Hi from Upstate NY

[Matt]

Hello,

I am looking to purchase a new car this fall, and I am intrigued by the Mirage, which I think will be on sale by then. This is the first car in a while that seems to be going in the right direction with fuel economy. I think many of the supposedly green cars available in the US are a joke. Mazda touts it lightened SkyActiv models, but the Mazda3 is still more than a hundred pounds heavier than the old Protege (which I currently drive). Smart only gave us the automatic gasser, which can barely outperform the Civic in real world driving. I love diesels, but we only have the overpriced and heavy 2.0L TDI's as an option. Maybe the Mirage will change things. I wouldn't count on it, but I still might buy one and I certainly look forward to at least test-driving one. Regards,

Matt

[MetroMPG]

Hi Matt -

I think the Mirage may be a bit of a watershed moment in the North American market. OK, I'm probably overstating this a little bit. But it looks to me like the return of an "honest" economy car.

I really want to like this car (whatever they end up calling it here). It's got the specs of the kind of car that many of us loved in the past: an honest-to-goodness "econo-box" for lack of a more flattering description. (A few of us have held on to the last generation of econoboxes from the past, much longer than average.)

It used to be that the entry level vehicles in every automaker's lineup were also the ones that had the best fuel economy and probably had the lowest total cost of ownership too. But we got away from that. Years of "feature creep", expanding waist-lines, and applying technological improvements to increase power instead of economy took us in another direction.

Mitsu looks like the first company that's going to offer us that option in well over a decade. And if they price it right, I think this car might do OK.

[MetroMPG]

PS - welcome to the forum.

[Matt]

Thanks! In any case, I will be first in line to test drive it. I think having 4 doors is a real plus, too. I use my back seats frequently, so something like a Scion iQ is a lot less practical.

[MetroMPG]

Not to mention that you can't get the iQ with a manual shift in North America.

[jamiec]

Welcome Matt, Looking forward to here your thoughts on the Mirage/Space Star/Colt/Something Something/Whatever it will be called there after you test drive one.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Matt. I think we're all interested to see what Mitsu brings to the US. I seriously think we have a good car coming to us with some great fuel economy at a good price.

[Matt]

Thanks all!

With the new CAFE laws coming, I think this could be the start of a new wave of economical subcompacts.