"Little Old Lady" Mirages with super low km/miles ... would you buy one?

[Mark]

Gahhh that is literally the perfect spec...

2019 ES manual - factory cruise control became standard that year and manual climate controls still existed (until 2020). The 2019 Mirage ES manual is my one year wonder dream car.

I don't like buying my dream items, however, because it ruins the dream!

2008 Pontiac G8. It came out in 2008, and Pontiac disappeared shortly after that. Making it a somewhat rare car desired by some.

[Mark]

I own two of this type of vehicle. Both have been absolute gems. About 10 years ago I bought an Estate sale car. A retired female schoolteacher passed. Had about 38KI miles on the clock. Just turned over 50K. Trip car. 2009 Buick LaCrosse CXL. Then 8 years ago I bought my current summer daily driver. 2015 Silverado 1500 RCSB V6. It had 1K on the clock. An older gent bought it and garaged it. Lost his license and sold it back to the dealership. They were sending to auction when I stumbled upon it sitting on a transport. I made an offer they accepted and that was 177K miles ago. Flawless in its reliability.

Ranking my best vehicle purchases -

2000 Honda CR-V LX AWD manual with 20,000 miles purchased in 2004 for $12,000 from a private party sale. It was an AWD winter car for a registered nurse in Green Bay. She drove a convertible & Harley during the summer months. It was stored properly during the summer months, had excellent records to prove it, & the couple was from the hometown I grew up in when I met them in person. If it hadn't been rear-ended in 2013 (@ 154,000 miles), I honestly believe I would still have it today. I followed a 1st generation CR-V into town today, and I had a bit of envy over their 20+ year old vehicle. It was by far my favorite vehicle of all time. It did everything I wanted a vehicle to do without being flashy. I still miss the removable folding table you could remove from the back, and the full size spare mounted on the rear swinging door. It was a very nice AWD vehicle for $12,000.

I would rank my brand new $9,299 ($10,153.70 OTD) 2017 Mirage ES manual as number 2. If I had qualified for the rebates, it could have been $1,500 less than that. For 2017, these deals caught my eye. White Bear delivering the car to my driveway for that OTD price sealed the deal for me.

My brand new 1990 Ford Festiva LX manual for $5,300 would be number 3. Given inflation, the Mirage was actually a better purchase price-wise. These cars were designed by Mazda, built by Kia, and sold by Ford. Three main things pushed this purchase. Ford was offering a $1,000 rebate on a $6,300 car. The 1988-89 Festiva had carburetors, and the 1990 came out with fuel injection. We were replacing a Plymouth Horizon that had constant carburetor problems at the time. The 3rd item was our first child was born that year, & we wanted a car that we could pay cash for & would last me for years to come. My wife became an at home mom for our two daughters, and that cut our family income in half. Driving a cheap Ford Festiva for 14 years helped us through that period. I earned 2 graduated degrees driving that car, too. I still don't know how I taught full time, coached sports, and pulled off graduate school years ago. I honestly believe the Festiva was my most dependable vehicle. In some ways, it should probably be ranked my number one. It has the best life stories. My former students still remember that little yellow car, because I would have them push it around the parking lot for acceleration experiments. One of them steered while I dropped cones, and others pushed. It was great fun! The small dead buck that I got with my bow that caved in my roof while I was driving across Wisconsin with it on top was the funniest scene, however. I'm sure the blood dripping down the rear hatch didn't help, but it just popped back out when I gave it good shove after unloading it.

I feel my 2011 Subaru Forester 2.5X with 15,000 miles purchased in 2013 for $17,000 was a pretty good deal for the times. I can honestly say I didn't see a better one in the entire country at the time. It's not been my favorite vehicle even though it is by far the nicest (ride & power). It just lacks some of the charm of the other three I listed above.

I hope to keep my Forester & Mirage for another 10-15 years. Together they make for a nice combination. My oldest daughter & her young family live in Europe, & I have an extra vehicle they can borrow when they visit. The nicest part, however, is both vehicles were paid off within a year or two. I don't like having a car payment.

As you can tell, I like slightly used AWD vehicles & economy cars that were extremely affordable when brand new.

My 83 year old dad has a 2014 Chevy pickup with about 26,000+ miles on it. It's going to be a nice truck for someone some day. Most of my parents' mileage goes on their GMC Terrain these days.

[Eggman]

The nicest part, however, is both vehicles were paid off within a year or two. I don't like having a car payment.

The best car is one that is paid for.

[7milesout]

That orange 2019 is very much like mine. Cept mine has the ridiculous auto hvac, and blue color. I like the orange, but I like the blue color mo' bettuh.

[Mark]

That orange 2019 is very much like mine. Cept mine has the ridiculous auto hvac, and blue color. I like the orange, but I like the blue color mo' bettuh.

The updated 2017-20 Mirages are all about the same. Items like A/C, power locks with remote, power windows have always been standard for all trim levels (2014+).

It seemed like they made some features standard for all trim levels to justify a price increase from 2017-20.

2017 ES - updated Mirage would be missing the standard features added below.

2018 ES - Bluetooth & backup camera (federal mandate on that one) become standard for all trim levels.

2019 ES - factory cruise control & 6-way adjustable driver's seat became standard for all.

2020 ES - auto climate controls became standard for all again (was standard for all in 2014-15)

During these years the upper trim levels like the LE, SE, & GT never changed. So they took features that already existed on the other trim levels added them to the base trim levels and increased the price of all trim levels in the process. What becomes lost in the process is a truly more affordable base trim level. I 100% support factory cruise control being added in 2019, however.

[7milesout]

2020 ES - auto climate controls became standard for all again (was standard for all in 2014-15)

Mark, for future pasting, add to the 2020 that it also changed to the crap 1234yf refrigerant. I can't remember if that is the correct number for the refrigerant, but you know what I mean.

The two changes to the 2020 were both negative changes IMO as compared to the 2019.