I've had my 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage for about a week and 500 miles now.
I saw these cars pop up at a new car dealer in town. They had a ton of them in various colors, instead of a sea of silver and grey. So I looked the little car up. I was looking for something small and cheap to drive when it was too cold to ride the motorcycle.
The reviews were abysmal. They called it noisy. They said it rode rough. They said it was cheap inside.
But then I remembered something. I remembered how everyone talked about the Geo Metro when they were new. Noisy. Slow. Cheap on the inside.
I had a metro. I LOVED my metro. Basic, small, stupid simple. So I looked at a mirage.
And I must ask. What sort of effiminate, limp-wristed, sissy she-man do you have to be to find this car uncomfortable? What sort of easily offended special snowflake do you have to be to find it loud? We aren't talking about a $60,000 Acura here. Someone looking for a economy car or other cheap transportation is not going to magically add another $40k to their budget for the car the consumer reports thinks is ok. A cheap car is supposed to be that. A cheap car.
Sure, you can get a Versa cheaper. But you will find that the versa you spent less on won't have power windows or keyless entry. It won't even have a radio or air conditioning. By the time you put the standard options of the Mirage on the Versa, you're looking at a nearly $20,000 car.
Long trips are great in my little blue Mitsu. The terrible roads in Tulsa have all the bad bumps removed by the little car's springs. Merging on the highway is no problem. A deer last night proved to me that the car will stop, and the car will stop NOW. I have yet to reach a situation where I was going around a corner at a safe and reasonable speed, and the car couldn't handle it. The abs and traction control worked admirably in a small snowstorm last sunday, and I carried myself, my beautiful wife, my lovely daughter, and my almost 15 year old son through that storm, and 60 miles to my parents house with all of us in comfort, with the automatic temperature control keeping us all warm and cozy.
So don't listen to the "professional" reviewers. They are either paid to hate economy cars or they are scared of what their mother will think. Go drive a Mitsubishi Mirage. You'll love it. Unless you're a wimp.