Hello from my garage in Virginia, USA.

[live4redline]

Firstly I would like to say thanks for all the info and love on the new mirage. All my current US based Mitsubishi forums are not feeling the car and there's not a lot of people with my sort of enthusiasm for the new release.

Well, I'm a life time Mitsubishi builder and driver and have owned everything available to me here in the states.

My Current Armada:

- 2006 Evolution IX GSR : +500whp on stock motor, running E85 and 32psi, that I AutoX and track race. (Our variant of AutoX is a little diffrent then what I've seen from other countries.)

- 2003 Evolution VIII GSR : With a 2.4L, 10.0:1 compression, DOHC, Kia Optima motor swap, Evo AWD & Turbo and did it just becouse its funny.

- 2005 Montero Limited : The decked out model that I daily in luxury.

- 2003 Lancer ES : Wife's daily that has +300k miles and has never had a mechanical failure.

- 1999 Mirage DE Coupe : Drag car I never finished.

With many others on the previously owned list.


I've been watching the Mitsubishi Mirages since day one and have been desperately waiting a newer hatchback or colt release here in the states. When I heard about the mirage it was a dream come true. Mind you once I saw it I was hoping for something a little more sporty looking and a turbo option like you had with the recent colts but ill take what I can get.

My friends think I'm crazy becouse I'm so amped up over a 74hp Eco-box Mirage considering my past and present car history but since that bright day of awakening I've been researching, reading, planning and plotting. But they just dont understand that although racing an AWD Turbo monster of a machine and winning is great and all, racing a 74hp Eco-Box and winning is far far better. Mind you, I'm not sure if its gonna be up to the task out the box, but were gonna have to work out the finer details later. If all else fails ill have a new daily but back to the bigger dream, a 74hp Eco-Box Mirage Race Car with a goal to match the power to wieght ratio of let's say a stock Evo if possible.

So far I'm working on some preliminary stuff in anticipation of what's to come. FortuneAuto is local and they've always done great work on the Coilovers for past track cars and I'm they'll be on board. I'm hoping sway bars are standard so I can make some easy modifications to get more adjustment out of them. There may or may not be an eco friendly, non-intercooled, cut all the bull crap, remote mount turbo kit being built on the counter top here at the shop. It's all going to depend on available tuning options when It comes time to bump up the power. I watched a video that the Mirage has automatic brake bias which sounds awesome but not sure how its going to respond to a set of rear disk brakes or not. There's one way to know for sure, lol.

I am a little worried about the electric assisted steering and if its gonna hold up to the abuse and if its going to have enough feed back at the track. I'm worried about the short gearing and the unnecessary gear changes. There's a local scion eco-box that's been converted to boosted race car status and the short gearing really seems to have its negative effects (going to be looking for gears that can be swapped between anouther model transmission). I'm glad to see that Mitsubishi opted to keep the mechanical e-brake. Electric e-brakes are dumb and a serious safety risk in my opinion. I'm extremely worried about tuning capabilities and if anyone's gonna have enough love to look into pulling and defining the roms for the new Mirage. Most importantly, I'm counting on Mitsubishi to do what they do best, and to have provided me with some buried potential behind all the eco friendly awesomeness. :P

Power to weight ratios can do magical things.

[MetroMPG]

Hi live4redline - welcome to the forum!

I'm not surprised to hear there isn't a lot of love for the new Mirage's specs on the existing Mitsu performance forums. I've seen lots of negative comments on U.S. enthusiast news sites/blogs. 3 cylinders and 74 hp doesn't make most gearheads react passionately in the right direction.

But as you point out: it's all about power:weight. And the new car certainly has the "low weight" side of things covered.

The gearing question: I assume you would want taller gearing to keep the turbo spooled up longer? Finding a taller/numerically smaller final drive option would be something that would satisfy BOTH that performance goal and the interest of people willing to mod the manual for better cruising fuel economy. FYI, I believe there is a different (taller) final drive ratio in the U.K. 1.2L version of the car than what was initially offered in Australasia. Check the specs section.

Did you find the images of the underside of the car/anti-roll bars you were looking for? There are some in this thread -- Mirage aftermarket rear anti-roll/stabilizer/sway bar, chassis braces! Ultra Racing

And one of our U.S. members, blownb310, captured some video of the underside of the Mirage that debuted at the NY auto show that might be helpful:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI4Ab47VA6Q

From: U.S. debut - 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage @ New York auto show: details, photos, specs

[grsupercity]

Welcome. I like your car history!

[Daox]

Welcome to the site. I agree that the Mirage could be a very fun car given the right aftermarket treatment. It will take some work though.

[live4redline]

Mitsubishi North America has some serious issues with marketing. With the car rumored for a September release and there's not a word about it. No advertisments, no lead up, hell all three dealers I called didn't have a clue that Mitsubishi made or was making a Mirage. It's sad but that's the history of Mitsubishi with the US market. They build and amazing car and then five years later the car becomes a huge hit when people finally relies what it is. If it was going to be slow on paper, it should at least look fast in person. Oh well, I still want one but I'm not your typical American public so we shall see.

As for the gearing, that's it exactly. Need a taller final gear and all will be good. Mitsubishi is known for making parts interchangeable so here's hoping we luck out on this one.

Thanks for the links, I hadn't seen them yet. I would still like something a little more elaborate though. Trying to get an idea where the stock flanges are becouse I'm looking to do a direct bolt up setup. I'm also looking for a large areas to stick stuff as well so its all helpful. At this point I'm hoping there's enough room behind the rear sub frame becouse all that's looking a little tight for what I have planned. Does look like there's plenty of room for piping. Be it 3" turbo exhaust or stock exit and 2.25" return pipes.


- What's the stock exhaust size if anyone knows?

- What's the size of the throttle body inlet if anyone's bores enough to take a look.

- I've seen some pictures of a car with a MAF and others with no MAF. I'm really curious what the deal is on that front. The Maf housing looked small and built into the air box which will prove difficult if there's no open source for the car, which is more then likely.

I know its a lot of questions but what can I say, I'm enthusiastic.


P.S: Thanks Daox for all the great informative threads you posted up on the Mirage.

[MetroMPG]

There's probably not much point in promoting the car until it's in showrooms available for people to look at. According to Mitsu Canada, the first media access to the car will probably be in September: 2014 Mirage first drive: September* for Canada (and probably U.S.)

I have also read that Mitsu USA is planning to spend a lot more on marketing this year than they have in the past. Something like a 50% increase in spending. (Don't have the link for that.) So, sounds like they'll get the word out when the time is right. So far, aside from the NY Auto show debut, the only marketing they've done is a facebook campaign where they asked people to name the new Mirage colours.

As for those specific exhaust/intake/MAF questions, I'd suggest starting a dedicated thread for each one to get more eyeballs on them. We've got a few members/owners who have been really helpful about reporting back with info about their new cars.

[live4redline]

I guess your right. It is a little early on and they did do the facebook thing which was a good way to get the word out. Here's hopeing it all works out and Mitsubishi gets the increase in sales it was hoping for.

[CheezyWedges]

Firstly I would like to say thanks for all the info and love on the new mirage. All my current US based Mitsubishi forums are not feeling the car and there's not a lot of people with my sort of enthusiasm for the new release.

Well, I'm a life time Mitsubishi builder and driver and have owned everything available to me here in the states.

My Current Armada:

- 2006 Evolution IX GSR : +500whp on stock motor, running E85 and 32psi, that I AutoX and track race. (Our variant of AutoX is a little diffrent then what I've seen from other countries.)

- 2003 Evolution VIII GSR : With a 2.4L, 10.0:1 compression, DOHC, Kia Optima motor swap, Evo AWD & Turbo and did it just becouse its funny.

- 2005 Montero Limited : The decked out model that I daily in luxury.

- 2003 Lancer ES : Wife's daily that has +300k miles and has never had a mechanical failure.

- 1999 Mirage DE Coupe : Drag car I never finished.

With many others on the previously owned list.


I've been watching the Mitsubishi Mirages since day one and have been desperately waiting a newer hatchback or colt release here in the states. When I heard about the mirage it was a dream come true. Mind you once I saw it I was hoping for something a little more sporty looking and a turbo option like you had with the recent colts but ill take what I can get.

My friends think I'm crazy becouse I'm so amped up over a 74hp Eco-box Mirage considering my past and present car history but since that bright day of awakening I've been researching, reading, planning and plotting. But they just dont understand that although racing an AWD Turbo monster of a machine and winning is great and all, racing a 74hp Eco-Box and winning is far far better. Mind you, I'm not sure if its gonna be up to the task out the box, but were gonna have to work out the finer details later. If all else fails ill have a new daily but back to the bigger dream, a 74hp Eco-Box Mirage Race Car with a goal to match the power to wieght ratio of let's say a stock Evo if possible.

So far I'm working on some preliminary stuff in anticipation of what's to come. FortuneAuto is local and they've always done great work on the Coilovers for past track cars and I'm they'll be on board. I'm hoping sway bars are standard so I can make some easy modifications to get more adjustment out of them. There may or may not be an eco friendly, non-intercooled, cut all the bull crap, remote mount turbo kit being built on the counter top here at the shop. It's all going to depend on available tuning options when It comes time to bump up the power. I watched a video that the Mirage has automatic brake bias which sounds awesome but not sure how its going to respond to a set of rear disk brakes or not. There's one way to know for sure, lol.

I am a little worried about the electric assisted steering and if its gonna hold up to the abuse and if its going to have enough feed back at the track. I'm worried about the short gearing and the unnecessary gear changes. There's a local scion eco-box that's been converted to boosted race car status and the short gearing really seems to have its negative effects (going to be looking for gears that can be swapped between anouther model transmission). I'm glad to see that Mitsubishi opted to keep the mechanical e-brake. Electric e-brakes are dumb and a serious safety risk in my opinion. I'm extremely worried about tuning capabilities and if anyone's gonna have enough love to look into pulling and defining the roms for the new Mirage. Most importantly, I'm counting on Mitsubishi to do what they do best, and to have provided me with some buried potential behind all the eco friendly awesomeness. :P

Power to weight ratios can do magical things.

dude,

my mirage manage to get speed 175km/h with 15inch sport rim. u may have an idea what to mod

BTW,mine is CVT version .

[live4redline]

I have a bunch of ideas but there's not a lot of options as of yet unless your into custom work.

I do know that the Lancer CVT transmissions had issues if you made more power then a few bolt ons could provide. So ideally i would probably stay away from a lot of power modifications and focus on other options. More weight reduction which will translate into more speed and handling mods so you can keep the speed up in the turns. Sway bars, stiffening bars, springs and ect.

I'm still waiting to see someone post some pictures of the stock sway bars and brackets because there may be room for modification on that front. Something like they do here... EvoM : Make you front sway bar adjustable. Keep in mind you could damage or weaken the bar if your not careful. Better yet you can also do something similar to the Cusco Front Sway Bar Adjustment Bracket

I imagine I'll have many more suggestions once i can get my hands on one here in the US.

[jamiec]

Great to have you here live4redline and welcome. Hope you get yourself a mirage as I look forward to your input.