Mirage Issues? (I'm considering buying a used or leftover Mirage)

[Mark]

The Mirage I looked at the other day had a sticker price of $17,400 USD when new and could have been bought with only 3800 miles for $5,000 USD which would have been a steal if they'd have just done a decent repair on it.

I am not saying $5,000 for a 3,800 mile Mirage is not a great deal, because it is! In my mind, however, a Mirage is not a $17,400 car.

My new 2017 ES manual had a window sticker of $14,220. I paid $9,299. If I had qualified for the loyalty, military, & VIP rebates at the time, I would have paid $7,799 for a brand new Mirage.

Closing costs (WI sales tax, registration, documentation fees, new WI plates, etc.) were $854.70 @ White Bear. If I had qualified for the extra rebates, my sales tax/OTD costs would have been less, too.

I really like my Mirage. It was very affordable to purchase new, has a good warranty, seems reliable, and it's very economical to drive. Having said that, I wouldn't pay a lot of money for one.

Speaking for myself only - Anything over $10,000 & I would consider a 130 hp manual Honda Fit instead. If Honda was selling Honda Fits for $8,000-10,000 brand new in 2017, I would have bought one. Instead I bought a Mirage in that price range, & I have zero regrets.

P.S. - I only buy manual vehicles. Thus, my discussion sort of reflects that.

[2016 Versa]

If I were buying a car for me to drive a manual transmission wouldn't be a problem but it's for my wife who is in her mid 50's and just learning to drive due of a seizure disorder she had for years so a manual for her is out of the question.

[cookiemonster]

I guess everyone can tell from my user name I'm not a Mirage owner but I'd like a little insight on issues everyone has had with their Mirage and approximate mileage. My wife is currently looking for a small daily driver and is considering a Mirage if one comes up at a price too good to pass up. We looked at 2019 with a rebuilt title Friday the only problem is the owner got a rebuilt title but forgot to rebuild it. Everything about the front end was misaligned. The a/c didn't work and when I questioned it he said he replaced the condenser and didn't recharge the a/c. So, here comes someone with 2 cans of freon and a charging hose to put in without pulling a vacuum on the system, adding oil or a way to check hi/lo pressure. The one we looked at only had 3,826 miles and if the owner had spent some time trying to repair it he could have made a decent car out of it. The rest of the body/interior were perfect.

I'd be thankful to anyone who can tell me about problems they've had or that are associated with the Mirage in case we find another nicer one we're interested in I'll have a better idea about how good of a car they are and what problems to look for or possibly expect with ownership.

I've had zero problems with my daily-driver 2014 Mirage after all these years

[Mark]

If I were buying a car for me to drive a manual transmission wouldn't be a problem but it's for my wife who is in her mid 50's and just learning to drive due of a seizure disorder she had for years so a manual for her is out of the question.

There's a number of members on the forum that are in the same boat as you. I wouldn't dump the wife to buy a Mirage with a manual either. I really like the Mirage manual powertrain, but I totally get the need for an automatic or CVT. You have had some positive experiences with rebuilt/salvage titles. I can see the draw to those, too!

In my case, brand new recently updated Mirages selling for $9,000 (regardless of qualifying for the extra rebates or not) was a big draw. I didn't even consider a Mirage prior to discovering that. The Mirage new car prices pulled me away from the used car market. At the time, I was considering the Fit, Yaris, Mazda2, and even the possibility of an older Echo. I actually like the simplicity of the Echo & considered getting a used one for years. My preference for hatchbacks probably prevented that. The Mirage checked the right boxes (affordable, reliable, economical) for me.

Now that I have owned a Mirage for 3 years, I wouldn't hesitate to search the 2017-2020 used market. Fummins' fleet of Mirages & the Mirage with 414,000 miles are a good endorsement for this small economy car. For families that own multiple vehicles, I think a Mirage is good one to have in the driveway. Good luck with your search!

[2016 Versa]

I wish the Nissan Versa forums I'm on had as much traffic in them as this site. The Nissan forums sometimes goes a few day without a single post. If we do buy a Mirage this will be my go to site.

[Mark]

I wish the Nissan Versa forums I'm on had as much traffic in them as this site. The Nissan forums sometimes goes a few day without a single post. If we do buy a Mirage this will be my go to site.

Some of us can be annoying at times (including myself), but it is a great forum. I consider several members to be good friends even though we have never met. Nice perk to owning a Mirage, but we like the Mirage window shoppers, too.

It took the dudes who started this forum years before they even bought their first used Mirage. Heck, I owned a Mirage before they did. So you are in good company here!

[Johnny Mullet]

I bought my Mirage ES new in January 2017. It is now at almost 90,000 miles with no major issues. It is ready for it's second set of front brakes and 3rd set if tires. Only issues were worn exhaust hangers making a rattle noise and a loose power window motor and I fixed these myself. My friend has a 2014 with 130,000 miles and only issue was a clogged heater core and loose exhaust heat shields.

[2016 Versa]

Some of us can be annoying at times (including myself), but it is a great forum. I consider several members to be good friends even though we have never met. Nice perk to owning a Mirage, but we like the Mirage window shoppers, too.

It took the dudes who started this forum years before they even bought their first used Mirage. Heck, I owned a Mirage before they did. So you are in good company here!

Since I bought my first used Ford Escort in 1993 I've owned 5 of them with one of them having 518K miles on it when I retired it. It was my first one a stripped down '88 Pony version that I bought in '93 with 146K miles for $500. I kept up with fluid checks/changes and it just kept on running. It was still running when I parked it but needed more work than I wanted to put in it since I have chronic back pain, therefore I just retired it since I wasn't going to pay someone $50-100 an hour to work on a car with 1/2 a million miles. I'm a member of a good Ford Escort forum (FEOA.net) and have been for years but as they've got more scarce over the years the traffic in that forum has dropped off a lot. There are a few people left on that forum that were probably members or became members shortly after I joined that I'd also consider friends even though I've never met any of them. I'm also a member over at ecomodder.com and know MetroMPG owns it, a Micra forum and the Mirage forums. I joined the Micra forum too because they share the same drive train as the Versa and I thought I might learn something useful there.

[inuvik]

I bought my Mirage ES new in January 2017. It is now at almost 90,000 miles with no major issues. It is ready for it's second set of front brakes and 3rd set if tires. Only issues were worn exhaust hangers making a rattle noise and a loose power window motor and I fixed these myself. My friend has a 2014 with 130,000 miles and only issue was a clogged heater core and loose exhaust heat shields.

Good to see ya still around Johnny. My 2015 ES (which was the top trim model then) has been trouble free since purchase in June 2015 and now has over 90000 miles on the clock. Other than normal maintenance (oil changes, a set of front brake pads, tires and CVT fluid changes) no problems whatsoever. No oil consumption. As far as I'm concerned the real unsung hero of the Mirage is the 3 cylinder 3A92 engine. As time has gone by this engine has been proven to be ultra durable and reliable. White Bear Mitsubishi took in trade that Mirage with over 400,000 miles with the original engine that hadn't had any major mechanical work done to it. How far could one of these last with some OCD maintenance? 750,000+ miles / 1,200,000 km seems doable.

[2016 Versa]

Since someone brought up the subject of CVT fluid changes how often are those of you with a CVT doing a drain/fill and how much fluid does it take? I'm planning on doing a drain/fill with new filter at 30K on the Versa. I've got 10 quarts of Nissan NS-3 fluid that I bought online a few months ago. Dealer price is usually $20+ a quart. I picked up these 10 quarts for $125 and was just wondering how many drain/fills it will do. At some point when I've used this fluid up I'll probably stop using Nissan fluid and go to one of the aftermarket fluids unless I start hearing lots of horror stories associated with their use.