Preemptive replacement engine transmission purchase

[Cobrajet]

I drive near exclusive City miles. Domino's Pizza delivery. Roughly 30 crank and shut off Cycles per shift 4 days a week, roughly 100 miles per day

I drive for 'the other guys'. About 40 hours, five days, 100+ deliveries, and 600+ miles per week. I was in exactly your position in the fall of 2014.

I had a 1997 Geo Metro that was a great 'work car'. Great mileage, and it always started. But after 110,000 miles, three manual transmissions, one engine rebuild, and a CEL I could never get to shut off, I just got tired of fixing it. I had a coworker mention the Mirage, so I decided to look it up. I was NOT a fan of Mitsubishi, so I went in skeptical.

Needless to say, after driving a Metro for four years being able to buy a new small, inexpensive hatchback with a three-cylinder engine and a manual transmission promising an easy 40+ mpg was right up my alley! Our company went from a flat-rate, per-delivery fuel reimbursement system to a per-mile system, which was much more fair. I calculated that the additional money I would be getting from this switch would basically pay for the monthly payment of a brand new Mirage.

So in December of 2014 I bought a brand new red 2015 Mirage ES with a manual transmission. It had 14 miles on the odometer. Like the Metro, this is my 'work car'. I have other cars I drive when I am not working, so nearly every single mile has been delivery miles. After 140,000 urban/suburban delivery miles, I can confidently tell you that the hand of man never forged a better pizza delivery car than the 2014-2020 Mirage.

Period...

I personally know five other delivery drivers with Mirages...a '14 manual, a '15 CVT, a '15 manual, and two '17 CVTs. Nobody has had any problems with their cars, and two of those cars are also over 100,000 miles (yes, Dirk...one is a CVT).

As was mentioned, just drive it, keep the oil clean, and don't wreck it. Your Mirage will not fail you.

[Dirk Diggler]

Fummins got one just over 200k miles on original CVT. That should be noted.

[dspace9]

I'm sort of looking for a peer review of my logic here. Does it make sense? Am I missing aspects? What are y'alls opinions on the subject?

Hi Avgjohndoe. I'm pretty sure there is a Mirage owner here on the Forum, who has something like 270,000 miles on their Mirage. Steve something. I will search for the thread.

Gathering parts for future issues is a good idea, but like someone on here said, if the car gets busted in an accident, then you're stuck with a bunch of parts, and no car anymore. I got my 2016 barely used rims from someone who got creamed, and the Mirage was a write-off, and his winters were on his Mirage at the time.

I buy spare parts like those tires, but sparingly; only when the price is astronomically cheap.

My friend buys and sells old cars, and he has like 20 tires kicking around at home now.

Another thing is space.. do you want a lot of stuff collecting about, that "might" be useful? The logic here is that balance between keeping everything and getting into hoarding, and the other extreme... like that new Family Guy episode, when Lois gets into that new Tidying Up style organizing, and she ends up with an empty living room and even more anxiety.

[Top_Fuel]

You could probably keep a spare engine in the corner of your garage if you really needed to...


(Photo courtesy of Loren)

It looks like there are at least 50 Mirage engines on eBay right now!

[MrAmerica1776]

I have a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage ES with CVT, just about to hit 140,000 miles. I’m going to be changing the fluid again soon, I might end up buying a spare CVT if I find one for a reasonable price

[Fummins]

I'd drop the pan to change the fluid if you don't do it that way already. It'll give you a chance to see how that thrust washer on the input shaft is holding up and you'll get a little more fluid out of it too. I've had good luck reusing the paper pan gasket once or twice too.