I am new to this forum and for the past 3 months I've been trying to read up on these cars. I am the biggest fan of sub-compact cars, having owned a Ford Festiva, Ford Aspire, Mazda MX 3, Suzuki Reno and Hyundai Accent(2010) hatchback which all served as 2nd cars for commuting. Nowadays there are SO many sub-compact car choices and some of them are way overpriced, case and point the Ford Fiesta. Don't get me wrong it is a nice looking car but to get once decently equipped is a bit pricey for a sub-compact, in my opinion. I have only come across horrible reviews on this poor Mirage for the exception of one from Arron Gold(about.com), he apparently likes this car. Also there is a fellow on youtube who gives weekly updates on his Mirage ownership experience, aka "Zxit". I could tell that he really values his little Mirage and I appreciate his videos as I'm sure some of you Mirage owners could appreciate as well. Though you cannot leave comments on his Youtube channel I thought that I would take this time to shout out to "Zxit" and say "Thanks" for sharing your car with those of us who are either in the market for one or are getting fed up with reviews unnecessarily bashing a potentially good car. At any rate, I did finally take a DE manual out for a test drive and it wasn't as bad as what the reviewers described. I'm not one to typically "believe the hype" about anything and I thought that seeing one up close and actually driving one would be the best review of all! In all, test drives are not the same as driving a car for a month or even a week. So I'm reaching out to anyone out there who owns either the DE or ES with a manual trans. to share you Mirage experience so far. Thank you.