Wife's G4 just had the battery light come on again after 2 years.

[Mark]

Dirk, drive your car to Ohio and sell it here. Apparently this dealership near me is paying top dollar...

$99,999 seems a bit high for the base model?

[defensivetackle88]

So the Mirage/G4 doesn't come with 2 fobs? You get one and have to pay $400 for the 2nd one?
I have never heard of such a thing.

They must be yanking the spare tires out of the cars & charging customers extra for them?.

Crazy! Mine was 2 for no extra charge. I had asked for 3rd as a spare and they declined unless paid extra. I'm sure it not expensive to get a spare kind anyways

[Mark]

Crazy! Mine was 2 for no extra charge. I had asked for 3rd as a spare and they declined unless paid extra. I'm sure it not expensive to get a spare kind anyways

If your Mirage or G4 uses a transponder key, I recommend having a third one made as soon as possible. You can make your own transponder key for under $15.

WHY? It takes two working transponder keys to make a third working transponder key yourself. If I were to lose my Mirage key today, I would still have two working keys to make another replacement.

A blank Mitsubishi Mirage transponder key ($9.16 with free shipping) is less than $10 today. That's cheaper than the $11.55 I paid two years ago.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283887359971

It cost me $2.29 + tax = $2.42 to have my local ACE Hardware cut the blank key for me. If that price hasn't changed, I could create an extra transponder key for less than $12 today ($9.16 + $2.42 = $11.58). This key would allow me to unlock my Mirage manually and start it.

Once ACE cuts the key for me, I just need to follow the instructions in my owner's manual (my short version of them below) -

1. Turn your ignition on with the first key (for about 5 seconds), & then turn off and remove.

2. After removing the 1st key, turn on the ignition with your 2nd key. In less than 10 seconds, the immobilizer indicator (multi-information display) will start to blink. Now turn off & remove your 2nd key.

3. You have 30 seconds to insert your new blank key. Turn on the ignition with the new blank key, & it will be automatically programmed to the car. It took less than 5 seconds to program itself, & the new third key starts the car without issue!

No tools are necessary to code a third key for a Mirage or G4 in the States (sadly this is not an option in Canada).

Since the eBay key I listed hasn't been updated for the 2021-22 models, I would check your owner's manual for key programming instructions. If you have the instructions in your owner's manual, my guess would be that the same eBay key would work for you, too. Any hardware store can cut a transponder key for you. It doesn't require a Mitsubishi dealership to do that. ACE made me sign a waiver that they weren't responsible if they messed up my own blank key during the cutting process.

The owner's manual instructions are more detailed -

To add a key, you must already have 2 registered keys. You need to register the ID code to the vehicle. Registering the ID code can be done by yourself(except for vehicles sold in Canada), or by your authorized Mitsubishi Motors dealer. For you to register the ID code yourself, follow the “Customer key programming” procedure below. If you choose to have your authorized Mitsubishi Motors dealer register the ID code, take your vehicle and all remaining keys to your authorized Mitsubishi Motors dealer.

You can program new keys to the system if you have two valid (already registered) keys and blank immobilizer key (specially cut for your vehicle at your Mitsubishi Motors dealer) by doing the following:

1. Insert the first valid key into the ignition switch and turn the key to the “ON” position for 5 seconds.

2. Turn the key to the “OFF” position and remove the first key.

3. Within 30 seconds of removing the first key, insert the second valid key into the ignition and turn it to the “ON” position.About 10 seconds later, the immobilizer indicator will start to blink.

4. When the immobilizer indicator starts blinking, turn the second valid key to the“OFF” position and remove it. Within 30 seconds after doing so, insert a blank immobilizer key into the ignition switch and turn it to the “ON” position. Perform this operation no more than 30 seconds after the immobilizer indicator starts blinking. When registration of the ID code is complete, the immobilizer indicator will come on for 3 seconds then go off. If an error occurs, the immobilizer indicator will go off during the procedure.

5. If you wish to register another key, performthe process again from step 1.

Additional keys NOTE-You are provided with 2 keys, but you may register up to 8 keys.

Customer key programming(Except for vehicles sold in Canada)

NOTE-When the key registration is completed, the immobilizer indicator will come on within 30 seconds of turning the ignition switch to the “ON” position with the blank immobilizer key (specially cut for your vehicle at your Mitsubishi Motors dealer).

NOTE-It is not possible to register a key if:

the immobilizer indicator goes off during the procedure

the immobilizer indicator does not come on within 30 seconds after step 4. The procedure will be terminated automatically if:

a period of 30 seconds or longer elapses from the moment when the first key is turned to the “OFF” position to the moment when the second key is turned to the “ON”position

a period of 30 seconds or longer elapses from the moment when the second key is turned to the “OFF” position to the moment when the blank immobilizer key is turned to the “ON” position

more than 20 seconds elapses after the immobilizer indicator starts blinking

[Dirk Diggler]

Update:

Carmax went from $9800 to $9k a few days ago. I get the car professionally detailed and brought it in earlier today. They're final offer after looking her over, $10k!

That's what we paid for it almost 4 years ago.....

My wife essentially got to put 50k miles on a car for free.

Now the kicker, OTD price of the G4 Black Edition.......$21k. We're just going to buy it straight out and be done with it. Now before I catch a mountain of $hit from everyone on here for still paying $11k, just know it's the car my wife wanted. No Rios, no Sparks, no Accents, all she wanted was another Mirage. Albeit a top trim one. It's got everything the SE has but heated seats, proximity key, front LEDs, arm rest and the upgraded dash design.

It still has the black alloys, 15" wheels, fog lights, same soft touch inside material, rain sensing wipers, same leather wheel and shift knob. The red stitching interior looks a lot better in person too. It reminds me of a Fiat.

[Top_Fuel]

Do yourself a favor and get quotes from the places I mentioned. It will only take you about 10 minutes to fill out a form on each website. $10K sounds great, but what if someone else wants to give you $11K? It might be tempting to just take the check from Carmax without shopping around (that's what they're counting on), but don't get lazy and leave money on the table.

[AtomicPunk]

$99,999 seems a bit high for the base model?

I'm not paying a penny over 89,000

[Dirk Diggler]

Do yourself a favor and get quotes from the places I mentioned. It will only take you about 10 minutes to fill out a form on each website. $10K sounds great, but what if someone else wants to give you $11K? It might be tempting to just take the check from Carmax without shopping around (that's what they're counting on), but don't get lazy and leave money on the table.

Mitsu Dealer offered $7k on the trade in. I also went thru Kelly Blue Book and that led to multiple dealerships emailing offers, but none could come close to $10k.

[Dirk Diggler]

CarMax is killing it with their offers. In their waiting room, I chatted it up with other sellers, seeing how happy they were with the price, most were by far IIRC.

Carmax's used network is just too huge. Name brand dealers can't compete.

[Top_Fuel]

CarMax is killing it with their offers.

OK...I'm going to type it really slow this time because I'm concerned that you aren't hearing me. This wouldn't be the first time.

Get quotes from Carvana, Vroom and Driveway at a minimum. For the love of god it will only take you 10 minutes to make sure you aren't leaving money on the table. There is a LOT of competition right now among these internet dealers. Some of these places are way over-paying for cars right now just to get inventory. I don't know how that business model works, but who gives a crap? I'll sell my car to the place that writes me the biggest check. Not the place that has a local store and can pay the fastest.

I'm active on other automotive forums...and almost nobody is selling their cars to CarMax right now because the other places generally pay more. Sure...you may have to do some paperwork and it might take a couple of weeks to get the deal done. But I'll let a car sit in my driveway for a week to pick up an extra grand on it.

[Dirk Diggler]

OK...I'm going to type it really slow this time because I'm concerned that you aren't hearing me. This wouldn't be the first time.

Get quotes from Carvana, Vroom and Driveway at a minimum. For the love of god it will only take you 10 minutes to make sure you aren't leaving money on the table. There is a LOT of competition right now among these internet dealers. Some of these places are way over-paying for cars right now just to get inventory. I don't know how that business model works, but who gives a crap? I'll sell my car to the place that writes me the biggest check. Not the place that has a local store and can pay the fastest.

I'm active on other automotive forums...and almost nobody is selling their cars to CarMax right now because the other places generally pay more. Sure...you may have to do some paperwork and it might take a couple of weeks to get the deal done. But I'll let a car sit in my driveway for a week to pick up an extra grand on it.

Kelly Blue Book does a great job of taking your information and bringing it to the attention of places like Carvana and amongst local franchise dealers too. Trust me, I hear you.

I got over 20 offers thru email, texts, and annoying phone calls 10 mins after filling out my information. Trust me, I shopped around. Hell I didn't have a choice after the KBB fiasco lol. My phone rang straight for 5 days!

I kept asking everyone the same thing. Can you beat $9800? Top, not a damn one did my friend. CarMax is cornering the used market right now. They're paying top dollar in my neck of the woods.