2020 ES Manual: My Lil' Truckster...

[Mark]

You can also drive the Mirage real easy and slow like a lawn tractor. I drive like that all the time too. But I like to see what my car can do. The real impressive thing about the Mirage compared to most other cars, is its extremely small turning radius.

Driving a Mirage is nothing like driving a lawnmower. A lawnmower is on full throttle & your hydrostatic transmission controls your speed. I may mow 2 hour straight and never touch the throttle once. I haven't driven a riding lawn mower with gears in 35+ years. Most new push mowers don't even come with a throttle any more. You start the engine & runs full throttle until you turn it off.

You can go down the road 55 mph in 3rd gear if you like, but that's just a waste of fuel. If you are doing most shifts near 4,000 rpm, that's pretty excessive in my mine. I am not saying a Mirage can't do that.

[dspace9]

Driving a Mirage is nothing like driving a lawnmower. A lawnmower is on full throttle & your hydrostatic transmission controls your speed. I may mow 2 hour straight and never touch the throttle once. I haven't driven a riding lawn mower with gears in 35+ years. Most new push mowers don't even come with a throttle any more. You start the engine & runs full throttle until you turn it off.

You can go down the road 55 mph in 3rd gear if you like, but that's just a waste of fuel. If you are doing most shifts near 4,000 rpm, that's pretty excessive in my mine. I am not saying a Mirage can't do that.

I don't mean I'm going down the road at 55 mph. I mean I drive longer in lower gears than other manuals I've driven, for things like merging onto the freeway quickly. I think my overall fuel economy numbers show that I don't drive like that lol. But I am not afraid of being in 4th gear well over 100 km's an hour. Or staying in third gear well past 60 km's an hour.

[Mark]

I don't mean I'm going down the road at 55 mph. I mean I drive longer in lower gears than other manuals I've driven, for things like merging onto the freeway quickly. I think my overall fuel economy numbers show that I don't drive like that lol. But I am not afraid of being in 4th gear well over 100 km's an hour. Or staying in third gear well past 60 km's an hour.

You could drive a Mirage without using 5th gear, & it would be perfectly fine. I forget to shift into 5th, & find myself cruising down the highway in 4th sometimes. I'm just wasting fuel when I do that, however.

Personally, I think 4th gear could a bit lower on a Mirage, & 5th gear could be a bit higher. 5th gear handles 40+ mph quite well.

[7milesout]

Thanks for the replies. I had a salesman in the car distracting me. But I'm going to have to go ahead and guess that 3,500 rpm would be about "normal." If I'm out on the road with noone around and in no hurry, sure, lower rpm would work too. The engine has good torque for the size vehicle, so it has good "flexibility."

QUESTION: How small of a trailer would a Mirage fit on?

[dspace9]

lower rpm would work too. The engine has good torque for the size vehicle, so it has good "flexibility."

QUESTION: How small of a trailer would a Mirage fit on?

A few people have put trailer hitches on their Mirage's. Says "do not recommend" in the owner's manual. When I took a 2014 demo Mirage for a test drive, I asked the sales guy if you could get a hitch from the factory, and he started to laugh. Do you know anything about the Mercedes A-class? The A class Forum is not nearly as good as the Mirage Forum. Looks like a practical 4WD wagon. Not many of those around now. $33,000 US I think.

[gone.a]

Well yeah, that is true. I guess I haven't really fully given up on it. A Mirage is a helluva vehicle. I just happen to find one that I like. I'm negotiating with a dealer now. If I can get it low enough, I'm going to go ahead and do it.

Besides the fact that I worked as a design engineer, I'm a car guy. I know a valuable vehicle when I see it. One of the things that has sort of swayed me back on the prowl for one is ... what if Mitsubishi does like most other manufacturers and completely stop building vehicles with a manual transmission? Oh that would suck. So, if I can work out a good enough deal now, I'll go ahead and buy it. I'm certain I will keep it for 10 years, at least the length of the powertrain warranty.

I hope you guys appreciate your Mirages. I'm a big dude, I look (and smell) a lot like Shrek, like a middle linebacker. I played 1st year of college football (but got hurt) as a linebacker. That's been a few years back. I also roadraced sportbikes in WERA (#701). I don't say these things to brag. I say them to describe what I look like, what I'm built like, heck I am the kind of guy most would expect to make fun of a Mirage. However, I think the Mirage is one of the most badass cars on the road. Why? Because Mitsubishi went for simple, inexpensive, reliable and valuable. I think it hit its mark. And I have respect for that. Don't let haters sway your opinion based on a 3-tapper 78 hp engine. I say it's a "tapper" because with only 78 hp, it doesn't really bang ... it just kind of taps. But tapping conserves fuel, so I'll take it.

Hehe, I like your attitude, I feel the same way towards the car. Don't care what other people think.

I joke with my wife, I tell her I pulled up next to a Lambo and I told the guy, ''You got 10x the engine, but I got 10x the balls''.

Then she tells me, yeah its glandular and its disgusting.

Little bit of Mirage humor.

[7milesout]

A few people have put trailer hitches on their Mirage's. Says "do not recommend" in the owner's manual. When I took a 2014 demo Mirage for a test drive, I asked the sales guy if you could get a hitch from the factory, and he started to laugh. Do you know anything about the Mercedes A-class? The A class Forum is not nearly as good as the Mirage Forum. Looks like a practical 4WD wagon. Not many of those around now. $33,000 US I think.

dspace9 - Don't take this as an insult. It is not. I am a former patented design engineer for Toyota, a former patented design engineer for Hyundai-Kia. I have 2 more patents with 2 other companies. Actually, patents are not that big of a deal depending on what one is working on. If a person who works in the industry where patents are concerned and they know the ins and outs about how to create an idea that is patentable, its kind of easy. However, if a person is simply working on a technology in order to make a product (that is) better, patents are fewer. I've always been the latter. I would have remained at Toyota if it weren't located in Michigan. Nothing wrong with Michigan, I loved it. But The Warden and I have no family there so she required the prison facility be relocated back down in the dirty south.

Anywho ... the point is, I know the Automotive industry pretty well. Better than most, not nearly as well as others. From somewhere in the mid 2000's, the German auto industry took a big dump in quality. Especially BMW. Mercedes? Not as bad as BMW. But bad enough. As horrible as Hyundai-Kia vehicles are as compared to Toyota, I'd still take a Hyundai over a BMW as far as long term quality and cost of ownership. I'm currently shopping for a rear wheel drive, manual transmission upgrade vehicle for my son (preferably a G35, but not finding a good unit). I backed my search criteria off to just that, RWD, manual transmission, max price I think was $8,500. The late model BMWs (compared to the vintage of vehicle I'm willing to buy for my son) were all over the place. Those are the turds one needs to stay away from, all they'll do is look good and break down.

As far as that Mercedes, I wouldn't own a Mercedes because their reliability is not very good, but mainly because when they do break down, they cost a small fortune to repair. AWD down here in the dirty south is not needed at all. Up in the Great White North, I'd take one for sure. But it would be something other than a German breed. Porsche is the only German product that didn't take a (huge) quality nosedive. But they don't make a daily driver car for us common folk.

Lastly - I was referring to putting a Mirage on a trailer. And since then I've determined a 6' x 14' trailer would be as small as one could go. My "cute little" utility trailer is a 5' x 10' so it won't work. I sold a 24' enclosed trailer a couple years ago (got tired of paying storage on it) and the current owner would let me borrow it if I wanted to. So I'm good there.

7milesout

[dspace9]

Fair enough. So a Mercedes now is not like the ones in the 1980s, that could get a million miles?

I stick with my Mirage, I only owe like $1300 on my car now.

My only patent is being patently cool.

Truth is though, I think I might end up with a bright yellow Mercedes delivered to my house one day by accidentally buying online. I could see it happen. Looks like an AMG that's 3x the cost. I think that is the trick with expensive things; try to make them look more expensive than they are.

[7milesout]

I can't say I know a whole lot about Mercedes. It's just not a brand I've been "drawn" to. I have been drawn to BMW because, their cars are "driver's cars." I'll give them that. At least when they're working well. They drive really nice, very connected to the road.

Owning a performance sedan like a 5 series or 7 series, or the M version of the 5 series is like dating a supermodel. When she's in a good mood, and things are clicking, there's probably no better experience a man could have. But the other 25 days of the month, she's mad at you for not buying her 4 pairs of shoes and a Gucci handbag. She kicks you out of the bed and is only happy with you after you spend gobs of money on her. And that only lasts a short time until she's needing money spent on her again.

The word on the street is that the 7 Series (E65 and F01) could possibly be the lowest quality vehicles ever released on the face of the earth. I saw a video about a guy who owned something like a limo business in England. His company purchased something like five 745's or 750's. He said that he had a hard time ever having even 1 of them available for business. That they stayed in the shop all the time. He was going crazy about how terrible they were. He finally started trading them in on Lexus LS 460's I believe it was. The video was amazing.

You can look at LS 460 forums, and yes they have problems. Mainly front end sway bars, and the brake actuator. Some odds and ends here and there. They're not perfect. But if you flip over and look at BMW 7 series forums, it is a hellacious nightmare of problems from one end to the other. I have a close friend with a M5 V10, and he says he gets nervous when he's about to push the start button as he's worried he's about to see "the yellow cog of death." And he has several times. But he's really good at tearing his engine down and repairing the problems himself. He just dreads it. His car is awesome, and sounds even better. But he's also looking at replacing his big end rod bearings and the hydraulic pump (I think it is) on his SMG. Those things he'll have to have done at an independent shop soon. And when all is said and done, that's likely to cost him ~$8,000. That kind of crap would kill it for me.

[dspace9]

You can look at LS 460 forums, and yes they have problems. Mainly front end sway bars, and the brake actuator. Some odds and ends here and there. They're not perfect. But if you flip over and look at BMW 7 series forums, it is a hellacious nightmare of problems from one end to the other. I have a close friend with a M5 V10, and he says he gets nervous when he's about to push the start button as he's worried he's about to see "the yellow cog of death." And he has several times. But he's really good at tearing his engine down and repairing the problems himself. He just dreads it. His car is awesome, and sounds even better. But he's also looking at replacing his big end rod bearings and the hydraulic pump (I think it is) on his SMG. Those things he'll have to have done at an independent shop soon. And when all is said and done, that's likely to cost him ~$8,000. That kind of crap would kill it for me.

Here is my situation. I have had my Mirage almost 7 years. If you can get 10-15 years out of ANY automobile, that's probably pretty good here in Canada. So, I probably have to replace my Mirage eventually, and in the winter I do want a 4WD car if I could afford it. Subaru's basic Impreza is like $22,000 Canadian.. and when I could get a Mercedes with tonnes of options at $37,000, seems like I need to expand my new car horizons. Mercedes in the old days were known to be super durable.

But BMW wise, I know a guy at work who inherited a 1983 3 series from his late father in law. Had new leather in the interior redone by the pros and everything. Not sure if he has it still. Lives near the cottage Mitt Romney used to own in Canada.