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Thread: Darin's review notes: base 2014 Mirage 5-speed manual (Mitsubishi Canada loaner)

  1. #21

    More updates coming next week...

    I'm going to post more about the car next week.

    Today & tomorrow, I'm spending my free time getting it ready for the Economy Run rally this weekend. I'm making some aero-modifications along the lines of the ones the drivers used in the Vegas to L.A. hypermiling challenge


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  2. #22

    Some spirited driving...

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    I had a chance to do some "spirited" driving in the Mirage in a time/speed/distance rally this weekend. It was on public roads, but the route was chosen partly because the posted limits were unusually high for the number of bends & ups/downs on it. (I'd guess that most drivers on these quiet country roads would be going below the limit.)

    As others have noted, the body roll gets comical when pushing the car in a way the vast majority of owners never will.

    But once the suspension compresses and the car takes a set, it goes around the curves OK.

    The problem comes when you've got quick left/right transitions -- S bends. With so much suspension travel to load/unload/load it doesn't do that nearly as well. The squishy soft snow tire treads on this car didn't help either.

    I also got to experience a little ASC/stability control:

    There was a short gravel section, and of course I didn't think of turning ASC off beforehand. Too bad, because I wanted a little bit of rotation in a few bends. Actually I could get a tiny bit of oversteer by playing the throttle (lifting), but if I asked for more than a tiny bit, the electonic nanny slapped me on the wrist and took all my oversteer away! It felt & sounded like it was applying the outside front ABS.

    Believe it or not, that was actually my first ever experience with ASC.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  3. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to MetroMPG For This Useful Post:

    Donut (06-10-2014),Mikhail (06-10-2014),Minihaha (06-10-2014)

  4. #23
    Senior Member Donut's Avatar
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    Hey, will you also walk us through the aero mods?

    I would like to learn from your experience.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.8 mpg (US) ... 20.3 km/L ... 4.9 L/100 km ... 57.3 mpg (Imp)


  5. #24
    Donut - will do. I plan to make a separate thread about those mods.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  6. #25
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    economy run results?

  7. #26
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    I like the looks of the Mirage, although i think the front end is the area which lets it down. Maybe they should use the Attrage's front end which i think looks better. Here in the tropics even the cheapest entry car has a/c.

  8. #27
    Economy run results:

    The car did OK: just under 4 L/100 km / 59 mpg US.

    Unfortunately, my navigator missed a turn and we flushed our chances of a podium finish as a result. I don't think he'll mind me saying that - he was pretty annoyed at himself. If we hadn't made that mistake, we probably would have had 3rd place in the main "corrected (Penalise) fuel economy" category (where fuel economy results are adjusted based on accumulated time penalties).

    We did take 3rd place in % over EPA combined rating.

    The top non-hybrid cars were a 1st generation Honda Insight (with hybrid assist intentionally disabled) and a highly eco-modified 2005 Toyota Echo (aero mods, mechanical mods & electrical mods that made it a sort of mild plug-in hybrid).



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        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  9. #28
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    nice Metro! what would you guess as the rough average speed?

  10. #29
    Thanks. It's too bad the field wasn't as big this year as it has been in others.

    It wasn't a very fast average, but the course was demanding - hilly, twisty back roads where power was required to meet the time deadlines (see my comments in post #22 about the active stability control!). This was not a "go slow / gentle cruising" style of economy run. This was hard charging, probably faster than an "average" driver might have gone on these particular roads.

    I'd say we averaged ~70 km/h / 45 mph.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  11. #30

    Time is up... but more to come

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    I am both happy and sad to report that I returned the Mirage to Mitsubishi today.

    HAPPY because getting a thorough sense of this car consumed ALL my freakin' free time for the past 14 days. (Car reviewing is bad for my health: I literally haven't ridden my bicycle in 2 weeks, and that's usually my main mode of local transportation.)

    SAD because I'm going to miss it.

    I've got pages of notes to go through, gigabytes of video clips to edit, and tons of photos to sort. But I won't keep you in suspense: despite its flaws (and there are some maddening things about it), I like the car. Lots of pleasant little surprises in it as well.

    I can see myself getting one... one day... when my 17 year-old, 3-cylinder car with ~21k miles / 34k kms finally wears out.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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