2021 Mirage News from Mitsubishi

[Mark]

Haha! Christmas came early for someone, eh?

I still miss the green.

I've really liked the colors they offer for the Mirage. Like someone already mentioned it looks like the orange has been replaced by yellow this year. The other colors look sort of the same.

If yellow makes Cobrajet happy, I am perfectly fine with that!

I don't get too excited about the upcoming models. I bought a Mirage so I wouldn't have to think about buying another vehicle for the next 10 years or so.

Since I am impressed with the 5-speed manual powertrain, I am glad that has remained unchanged. I could care less about the other features. A more basic, affordable trim level would thrill me, but I may not be the norm when it comes to stuff like that.

ES MANUAL, ES CVT, SE MANUAL, SE CVT would be how I would market the Mirage. Those who like extra features would most likely want most of them anyway. Listening to members on the forum, a SE manual would be somewhat popular.

Since 2017, the difference between the base model & top trim model has been only $2,000 or less (comparing CVT models). I would dump the two middle trim levels and offer a SE manual, but I am not in charge. A manual transmission trumps everything for me.

It will interesting to see what sort of deals (rebates) develop in the future.

[precisionxt]

I so wish Mitsubishi would change the gear ratios for the US market, but I feel like it's approaching the end of the road for manuals here in the states (at least for Mitsu). I know this horse has been beat to death but I really really want a taller 5th gear.

[7milesout]

I so wish Mitsubishi would change the gear ratios for the US market, but I feel like it's approaching the end of the road for manuals here in the states (at least for Mitsu). I know this horse has been beat to death but I really really want a taller 5th gear.

Precision - I would love a 6th gear. However I think the mpg return for a 6th gear would realize minimal gains. And there wouldn't be enough sales of that transmission because the U.S. is one of the higher speed countries. These things you may know already, I do feel like I'm preaching to the choir.

One of the things I have complained about is the gap from 1st to 2nd. I mentioned my first impression was that 2nd gear was too tall. But since I'm an engineer and I sit around and do nerd engineering crap, I charted out our gear spacing. Turns out, 2nd gear is fine ... first gear is too short.

The below graph is road speed vs. rpm per gear. It is accurate. The multi-colored lines are gears 1 through 5. The horizontal dashed and vertical down arrows represent shifting from one gear to the next so that the next gear becomes active at 2,500 rpm. 2,500 rpm is where I feel from where the engine pulls nicely, just regular cruising acceleration. Not "racing," and not absolute mpg focused, just comfortable.

As you can see, we have to rev the manure out of it in 1st gear (4,600 rpm), to make the switch and hit 2,500 rpm in 2nd. I DO NOT LIKE THAT. I'd rather it be more like 3,750 rpm in first, and switch to 2nd and hit 2,500 rpm.

But the rest of the gear changes are very reasonable. 3,637 rpm, 3,375 rpm and 3,000 rpm. A 6th gear would be nice, but I doubt we'd ever see it. It turns out that shifting to 2nd @ 20, 3rd @ 30, 4th @ 40 and 5th @ 50 is really close to the chart below based on the grid lines and horizontal axis being mph.



I also plotted out the actual hp / tq chart, because the only ones I've seen posted on the site are wrong. It is for the 74 hp engine, but good enough for the 78 hp engine as well. I used it to determine the road speeds for shifting to achieve the quickest acceleration. Basically the shift points that would lead to the lowest drag strip times ... even though it may be just fractions of a second quicker than hitting redline each time. I was going to decal my speedo at the quickest acceleration shift points, but the lens cover is so curved away from the speedo, it is difficult to place it and make it look correct. Anywho - I do lots of nerd engineering crap like that.

[PityOnU]

Precision - I would love a 6th gear. However I think the mpg return for a 6th gear would realize minimal gains. And there wouldn't be enough sales of that transmission because the U.S. is one of the higher speed countries. These things you may know already, I do feel like I'm preaching to the choir.

One of the things I have complained about is the gap from 1st to 2nd. I mentioned my first impression was that 2nd gear was too tall. But since I'm an engineer and I sit around and do nerd engineering crap, I charted out our gear spacing. Turns out, 2nd gear is fine ... first gear is too short.

The below graph is road speed vs. rpm per gear. It is accurate. The multi-colored lines are gears 1 through 5. The horizontal dashed and vertical down arrows represent shifting from one gear to the next so that the next gear becomes active at 2,500 rpm. 2,500 rpm is where I feel from where the engine pulls nicely, just regular cruising acceleration. Not "racing," and not absolute mpg focused, just comfortable.

As you can see, we have to rev the manure out of it in 1st gear (4,600 rpm), to make the switch and hit 2,500 rpm in 2nd. I DO NOT LIKE THAT. I'd rather it be more like 3,750 rpm in first, and switch to 2nd and hit 2,500 rpm.

But the rest of the gear changes are very reasonable. 3,637 rpm, 3,375 rpm and 3,000 rpm. A 6th gear would be nice, but I doubt we'd ever see it. It turns out that shifting to 2nd @ 20, 3rd @ 30, 4th @ 40 and 5th @ 50 is really close to the chart below based on the grid lines and horizontal axis being mph.

...

I also plotted out the actual hp / tq chart, because the only ones I've seen posted on the site are wrong. It is for the 74 hp engine, but good enough for the 78 hp engine as well. I used it to determine the road speeds for shifting to achieve the quickest acceleration. Basically the shift points that would lead to the lowest drag strip times ... even though it may be just fractions of a second quicker than hitting redline each time. I was going to decal my speedo at the quickest acceleration shift points, but the lens cover is so curved away from the speedo, it is difficult to place it and make it look correct. Anywho - I do lots of nerd engineering crap like that.

Wow, this is a great graph, my dude. Please share those Torque/HP charts as well as the shift points, if you have the time. I love looking at data like that. People like you who put stuff like this together are the heroes we need!

[7milesout]

I used the shaded green boxes, and their areas, to estimate the shift points. The areas shown represent running it for example through 3rd gear. Hard to explain. After shifting at the optimum point in 2nd, it drops to where it is shown for 3rd ... and the green box is the largest area that can be used for 3rd gear ... maximizing 3rd gear acceleration. Maybe not the best way to show it and in the end I did NOT find a lot of value in drawing the green boxes.

What I did was used the math of hp/tq versus shift rpm to determine the following.

• 1st to 2nd: 29.1 mph (6,507 rpm). Because 1st gear is so short, you pretty much have to slam it to redline.
• 2nd to 3rd: 51.4 mph (6,202 rpm).
• 3rd to 4th: 75.0 mph (6,197 rpm); We would be crossing the quarter mile finish line near this so it would be better to leave it in 3rd across the line.
• 4th to 5th: 104.1 mph (6,383 mph). When we are running from the cops, we might as well just use 4th, no need for 5th.

Forget about the other green boxes, I was moving them around and they are just parked down out of the way. I stopped fiddling with them so they may not be all that accurate anyway ... but the bulleted numbers ARE accurate. And as I said, the end result at the drag strip would be fractions of a second (my guess). We still won't beat a Fit ... unless it mis-shifts a time or two.

[7milesout]

I was going to mark my speedo like this. But the curvature of the lens made it too difficult to look correct.

[PityOnU]

I was going to mark my speedo like this. But the curvature of the lens made it too difficult to look correct.

As someone who did it recently, I can say that you shouldn't be too worried about popping the entire dash cluster out. All it takes is (hilariously) a medium-firm tug on the plastic trim around the dash, then a single screw on the cluster. At that point, the lens plastic is just held on by tabs. You can take that off and then put the marking directly on the rim of the cluster trim. If you're so inclined. Should only take about 10 minutes, even if you've never done it before.

[MirageRally]

Amazing work 7milesout! I love how you not only gave graphs but also an accurate readout on the speedometer of when to shift and where each gear changes is. Well done

[7milesout]

I have a 72 Plymouth Scamp. It has no tachometer, well not built in. It has an aftermarket one, but a) it is mounted too low and b) it seems to freeze up with it moves too fast so it is mostly worthless. So I had to do some math to figure out where 5,000 rpm is ... and marked it on the speedometer.

Yeah, it will rev past 5,000 rpm, but it is an old engine, old car, etc. So I would rather run it no harder than necessary. What I did was to calculate the rpm the engine would be turning when crossing the finish line on the quarter mile at my goal E.T. / Speed. It just happen to be that the engine would be turning right at 5,000 rpm. So I wanted to hold the other shifts at the same rpm to rev it no higher than that. Works out real well.

I manually shift it (automatic) because it tries to shift even sooner than that even with my foot to the floor. I got to liking the marks on the speedo for that, very handy. And is what led to wanting to do in on the Mirage too. The Scamp runs in the high 13's, for now.

[MirageRally]

I don't use equations of math that much so I would not be of very good use in collaborating on a project LOL. If you needed things organized, sorted, logged, and tracked then I'm your guy.

Edit: a 72 scamp? I love old cars. I forget which kind of car museum I went to but I was like a kid in a candy store...