The Mirage is EASY to work on!

[Scratchpaddy]

The thing I like about the Fit is the trick rear seat. The gas tank is under the front seats, leaving lots more room in the back. You can fold the rear seat up for a really tall storage area, or down perfectly flat for a huge area all around. The Mirage rear seat is pretty sad by comparison, not folding flat, and with a big step between the seat back and rear area.

That said, the Fit's fuel economy is not good for a small car, and you don't get all that empty space to work under the hood. It's supposed to be fun to drive, but I don't really care about that kind of thing. I'd rather drive cheap, which is why I have a Mirage now.

[Mark]

The thing I like about the Fit is the trick rear seat. The gas tank is under the front seats, leaving lots more room in the back. You can fold the rear seat up for a really tall storage area, or down perfectly flat for a huge area all around. The Mirage rear seat is pretty sad by comparison, not folding flat, and with a big step between the seat back and rear area.

That said, the Fit's fuel economy is not good for a small car, and you don't get all that empty space to work under the hood. It's supposed to be fun to drive, but I don't really care about that kind of thing. I'd rather drive cheap, which is why I have a Mirage now.

I totally agree about the back seat. My 1978 Honda Civic Wagon had a wonder design for folding down the rear seats. The rear window cranks even had spring loaded knobs that folded out of the way. It was very well thought out. The Mirage just flops down & is very lame by comparison. Even my 1990 Ford Festiva folded up and out the way much better than the Mirage.

[javensbukan]

I also cross shopped the Fit when I bought mine back in 2015 (the older design).

The Fit felt more solid, and the 'magic seats' were pretty bomb, but it was going to end up being about 5K more than the mirage, and much worse fuel economy.

I cross shopped the Versa Note, Micra as well, but it wasn't really better than the Mirage in any way... in fact the interior was even cheaper feeling than the Mirage (how is that possible!?), and had a significantly worse warranty.... it was less tippy than the Mirage, but the mirage was more stable feeling on the highway from what I can remember.

[MetroMPG]

^ You're a rare person who preferred the Mirage after test-driving the Micra! The power/handling/refinement differences (talking 2014/15 Mirage) are pretty big. You've really got to be motivated by fuel economy/warranty to choose the Mitsu.

However, getting back on topic..

Changing the spark plugs on the Micra or Versa/Note HR16DE is a complicated, multi-hour procedure that requires removing the intake plenum, throttle body, and even the front bumper (to make it easy to get the plenum out easily due to clearance issues with the hood latch assembly).

[Loren]

The trick seats that you guys are raving about are indicative of a difference in design philosophy between the two cars. It's not a deficiency in the Mirage design at all. It's a feature. They kept things simple and LIGHT WEIGHT. The rear seats (which includes the hinges and hardware) is crazy light on the Mirage. Something like 40 pounds total... including the seatbelts! I'd bet that the Honda rear seats are at least 20 pounds heavier. And that's just the rear seats. All told, the Honda is 200-250 pounds heavier than the Mirage, and that has an effect on the other common comparison between the Mirage and the Fit: fuel economy.

The Mirage was designed from the start to be a fuel economy king, and to be inexpensive to manufacture and buy, and easy to build and maintain. They achieved those goals.

That same "keep things simple" and "make the car easy to maintain" philosophy is what makes the car easy to work on.

[javensbukan]

Yeah true, the Micra did handle much better. However I much preferred the Mirages' interior over the Micra's... it wasn't even close actually, the design was just...odd, looked like a fisher price car I used to have as a child.

Nissan somehow made the Micra interior feel cheaper than the Mirage, not sure how, but they did.

Plus, Nissan's warranty is kind of a joke compared to Mitsu's.... and it being a Nissan it's probably going to need it at some point.

[MetroMPG]

The trick seats that you guys are raving about are indicative of a difference in design philosophy between the two cars. It's not a deficiency in the Mirage design at all. It's a feature. They kept things simple and LIGHT WEIGHT.

Nah, it's a deficiency.

Mitsu could have improved the cargo capacity with a simple "flip/fold" feature on the rear seats that wouldn't have added more than a few ounces in weight, and negligible increased cost/complexity.

For those not familiar: this is where the bottom cusion can be optionally flipped forward against the rear of the front seats, and then the rear seatbacks can fold flat into the space where the bottom cusion was (sans headrests, obviously). My old MK1 Rabbits had this feature, and, while it's not on par with the Fit's "magic" seat, it still gives you a useful cargo space option.

But we already know Mitsubishi is strange about providing common, useful rear seat/storage options.

[Loren]

Nah, it's a deficiency.

Mitsu could have improved the cargo capacity with a simple "flip/fold" feature on the rear seats that wouldn't have added more than a few ounces in weight, and negligible increased cost/complexity.

I think you're underestimating how simple and cheap the design of the Mirage rear seat bottom is.

The rear seat bottom is held in place by two clips. That's it. It's a chunk of upholstered foam with a very light metal framework, and two loops of thin steel rod that press into two clips on the floor pan. That's all.

It is everything it was designed to be.

Even just designing something more complex would have added cost to the car, nevermind producing it, adding more individual parts to the inventory, more steps to assembly, etc. And most of us already say that the car is priced too high for what it is. You can't have it both ways.

When the goal is maximum fuel economy at minimum cost, simple is good.

[MetroMPG]

The Rabbit's rear seat cushion was the same. In place of the 2 clips were 2 light hinges. That's the only difference.

I stand uncorrected!

[Scratchpaddy]

The Spark works the same as what MetroMPG describes. It's all very light. I played with one at a car show, and then I couldn't get the bottom to lock back down. Then the rear doors wouldn't open anymore. Then I quietly made my escape.