New owner down in Louisiana

**Nobu** · 03-09-2020, 10:45 PM

Hey, how's everybody?

Just finished a purchase of a 2017 Mirage ES (cvt) with 51k miles, looking forward to driving it on my ~40mi round trip to/from work.

With +50k mi, what kind of work should I expect it to need soon? I would think shocks are good, but how about the breaks, timing belt, trans fluid, etc?

Definitely considering Deox's rear sway bar, but I want to drive it around a bit before I decide for sure. I have a few questions about that specifically, but I'll post them in the relevant thread.

**Eggman** · 03-10-2020, 12:08 AM

Hello Nobu and welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll get lots of insight here.

The Mirage excels as an economy car. I bought one to save money for other things - I'm not fond of giving my money away to a dealer, and I have a hard time justifying a big, expensive car just to get back and forth to work.

That being said, you can take your Mirage as is, keep up with regular maintenance and keep your money in your pocket. Or, you can spend your cash on a bunch of modifications (keep in mind some mods can pay you back.) Trouble is, because there aren't many here stateside, there's not much of an aftermarket for the Mirage.

Consider changing out your CVT fluid to help extend the life of your transmission.

Again, welcome.

**Dodge Aries K** · 03-10-2020, 12:14 AM

Buy the Daox rear sway bar (I'll be ordering more when I have a bit of extra money) and change the trans fluid. Otherwise it should be good to go!

**Dirk Diggler** · 03-10-2020, 01:02 AM

Don't bother with your rear drums until 80k miles or so, unless you hear/feel something. There expensive and don't do much for the CVT Mirage. Just do your front pads, which are cheap, as needed. For me it the fronts were done at 50k miles.

**Nobu** · 03-10-2020, 03:51 AM

Thanks guys!

Got my dash cover from rockauto today. Looks good, but definitely not suede. Should be called "Brushed Suede Velour" (or whatever it is). lol

Still, I suppose $32 isn't bad for a dash cover fabric pattern...just going to have to disassemble it and make my own suede dash, with a thin wool pad, I guess. Shouldn't cost more than $150 for the materials, if that...maybe.

Edit: Found "Sport mode" ("Ds"). I don't understand why reviewers rate the car so poorly...just bump it over to "Ds" when you need the fast response, and bump it back to "D" when you're cruising. It's got plenty of zip, more than enough for lugging people or cargo around, and have a little fun while you're at it. :shrug:

**Nobu** · 03-15-2020, 12:59 AM

Attached photos to OP. Liking it so far, doesn't seem to lean nearly as badly as people make it out to – it's not as bad as my Accord, although the accord does corner better (probably due to it's wider wheelbase and lower center of gravity).

**Mark** · 03-15-2020, 01:23 AM

Originally Posted by Nobu

Attached photos to OP. Liking it so far, doesn't seem to lean nearly as badly as people make it out to – it's not as bad as my Accord, although the accord does corner better (probably due to it's wider wheelbase and lower center of gravity).

Glad to hear that you are liking your Mirage. I have the same year/color, but manual. I’ve never driven a 2014-15 Mirage, but the 2017+ Mirages may handle slightly better. I bought a Daox sway bar about 8 months after my Mirage purchase. In my case, Daox was still designing them & taking orders. I bought one of his leftovers after others were saying positive things about it. I like the added stability of the sway bar, especially on windy days.

He’s improved the sway bar twice since then.