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Thread: Junkyard Find: 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage - Murilee Martin TTAC

  1. #11
    Senior Member Dirk Diggler's Avatar
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    In Mexico, I bet the Dodge Attitude is used by alot of drug mules. Its inconspicuous, great range, plenty of hiding spaces in the engine bay, cheap for the cartels.



  2. #12
    Senior Member Wallythacker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pimp_Daddy_Patty View Post
    I saw a 5 Speed Mirage at a Kenny U Pull in Hamilton, Ontario last year. I seriously considered going back to get the drivetrain out of it. The thing had no damage on it except for the marks left by the forklift when it was being handled and the wreckers. It was gone the next time I managed to get out there.

    I'm quite blown away by the negative reaction the Mirage gets. All my friends that bought new "much nicer" cars in the last few years have nothing but problems. There is a Ford Fiesta which visits the dealership with Transmission problems twice a year, another Focus with the same thing, an Elantra that randomly doesn't start on cold winter mornings, a Nissan that has gone through two CVT transmissions, and a friend with a Chrysler 200 that leaks so much water, half of his interior just sits in my shop so that it doesn't get water damaged. During all that time, I haven't had to do anything to my Mirage other than replacing a bent rim because my dumbass didn't see a sheet of ice while making a left turn and hit a curb.

    On the other hand, I'm looking forward to the relatively low value that the Mirage might have as it gets older. Back in my days of modifying Neons for racing, it was great finding cars for $250-$1000, spending a few hundred to get them road worthy, and then slapping turbos on them and driving the piss out of them with little to no guilt, because not much money was invested.
    I seriously wonder if we have the same friends? Nearly case by case in my circle are the problems you list, but my Dad had the random starting Tuscon and my current partner had a Focus with the horrid DCT POS. It's amazing how the "major" automakers get it so wrong to save $.004325 per vehicle.
    Zero, 2014 ES Plus 5MT, written off but not forgotten.
    Zero II, 2014 SE, 5MT, climate She's HOME now!
    Shelby AKA "Cute", 2017 ES 5MT, A/C.

    Mirage owners look at the world differently than everyone else, but in a better way
    We're driving the Beetle of the 21st century, the greatest small car now available!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2017 Mirage ES PLus 1.2 manual: 39.0 mpg (US) ... 16.6 km/L ... 6.0 L/100 km ... 46.8 mpg (Imp)


  3. #13
    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    I wonder why it ended up in the junkyard. Any ideas?
    Could be damage to the undercarriage due to hitting something in the road, or driving the car off the road. I found a car like this for sale at a wrecking yard one time. It was in beautiful condition. It even ran. I was thinking about buying it, but wisely decided to check under the front of the car for damage.

    It was a sh!tshow under there. Major damage. IIRC, the transmission case was even cracked!

    You wouldn't have known it by looking at the car.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wallythacker View Post
    I seriously wonder if we have the same friends? Nearly case by case in my circle are the problems you list, but my Dad had the random starting Tuscon and my current partner had a Focus with the horrid DCT POS. It's amazing how the "major" automakers get it so wrong to save $.004325 per vehicle.
    They're quite common issues to my understanding. Seems the Mirage is at least quite reliable. Possibly due to how simple it is, there is less to break. I'll take that over a high end vehicle I can't afford to repair any day.
    '17 Mitsubishi Mirage 1.2L ES Plus 5MT
    '94 Ford Ranger 5.0 Turbo 3 Speed

  5. #15
    Senior Member dspace9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    I figure it's worth posting in the "reviews" subforum because he's reviewed the car a number of times, and he really GETS IT, demonstrated again in this post.

    https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...ubishi-mirage/
    That's an interesting article to read through. That junkyard find Mirage is shocking.

    Another thing is the writer has a good collection of promo videos for the Mirage across the years. They're also pretty blunt about the Mitsubishi Mirage's bad resale resale value.

    I wonder if the Mirage has higher resale value in other parts of the world, where there is more brand recognition?

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log 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)


  6. #16
    Ooo! Good question.. like the Philippines.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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    dspace9 (01-20-2020)

  8. #17
    Senior Member dspace9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    Ooo! Good question.. like the Philippines.
    Bad resale value is a huge negative to the new car Mirage buyer. However... great for the used-car shopper.

    The mostly-arbitrary low resale value means used car shoppers get way more bang for their buck. They aren't buying the Mirage for the name. Like many do with a Toyota product for example.

    And the Mirage's built after 2013 are very reliable cars. So for your money you're getting a lot of car. Being cheap wheels, the insurance on your Mirage will be cheap. Gas mileage is great. The list goes on. Many used Mirage's have bells and whistles you don't have to fork out the money for yourself.

    It's deal after deal for the used-car shopper, buying a good-shape Mirage.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log 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)


  9. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by dspace9 View Post
    Bad resale value is a huge negative to the new car Mirage buyer. However... great for the used-car shopper.

    The mostly-arbitrary low resale value means used car shoppers get way more bang for their buck. They aren't buying the Mirage for the name. Like many do with a Toyota product for example.

    And the Mirage's built after 2013 are very reliable cars. So for your money you're getting a lot of car. Being cheap wheels, the insurance on your Mirage will be cheap. Gas mileage is great. The list goes on. Many used Mirage's have bells and whistles you don't have to fork out the money for yourself.

    It's deal after deal for the used-car shopper, buying a good-shape Mirage.
    I am not convinced a Mirage has bad resale value.

    I did a 200 miles radius search from my home of Mirages (with manual transmissions) on cars.com, & 14 cars came up. I would never consider an automatic or CVT small car. FYI - zero 2014-15 manual cars came up in my search radius.

    2017 ES with 74,245 miles for $7,136.
    2018 ES with 32,1070 miles for $8,895.
    2018 ES with 16,802 miles for $8,996.
    2018 ES with 35,611 miles for $9,226.
    2019 ES with 6,169 miles for $9,497.
    2018 ES with 12,506 miles for $9,499.
    2019 ES with 14,842 miles for $10,599.
    2019 ES new for $10,999 @ White Bear Mitsubishi
    2019 ES with 6,860 miles for $12,243 @ Mad City Mitsubishi
    Remain 5 cars listed are higher priced new cars.

    This is why I test drove a new Mirage @ Mad City Mitsubishi (65 miles away), & I purchased one from White Bear Mitsubishi (200 miles away).

    A Mirage needs to be affordable, reliable, and economical to be a great value. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than $10,000 for a Mirage even though I really like mine.

    When I first noticed the Mirage in 2017, I became interested in the updated 2017 models. At first, I was going to wait a couple years to buy a good used one. When I discovered that I could buy a new one for $9000-9500, I decided there was no reason to wait. I don't regret that decision.

    If I had to replace my Mirage now, I would probably buy a used one (like the 2019 ES with 6,169 miles). A low mileage used 2019 would be a little more expensive than what I paid for a new one in 2017, but the 2019 would have some features (like rear back up camera & cruise) that my current Mirage doesn't have.

    If you trade in a newer Mirage, you will lose money. Personally, I think these cars are a great value (especially under $10,000). Even a new 2019 ES manual for $10,999 is not a bad deal. I bought my car from that dealership, & I am convinced the car would be that price. (no hidden surprises). If you qualified for some extra rebate offers, it would be even less.

    Low mileage 2014-15 Mirages are even better deals for sure! As they add more & more features to the Mirage, I become less interested in new ones. I even noticed in Canada the real basic model is not so basic any more. Auto climate controls on the ES must have made A/C standard. Not a bad thing, but the base price has gone up, too!

    Personally, I think cheap, economy cars should have a cheap base trim level. I think some consumers would embrace that, and others can surely pay extra for those features they can't live without.

  10. #19
    Senior Member Dodge Aries K's Avatar
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    That 2019 that's used at Mad ****ty is actually my old car. What a surprise they can't find someone to buy it hahahaha
    -Karl B. No Mirages currently...

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  12. #20
    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    I am not sure about the 'bad resale' argument, either. I paid $14k for my '15 ES manual (this was long before the spring of 2016 "fire sale").

    It now has over 137,000 miles. Given it's excellent condition, I could probably still get $4,000 or even $5,000 for it. That means five years and 137k of trouble-free 40 mpg driving only cost me $9,000-$10,000 in depreciation, or about $150-$160 a month. Piling miles on a cheap car and having it depreciate less than the monthly payment costs is not too bad, and this is why the Mirage is always winning 'lowest-cost-of-ownership' awards.

    A new F250 depreciates by $10,000 when you drive it off the lot. Where people get into trouble with the Mirage is financing. If you finance a new Mirage for six years and try to sell it a year and a half after you buy it then the 'resale value' looks terrible because you will almost certainly owe much more on the car than it is worth at that point.

    But this is true of nearly every car. Buying a new car and flipping it after 18 months is going to be a killer.



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