Have you seen the new 2023 BE styling?!? Not sure how I feel about it....

[Jibles]

I like it. Let's face it the mirage is a boring car. I like that Mitsubishi got silly with it.

[7milesout]

And usually, an OEM wouldn't get silly with it unless they plan to keep it for a while. The price of the tools required to mold those plastic parst can range from at least $50k to $150k per tool. I don't think they'd blow that much money unless they were going to build it for a while. But ... these days are strange. I could be wrong.

[7milesout]

I would never own a small car without a manual transmission, but I would consider a primary vehicle with automatic transmission these days. When that day comes, it will be my first automatic.

I was daily driving my LS 460L for a while. It has an 8 speed automagic. It is annoying as can be. However, I can change the transmission mode to something like Sport I think it is. And it will hold out and shift a bit higher, which is less annoying. Because it's trying to get into 8th gear by 5 mph (in the mode I normally drive in). It's annoying. If I'm doing 25 mph and stomp it to the floor, it has to spend time downshifting through 6 or 7 gears to get to the best gear for acceleration. It takes time. I normally drive in ECO mode. Which in some way regulates the A/C to require less energy to spin it, somehow. And it shifts a bit lower probably. And it deadens the gas pedal. Sounds worse than it is. I'm used to it, so the pedal feels ok like that. But I figure, the LS is a big huge love boat. I want it to be floating on air. It has selectable suspension modes too. So I keep it on full soft. Full soft, and non-sport shifting. And drive it like I'm driving Ms. Daisy. It's not bad, some would love it (specifically talking about the shifting). But I'd take a 5 or 6 speed manual in that car in a second!

I guess my point is, an automatic might wear on you as much as clutching, for a daily driver. Our Mirages are about as good as a daily driver gets, IMO.

[Fummins]

I got tired of driving my truck as a daily. I used my dually as a commuter car across the city for almost a year when I moved in with the ol' lady while I reno'd my house to flip. Worst part was being stuck in stop and go traffic for 30-60 mins in the winter time with a standard. I have a rod in my clutch femur so I kinda swore off having another stick as a commuter car cause of that.

I'm sure you'll be happy to learn that the wife's 20' Sorento 8 speed sounds similar to yours. When making a left turn in any drive mode but sport is a game of russian roulette. When you hit the throttle while rolling maybe it's in first or maybe it's in third? Sometimes it gets up and goes and other times it just sits there and thinks "what would Toyota do" before givin'er.

[rohoGames]

So I’m new here so I thought my perspective might be good.

I really like different. This is why I drove a Kia Soul for 11 happy years (admittedly these are now popular cars you see everywhere, but the unique look still stands out).

As I said in my intro post, when I needed a new commuter I didn’t notice the Mirage at first, even though I would see it in “cheapest cars of 2023” lists. These articles would show either a base trim or the non-BE upper trim SE models. These always looked very basic and therefore I didn’t consider them.

I was mainly considering the Fiat 500x used because, again, different. That didn’t work out for various reasons (availability here is bad, actually bought one on Carvana but had to get refunded when they could never manage to actually ship a car to me).

I was next considering the Jeep Renegade used: again different and funky looking. But too hard to find in my price range at decent mileage.

It was indeed the Black Edition that sold me on the Mirage. The black roof, spoiler and fender extensions for me personally transform the car from something that was meh to “hey, that’s kinda fire.” Someone in this thread mentioned “looks like it was designed for anime people.” Well, er, I’m a video game designer by trade so I plead guilty: I’m the target audience 😂. I also really like the BE’s interior touches with the extra cloth surfaces and wrapped wheel and shift knob.

I have to love what I look at every day but I also really appreciate reliability. The Kia soul had that for me, but I think the Mirage BE does that (and even better for things like gas mileage- it performs way better on that than the Soul). Hopefully the BE helps Mitsu push more of these out the door to younger folks who want the funk.

[7milesout]

I have a rod in my clutch femur

Is it a Johnson Rod?

... other times it just sits there and thinks "what would Toyota do" before givin'er.

Hahaha. I just laughed out loud here at work. I'm sure the transmission programming is copy/paste from a Toyota ECU. We had actual drawings used in production in our electronic system at Hyundai that still had Toyota in the original Toyota drawing title blocks (it was so blatant). Had some Ford drawings too. I ain't no rat, but I always wondered what Toyota and/or Ford what have done (if anything) if they had known / saw that. Maybe a lawsuit, I don't know.

[7milesout]

So I’m new here so I thought my perspective might be good ... I really like different ... I have to love what I look at every day but I also really appreciate reliability. The Kia soul had that for me...

roho - I appreciate and respect your mindset to want something different. I'm similar. It's why I want a Boss Hoss instead of some crap Harley (had one ... it wasn't so bad, just wouldn't go, turn or stop). But regarding your reliable Kia, the sun shines on a dog's butthole every now and then. You can thank Toyota for the reliability you had.

As for the Fiat 500 and the Jeep Renegade. I can appreciate them being different. But be glad they didn't work out. Especially the Fiat. It is euro trash. Probably better than the average BMW though. These comments are based on their lack of reliability and the costs associated with that lack of reliability. The Mirage will run circles around the Fiat on reliability.

[Fummins]

Is it a Johnson Rod?


Hahaha. I just laughed out loud here at work. I'm sure the transmission programming is copy/paste from a Toyota ECU. We had actual drawings used in production in our electronic system at Hyundai that still had Toyota in the original Toyota drawing title blocks (it was so blatant). Had some Ford drawings too. I ain't no rat, but I always wondered what Toyota and/or Ford what have done (if anything) if they had known / saw that. Maybe a lawsuit, I don't know.

Yes, it is.

I forgot about Kia copying ferd. I noticed this a while ago with the Ford Optima and the Kia Escape.

[Dirk Diggler]

So I’m new here so I thought my perspective might be good.

I really like different. This is why I drove a Kia Soul for 11 happy years (admittedly these are now popular cars you see everywhere, but the unique look still stands out).

As I said in my intro post, when I needed a new commuter I didn’t notice the Mirage at first, even though I would see it in “cheapest cars of 2023” lists. These articles would show either a base trim or the non-BE upper trim SE models. These always looked very basic and therefore I didn’t consider them.

I was mainly considering the Fiat 500x used because, again, different. That didn’t work out for various reasons (availability here is bad, actually bought one on Carvana but had to get refunded when they could never manage to actually ship a car to me).

I was next considering the Jeep Renegade used: again different and funky looking. But too hard to find in my price range at decent mileage.

It was indeed the Black Edition that sold me on the Mirage. The black roof, spoiler and fender extensions for me personally transform the car from something that was meh to “hey, that’s kinda fire.” Someone in this thread mentioned “looks like it was designed for anime people.” Well, er, I’m a video game designer by trade so I plead guilty: I’m the target audience ��. I also really like the BE’s interior touches with the extra cloth surfaces and wrapped wheel and shift knob.

I have to love what I look at every day but I also really appreciate reliability. The Kia soul had that for me, but I think the Mirage BE does that (and even better for things like gas mileage- it performs way better on that than the Soul). Hopefully the BE helps Mitsu push more of these out the door to younger folks who want the funk.

My wife loves her all black BE. It's interior is nicer than my ES Mirage's. The leather wrapped wheel with red stitching is impressive and feels good in the hands. I also like the new rear trunk spoiler she has on her 2022 G4 BE. The fog lights and auto welcome lights are helpful, although the rain sensing wiper is a joke. Just manually adjust your wipers as needed.

[rohoGames]

True story on rain sensing wipers: our 2019 Pacifica van has that feature. Except I never knew it- I just manually adjusted the wiper speed having zero clue about it. Well I’m excited about the new mirage, so since I knew it had rain sensing wipers I used it immediately the first rain I got while driving. I told my wife “so that’s a feature our fancy van doesn’t have!” I was deservedly laughed at 😂!

Yes, I knew I was rolling the dice a little with the fiat/renegade (which is the same car underneath the shell). Fortunately sometimes God has a way of gently steering you away from mistakes . I still think the fiats in particular are just adorable.

The other cars I was considering:

Chevy Trax
Chevy Spark (spark would have been most likely my next choice if the Mirage hadn’t worked out- but I think the Mirage BE looks way cooler and the Spark was recently discontinued…)

Cars I really liked and would have considered if they weren’t discontinued years ago:

Honda Element
Scion Xb
Nissan Cube

Ugh, I hate how funky, fun small cars are all but extinct now! Long live the Mirage!