attachm...4&d=1391206766

The single most viewed thread in the "Media reviews" section of this forum is one that was posted before the car was even available for test drives in North America. It asks the question: does the 3-cylinder Mirage have enough power for North American drivers? The implication from the writer is that it's not enough.

I think the answer is mostly subjective. If you're used to driving higher end cars with hundreds of horsepower (eg. car reviewers), the Mirage will feel slow. If you're used to driving economy cars, the Mirage will feel pretty normal.

Because that thread has the most views (over 63,000 hits, almost 2x more than the next most popular thread), that tells us it's getting a lot of Google traffic from people searching on that question.

So what do you think? What would you say to a person who asks if the Mirage's 74 horsepower is enough?

My vote was:

"It's absolutely fine - I hardly ever ask for max power."

I drove the loaner Mirage from Mitsubishi Canada for well over 1000 km of mixed city & highway driving and I never found it lacking.

And I didn't baby it -- I drove it moderately, in a way that I figure most people would say was "normal". Zero issues.

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Also, while the Mirage might not have a lot of power, it's also the LIGHTEST passenger car currently available in North America. So you don't only look at power... you have to look at the power to weight ratio. Despite its small engine, the Mirage is close to several other entry level cars because it's light.

I voted it needs more.
I drive mine pretty hard. It is zippy but not in a fast way. Needs a bit more to for fill my needs.

With 5mt it is sub-11 0-60 car, faster than 1/2 of the cars produced in 80s and some in early 90s. Good aerodynamics, wide torque and final drive ratio make it feel peppy at highway speeds, at 65-70mph in top gear it has more pickup than many cars like civic which are geared for economy. And it is light so power to weight ratio is very reasonable for the class.

Most roads in US are designed to be safe for much slower vehicles such like commercial vans and semis, so it is good enough?

Plenty of power for my needs. I'd even consider less hp for better mileage. The 1.0 with a 6 speed with 6th being a .55 ratio? That's what I'm talkin' about!

It's an econobox. Try to wring too much performance out of it and you are bound to be disappointed.

I find the power to be more than adequate, but my previous car was a 50-ish horsepower Geo Metro.

I went to a presentation by one of the designers of the "Urbee" (http://korecologic.com/). He had this clever info-graphic about a stagecoach powered by 8 horses. That coach worked well, but people wanted more horses, even if they didn't need them. So, the stagecoach had to get bigger so the 8 horses could pull the additional horses that weren't being used. Eventually, 8 horses was no longer enough to pull the over-sized coach with all the extra horses, so now you have 30 horses pulling around 100 unused horses . . . point being it is wasteful. Scangauge estimates my Mirage is only using about 22hp at 100km/h, if I recall correctly, and the old VW Bug had less than half the Mirage's hp and did ok.

It doesn't take much power to move a car down the highway. Power is only used for rapid acceleration, extreme top speed, or towing.

I agree with the above - my Mirage is every bit as good as the "old normal", and outperforms several of the cars I have driven (F-150, Dodge Omni, Olds Cutlass Ciera, Chevy Cavalier).


From Wikipedia, regarding the VW Bug: "During this post-war period, the Beetle had superior performance in its category with a top speed of 115 km/h (71 mph) and 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) in 27.5 seconds with fuel consumption of 6.7 l/100 km (36 mpg) for the standard 25 kW (34 hp) engine. This was far superior to the Citroën 2CV, which was aimed at a low speed/poor road rural peasant market, and Morris Minor, designed for a market with no motorways / freeways; it was even competitive with more advanced small city cars like the Austin Mini." So I guess it's all relative!

There is plenty of power for my needs. I drive strictly on the highway with maybe 1 mile through town when I get off the ramp for work in the city, so there is little need for acceleration through intersections or pulling out into busy roadways. I believe that the power is low enough that you have to be conscious with the way you drive, if you are used to excessive hp then you might have to evaluate the distance you need to pull out into oncoming traffic. Its a commuter car not a racecar.

So far the poll results seem similar to what I read Mitsubishi was hearing (or not hearing) from Mirage owners in the States:

Quote:

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Even after the 5-door went on sale, Mitsubishi engineers were concerned the car’s 74-hp 1.2L 3-cyl. wasn’t powerful enough.

But Swearingen says owners haven’t had any complaints.

“We brought in 10 consumers who bought (the) Mirage, and we talked to them with our Japanese engineers in Dallas a few months back…(but) not one of the 10 brought up power as an issue,” he says.

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Source: http://wardsauto.com/industry/mirage...ven-mitsubishi

Quote:

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Originally Posted by inuvik

Plenty of power for my needs. I'd even consider less hp for better mileage. The 1.0 with a 6 speed with 6th being a .55 ratio? That's what I'm talkin' about!

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Ha! Yep, I'd like that option too. And we're not alone!

Thread: Poll: 1.0L Mirage engine = 7.5% better fuel economy. Would you choose it?