I had my 2015 Mirage for 2 years and never had a single issue with it. Did normal service with the car, and I abused it. I took it through mountain roads, offroad dirt and gravel, threw it around in snow, and autocrossed it. Never had any issues, no odd noises, no MIL's etc. Still got 25+ mpg when flooring it around.
Now we have a 2017 Mirage at the house that has considerably higher mileage than mine, and the only issue I have is a small creak/whine at low idle and acceleration that I imagine is coming from the exhaust intermed pipe to the downpipe.
I get this is going to be a case by case basis from individual scenarios and driving habits, but I put my car through it's paces and pushed as much as I could out of it on completely stock drivetrain and suspension and didn't have issues. Even if something breaks or fails, THIS IS THE EASIEST CAR TO WORK ON. It has so much access to every system in the car, very easy and simple parts that are cheap and easy to get a hold of.
I feel like people now are too complacent with standard creature comfort features for cars that are twice the price of the Mirage, and generally frown on smaller cars in the states because of our culture. Maybe it's just because it isn't a crossover or truck like everybody buys. Just my 2 cents.
Dirk Diggler (12-24-2019)
Consumer Reports should stick to subjects that they are qualified to judge - like which is the best peanut butter.
Skills: Cage fighting, computer chatting, making sweet moula
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View my fuel log 2014 Mirage 1.2 manual: 38.0 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)
Dirk Diggler (12-24-2019),Eggman (12-24-2019)
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View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 40.5 mpg (US) ... 17.2 km/L ... 5.8 L/100 km ... 48.6 mpg (Imp)
Personally none, our cars have been good except the one that needed that linkage replaced going into the transmission under warranty. Cant find air or cabin air filters locally the two times I looked. I've heard shocks and other items were very expensive and not readily available
Ya that's a good way of putting it there nickels. The Mirage has lots of speed if you're going down hills. Honestly the speed of the Mirage's not that terrible. I live with it and you do plan a bit more with passes etc. This is not a McLaren 720s that does the quarter mile in 9.9 seconds
I think the car gets harped on unfairly, but the car isn't flawless. Maybe if Consumer Reports had one of those long-term Motorweek tests on a Mirage. Jim on Motorweek liked the Mirage by the way.
Last edited by dspace9; 12-24-2019 at 06:34 PM.
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View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.2 mpg (US) ... 17.9 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.7 mpg (Imp)
I work as a Service Advisor at a body shop. Personally, I always buy OEM parts for my personal car (I do get company discount on some things), but generally when I do these repairs for the Mirage and Mirage G4 we can get parts same day or 2 days at the latest. And by comparison to other models in the same class getting radiator supports, crash parts (except OEM bumpers jeeeeez), cooling assemblies etc are generally cheaper when I match tickets to close for billing. Let alone getting easy stuff you might need for your car day to day like headlights/taillights, filters, fluids, brakes, minimal suspension, TIRES. I think the last set of tires I put on my car were like $65 a piece. If you need something more than basic preventive maintenance then you might just have a bigger repair issue on your hands. I have seen where sometimes the aftermarket lower control arms, struts, knuckles are more expensive than OEM, but it varies.
Once you see Toyota Prius headlamps that are $2000 it puts everything in perspective. Getting used or aftermarket parts is plentiful (in my area) and naturally cheaper than getting a brand new factory part. Different A/M parts will have various grades and pricing, but I'm basing the overall cost of parts by OEM from my experience in repairing crashed cars for 5 years. Like I said comparably to subcompacts or compact cars close in model year, I'm obviously not going to compare a Mirage part to a Porsche or god forbid a Kia K900.
Eggman (12-25-2019)