My Mom was shopping for a new car a couple years ago, and I suggested she look at a Mirage. She did, and she ended up buying a pretty spartan brand new 2017 model with a CVT. It's got Bluetooth and foglights, that's about it. Over the past few years, she racked up 25,000 trouble-free miles on it, and she was very happy with it.
She passed away a few weeks ago, and my sisters offered me an irresistable deal on the car. (low trade-in value x 3/4 because it's already 1/4 mine) So, I bought it and offered it to my son for a little less than half what I paid for it because I know he needs a car. Of course, he didn't pass up that deal. And I've volunteered to deliver it to him.
He's in Kansas. I'm in Florida. Road trip!
I'll be making the trek solo, and I've given myself an easy 3 days to drive 1500+ miles. Absolute minimum 22 hours driving time. I'm more likely to do it in 25-27 hours plus stops. I'm not in a hurry, and I'll hypermile it and stay off of the Interstates as much as possible.
Picked up the car today. Drove it 45 miles on back roads, averaging about 40 mph, peaking at about 52 mph. Was amazed that I was able to hit 55 mpg EASILY, and by the time I got home, I'd seen 62 for a little bit, and managed to hang onto 60.7 mpg! Drove out to dinner after that, and still only dropped down to 55.8.
I really want to hate this car and its silly CVT. But, for just bombing around town... I'll deny ever having said this... it's perfect. It's always in the right gear. It will keep the revs ABSURDLY low if you want it to, and even accelerating at a constant 2k rpm... it still accelerates well enough to keep up with most traffic. And it COASTS better than a manual. With a manual, you're either in-gear coasting, or you're neutral coasting. When you lift off-throttle, the CVT seems to essentially put you in neutral (without the in-gear drag of a manual), but it gives the engine just barely enough momentum to keep it at 1200 rpm, and I assume it's keeping it in DFCO. It's a hypermiler's dream! It's not as engaging as a manual transmission, but it truly is a technological marvel... and now I'm going to have to read more about how it works.
And I think it's really bizarre to set the rpm with the right foot, watch the tach stay put, and the speedo rise. It doesn't rise QUICKLY, but it definitely does so deliberately. You don't feel like you're accelerating because the revs don't change... but, before you know it, you're up to 40-45 mph without ever having revved over 2k.
Anyhow, I'll be giving the car a once-over tomorrow. The oil was changed last month, and it has one new tire on the rear. (sis damaged one on a misplaced drain grate) The other 3 are OE and close to 1/3 tread. The car is completely stock and I've already set the tire pressures to 40 psi.
I did buy a set of rubber donut spring spacers to put in the springs. I'm going to stuff those in there tomorrow to see if I like it firmer. I really didn't hate it today, it handles well enough. Very predictable with delightfully nimble steering. The ride is comfortable, but I think just a touch more stiffness would not be unwelcome. We'll see.
Otherwise, I'll probably up the tire pressures to 45 or so. And I need to check the alignment. The steering wheel is slightly off-center. Might tweak the front toe to get that straight.
Road trip begins Friday afternoon!