So, we know from our last compairison on curb weights (http://mirageforum.com/forum/showthr...ge-curb-weight) that the Mirage is a really light car compared to most. We also know from reading pretty much every review that it doesn't have an overabundance of power. But, does that matter since it is so light? Light cars don't need as much horsepower to accelerate. So, in this compairison we're going to look at power to weight ratios of the Mirage and its competitors. All the weights are the U.S. 5spd manual version unless there isn't one available (as is the case for the iQ and ForTwo).

Car Horsepower Weight (lbs) Weight / Horsepower
1. Hyundai Accent 138 2396 17.4
2. Kia Rio 138 2410 17.4
3. Mini Cooper 121 2535 21.0
4. Ford Fiesta 120 2537 21.1
5. Honda Fit 117 2496 21.3
6. Nissan Versa (sedan) 109 2354 21.6
7. Toyota Yaris 106 2295 21.7
8. Scion iQ 94 2127 22.6
9. Mazda 2 100 2306 23.0
10. Fiat 500 101 2363 23.4
11. Smart ForTwo 70 1808 25.8
12. Mitsubishi Mirage 74 1973 26.3
13. Chevrolet Spark 84 2337 27.8

So, despite the very lightweight design of the Mirage, its still on the low side of the power to weight ratios of its competitors. Is this bad? Not necessarily. It really just means you have to push your gas pedal down a bit further and that you'll be getting better gas mileage. It also means you probably won't be winning any races with your Mirage though.