Small car fan from Ohio

[crispy]

Hello, like the title says, I am a big fan of little cars. I grew up here in northeast Ohio in a family which owned nothing but tanks made by GM. My first small car I bought at the age of 19 for $200 was a wrecked 1982 tercel, plus another for parts two days later for $100. Not only was it my first small car, but the first stick shift... Tanks made by GM are all automatics I guess.. Since then I have had 3 Sentras, a Celica, 2 Proteges, a Prizm, a Yaris, and my favorite of all a 1995 Ford Aspire if you can believe that? I have taken a Chevy Spark for two test drives so far and was planning on getting one until the news of the Mirage came out. I went on vacation to Aruba this spring where I rented a 2012 Kia Picanto for 3 days. It was stick of course but only had the 1.0 liter engine but even so I preferred it over the Spark. Maybe it is the bling and flash of the Spark that turns me off, or maybe I just like a car that is more honest to its purpose in life. So here I am, checking the internet everyday for news on the new Mitsubishi Mirage. That is how I found this forum! I am impressed with the specs of the Mirage, and I love the way it looks as well. If it performs on the road in a similar manner to the Kia Picanto I had in Aruba I will soon be a proud owner of a Mitsubishi Mirage without a doubt. Thanks for reading, Crispy.

[kalifornia]

welcome

[MetroMPG]

Hi crispy -

Welcome, from another small car fan!

I've yet to drive a Spark, myself, but would like to try one. But since one of my main interests is in efficient small cars, I was frankly disappointed by the MPG performance of the Spark. I was hoping for better. It's a heavy car for its size, too (part of the problem), and the economy of its slushbox automatic (which the vast majority of people order) is frankly terrible. I'm sure the imminent arrival of the CVT Mirage is one reason GM has said they're planning to change to a CVT in the Spark.

I really like the looks of the Picanto - more than the Mirage, actually. Kia's design studio has been doing really good work the last few years.

But I wonder if their aerodynamic engineering is as good as Mitsu's.

[crispy]

I felt the same way about the poor mpg ratings for the Spark at first. After some research I determined the Spark gets better than advertised fuel economy. According to epa.gov and fuelly owners, the Spark can easily beat the ratings where a car like the Chevy Sonic falls way short of the epa numbers. My wifes Yaris for instance is supposed to get 36 mpg hwy but since day one in 50/50 driving she always got 40 combinied and now after 180K miles on the car she gets 44 mpg on every tank. Very few cars exceed their epa ratings but the Spark is one of them. I'm curious if the Mirage will beat its ratings or be a pretender like so many cars today. Most cars with 40+ mpg ratings just don't get near that number, just ask Ford, Kia, Hyundai, and Honda owners if they are happy with their cars mpg!

[m4v3r1ck]

I test drive the Kia, it's terrible, I hate it when a car manufacturer offers tachometer AS OPTION!!! It's a must to have a tachometer, without it I would either have blown up my engine or I couldn't utilize the engine capacity. Mirage has the peak power at 6000 rpm, means you have to rev up to 6k to utilize it's full power!
Kia's way smaller than Space Star/Mirage. The baggage space and rear seats is too small plus it doesn't have all the extra of mirage for the same price.

[crispy]

I understand about wanting a tach. My wifes Yaris does not have one and its odd since my automatic Kia Rondo/Carens does have one, lol.. I didn't have a choice on the car I rented except for the class. The Kia Picanto is not sold here in the states but many base model cars do not come with a tach like the Nissan Versa sedan base with a 5 speed for example. The size of the Picanto was fine if you ask me. We had the Picanto and a Kia minivan at the grocery store. The Picanto tiny boot swallowed almost all of the contents of two full shopping carts worth of groceries. Everyone was surprised that only a few cases of water and soda went in the minivan! Lots of revving was needed to get the tiny Picanto engine to move, especially with four full sized passengers. I really don't recall if the car had a tachometer or not...lol. If the Picanto was sold here it would be on my short list no doubt about that!

[m4v3r1ck]

Full option Picanto does looks good, with tach and LED DRL it's good but it comes with price which brings it at higher price than space star. I had 5 adults in the space star yesterday and I don't really need to rev high to get it moving with my 1.0L engine but it really is not comfortable sitting at the back.

[crispy]

I know what you mean. Looking at the Spark it comes with everything except cruise and power door locks, as far as basic amenities. I could care less about all the tech stuff like nav and such. To get cruise and pwr locks its an extra $1500 over the base model. For less than $300 I can get aftermarket cruise and install it myself. My worry with the Mirage is that cruise control, which is very very important to me since I drive long distances often, is only offered on the upscale model and there is a slim chance that aftermarket cruise will be offered by anyone. So that is my dilemma with the Mirage.

[crispy]

Oh, and I agree the full option Picanto does look great! The one I rented in Aruba Was silver with the black plastic front and rear bumpers. It looked very cheap and was not attractive at all, but for a rental car having no paint to be scratched on the bumpers is a big plus I would assume.

[m4v3r1ck]

Same here, am a long distance driver, i drive 1000 km a week and a cruise control is a must. My dealer installed John Gold Cruise Control system for 550 euro (around $625-ish? Am not a self-doer, even following a carefully and specifically written manual can lead to disaster) I've been using it continuously even in city traffic where i have to drive at 50 km/h.
I certainly can recommend you the cruise control.

Your rental car was made as uninteresting as possible to keep the thieves at bay. Interesting and good looking car got stolen first.