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.
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.
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!
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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)
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.
'17 Mitsubishi Mirage 1.2L ES Plus 5MT
'94 Ford Ranger 5.0 Turbo 3 Speed
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?
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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)
Ooo! Good question.. like the Philippines.
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View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 62.4 mpg (US) ... 26.5 km/L ... 3.8 L/100 km ... 74.9 mpg (Imp)
dspace9 (01-20-2020)
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.
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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 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.
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. 2015 Mirage DE CVT Utility Machine (and lots of other cars)
MetroMPG (01-20-2020)
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.