New owner of a 2020 gray ES 5 speed. Couldn’t be happier

[HappyMirage]

Hey all, I’ve been lurking on here for a bit and decided I’d create an account to introduce myself and my Mirage!

[dspace9]

Welcome aboard! Hope you're enjoying your new Mirage so far.

[HappyMirage]

I bought the car to replace a 2010 Yaris that was getting a bit long in the tooth I got for cheap a few years ago. I’d been eyeing replacement options, and it really came down to the Mirage at the end of the day for me.

I didn’t like the Chevy Spark because I’d seen some reliability issues, and most other truly small cars are disappearing. And in particular the no-frills approach the Mirage takes (while having an impressive amount of features on a base model appealed to me.

I’ve mostly owned 90s beaters, 4 cylinder, all manuals. I’m not a fan of modern interiors. I actually like hard plastic interiors honestly. They just hold up better and look nicer over time. I also value comfort and fuel economy most when looking for a car, on top of reliability. The Yaris had an awkward seating position for me at 6’1 160lbs. I have no issues taking long drives, and I’ve had the car for a few weeks and 1100 miles.

I do find the shifter to not feel as precise as my Yaris, and reverse grinds for me every single time I try to engage from neutral, so I’ve had to shift to a forward gear before selecting it. But I plan to replace the stock oil with some redline recommended here.

I’m very happy with the car, and it has only exceeded my expectations. I do plan on doing the rear Beetle spring swap after getting the alignment checked.

[MirageRally]

Welcome! Feel free to ask any questions you have and all of us can help you out!

[HappyMirage]

It’s been fantastic, thank you. Reverse grinds always when trying to engage however, unless I select a forward gear first, which is a bit odd. I’ll be swapping the oil for some redline synthetic to see if that fixes it.

[MirageRally]

I bought the car to replace a 2010 Yaris that was getting a bit long in the tooth I got for cheap a few years ago. I’d been eyeing replacement options, and it really came down to the Mirage at the end of the day for me.

I didn’t like the Chevy Spark because I’d seen some reliability issues, and most other truly small cars are disappearing. And in particular the no-frills approach the Mirage takes (while having an impressive amount of features on a base model appealed to me.

I’ve mostly owned 90s beaters, 4 cylinder, all manuals. I’m not a fan of modern interiors. I actually like hard plastic interiors honestly. They just hold up better and look nicer over time. I also value comfort and fuel economy most when looking for a car, on top of reliability. The Yaris had an awkward seating position for me at 6’1 160lbs. I have no issues taking long drives, and I’ve had the car for a few weeks and 1100 miles.

I do find the shifter to not feel as precise as my Yaris, and reverse grinds for me every single time I try to engage from neutral, so I’ve had to shift to a forward gear before selecting it. But I plan to replace the stock oil with some redline recommended here.

I’m very happy with the car, and it has only exceeded my expectations. I do plan on doing the rear Beetle spring swap after getting the alignment checked.

In reverse gear make sure you hold the clutch in for 3-4 seconds then shift to reverse. The reverse gear is unsynchronized so that is why you're grinding. Wait 4 seconds then shift to reverse.

[HappyMirage]

Thank you! This forum is actually what really sold me on the Mirage. I’ve considered one over the years, but seeing the glowing reviews and reliability from users on this forum is what did it for me. It’s just a fantastic simple little car. And having 3 cylinders with just about the lightest weight you can have is really neat to me. I managed to get to 50mpg reported on back roads with the AC off and windows up. In the manual model, which really impressed me

[HappyMirage]

I’ve tried that as well. I’ve driven many manual cars and trucks over the years. I’ve had occasional issues, and usually that would be what I would do, and it worked. Keeping the clutch in didn’t end up working in any of the instances I tried it. The salesman did drive the car to his dealer 220 miles before delivering to me. If the issue persists after checking and changing the oil I’ll be looking at getting it serviced under warranty

[dspace9]

I bought the car to replace a 2010 Yaris that was getting a bit long in the tooth I got for cheap a few years ago. I’d been eyeing replacement options, and it really came down to the Mirage at the end of the day for me.

I didn’t like the Chevy Spark because I’d seen some reliability issues, and most other truly small cars are disappearing. And in particular the no-frills approach the Mirage takes (while having an impressive amount of features on a base model appealed to me.

I’ve mostly owned 90s beaters, 4 cylinder, all manuals. I’m not a fan of modern interiors. I actually like hard plastic interiors

R gear has been finicky for me from day 1, back in 2014. If I have trouble getting into gear, I'll go into second, then into Reverse and it always goes into reverse then.

You make a good point about the interior being hard plastic as a positive. True, that makes the interior more washable and durable. Plush interiors do date pretty fast.

Honestly I've had my Mirage over 6 and a half years, and besides a few things about Mitsubishi dealer network in Canada, my car has been pretty solidly reliable. I drive about 21,000 km's a year. Always gets 40+ mpg, sometimes 50 mpg in the summer. I think it's like a "retro" hatchback that wasn't trying to be retro. More of a throwback to the early 90s Civics. Way closer to an older Civic than a new one eh. In a good way sorry

[MirageRally]

Thank you! This forum is actually what really sold me on the Mirage. I’ve considered one over the years, but seeing the glowing reviews and reliability from users on this forum is what did it for me. It’s just a fantastic simple little car. And having 3 cylinders with just about the lightest weight you can have is really neat to me. I managed to get to 50mpg reported on back roads with the AC off and windows up. In the manual model, which really impressed me

Same here, Mr M (Pryme) actually talked about the mirage in a Honest Review on YouTube and that led me here to the forum