First Week with Mirage- Pluses and Minuses

[Danny]

Yesterday I got my Mirage. In part thanks to things I read on this forum. So for that, thanks all.

Like any car, there were some pluses and some things not so good. Overall I'd give it about an 8 out of 10.

The fun is figuring it out. I put about 130 miles on it. I still don't get all the dials, but little by little they're coming to me. The radio with all the high tech stuff is something I've never had. I pretty much just listen to the radio. Sirius and all that other stuff I have no real interest in.

Setting the radio was easy enough. The touch screen push buttons on the screen were new to me. I'm used to physical button type controls. It felt weird that buttons 3 and 6 felt far away in such a small car. I pretty much listen to one station (Positive Country) about 90% of the time. It's commercial free and plays the music I like. It doesn't have a strong signal though. Sometimes at the end of my route (25 miles away) the station comes in. Other times it doesn't. The steering wheel button flipping through the stations came in handy.

The comfort was an odd experience. When I sat in the thing, I loved it. I get comfort is subjective. I've read on here those who don't find it comfy. I could have put the seat back and dozed. It was that comfy. As my day went on though, it felt a bit more un-comfy. By the end, I was thinking I'm going to carry my Purple Pillow, which I used when I drove a truck- with me on my 400 mile trip.

The turns at low speed were great. The turning radius on this puppy is great. There's a round-about in my route that 90% of the people- including me- take up part of 2 lanes to make their turn. I stayed in my lane. Also there were a few places on my route that can save a few seconds per stop. Doing a U-turn and always going forward beats pulling in and backing up.

Turning at higher speeds is tougher. There's a few entrances to the highway on my route that it can't really handle at a fast enough speed. There's one entrance that is essentially a 25MPH U-turn, hardly any runway to get on, and then ya have to merge into traffic. My route is later at night, so not much traffic. During the day I'd avoid that entrance, even though it would add a few miles.

The fuel economy was fun. For starters, the gauge barely went down. Took a second to realize it was a right/left type gauge. I like it!! Then going through the MPG, I got 36.8 on the city part. At the highway part I got up to 39.4. My take is that means I'm getting over 40 on the highway. I didn't reset it or anything. Then when I got back to city driving, for the last 10 miles or so it went down to 39.3. Nice!! It sure beats 20. That right there is why I bought the car. When I get more used to it, my goal will be 40. I'm not sure how accurate the gauge is, but I'll find out. My Fusion gauge would say 17-18, but I got about 20.

I pretty much kept it under 70MPH. I passed a truck for a bit and got it up to 75, but not so sure I'd feel comfortable keeping it at that speed for any length of time. Maybe as I get used to it that will change. For now 70 is my top cruising speed w/ the occasional 75 to pass someone.

Seat belt chimes drove me batty. I've disconnected those in my last 3 vehicles. They all disconnect pretty much the same way. It didn't work with the Mirage. I get in/out of the thing about 45 times a day. A lot of those times are bunched together. So I don't want the belt on for 1000 feet. I called the dealership to make sure I wasn't going to void any warranty. They said there was no way to do it. No biggie. I'll order some clips from Amazon. They cost about $5 or so.

The back up cam was new. I'd never had one. I guess it's nice, but I still think it's better to simply look.

I hesitated to put this in here. I DON'T want any advice just yet. I want to figure it out. The fan is odd. If I put the temp down, the fan speeds up. I'm not running AC, just the fan. When I have the temp at 62 or so, the fan blows as if it's on high. When I have it at 72, it slows down some. I'd rather set the temp and fan speeds independently. I tried the auto button on/off and a couple of other things. It's not bothersome or anything. I'm not going to focus on that while driving. It's hardly a priority. I just want to figure it out. In time I'll either figure it out or realize that's how they designed it.

I love the manual. This would apply to any car. I catch way more green lights. Downshifting lets ya cruise into em at 15MPH (or whatever speed) that w/ my mini van or an automatic ya just get to the red light, stop a few seconds, and then it turns green. If someone is right behind ya, I'll either tap the brakes so they know I'm slowing down- or just go to the light and stop like I'd do in an automatic. Time of day, a quick peek in the mirror, and a few other things determine how I'll approach a stop light. At least with the 5 speed ya have options.

Overall I'm giving it an 8 out of 10. The pep was more than I expected. More than my mini van for sure. I'm not going to win any drag races, but that's ok. I'm not going to enter any. The fuel economy seems to be great. It drives nice. Handles well most of the time. The comfort I'll figure out what fits for me. I love it on the many times I get in/out of it the first half of my route. It's a bit less comfy on the 2nd half, where I have two 25 mile stops.

Driving this thing is fun. Other than the MPG, that's the main thing. I loved my HHR. That was a great car. My mini van was ok, but not fun. That makes a great back up vehicle, but I didn't care for it as a primary. The Fusion was a nice riding car. Love it on the highway, but the MPG was brutal. After 1 day, it looks as if the Mirage will be a good combination of great MPG, fun to drive, practical- and the things that aren't great about it I can live with.

Thanks to all those who helped me buy it. Not just those who replied to a comment I had, but I also read a lot of these pages for a few days there. Thanks a ton and looking forward to starting to get to know some of ya's online and your experiences w/ your Mirage.

[Fummins]

You'll probably win a ton of street light drags come winter time. Maybe more if you had the sluggish cvt.

[7milesout]

Danny - As for the 75 mph feelings on the interstate. I'm perfectly comfortable with mine at 75+ mph. I'd have to go back and read (I either made a thread or included it in a thread), I had 2 of my sons with me on a 250 mile trip from Knoxville to south metro side of Atlanta.

I didn't want them to get uncomfortable or grouchy enduring that ride, so I wanted to expose them as little to the small size of the car as possible. So I set the cruise on 80 mph (which is probably 78 mph) and cruised most of the way back home rolling along at 78 mph. The Blueberry was perfectly happy with doing so. And as an added bonus, the boys were not at all complaining. They were perfectly fine. The son in the back seat would lay over and snooze. It was a great trip. I think I achieved 38 ish mpg on that leg home. Not bad at that pace and that load. I think you'll get used to and comfortable with higher speeds, as needed.

Congrats on the car. And ... GOOD WRITE UP!

[Danny]

Day 2- Getting a bit more used to it. Get the bad (which isn't even that bad cuz it's better than yesterday) For the seat belt I just buckled it up and was on top of it for some of the runs. It still chimes when ya take it off even a few seconds before I get to my stop. Ah well. I bought some clips for it. They'll be here Sunday.

I'm turning better. Getting used to the way it handles. The one U-turn to the highway I stated was 25 up there- is actually 15. It's tough to get over 45 entering the highway on that little runway. I'm in 2nd gear around the turn, then have maybe 500 feet to get on the highway. I'll avoid that during the day. Other than that, all the other entrances were better. There's no longer the feeling I'm going to flip.

I'm also figuring out where I want to put my knick knacks. It doesn't have the little pockets for stuff other vehicles have. Pens go in the glove box I guess. I only use em to start/end the day. Same w/ sunglasses/glasses. I change em once during my drive when the sun goes down. Gum goes here. Something else goes there. Getting that all figured out to where I can just grab it at night. The glove box door is sort of flimsy. I'll keep an eye on that.

Now for the good!!! The MPG I got it over 40. I was at 37.8 after the first half. I got it up to 39.6. I was pretty happy. Then I had to stop for a train. The wait was about 8 minutes. I watched the MPG gauge go to 39.5, 39.4, and so on. Down to 39.0. So on the way back I cheated some. I took the highway at 65MPH. I got it up to 40.9 at my last stop. Then on the way home I got it to 41.1. That's not really city driving. It's more suburban driving.

I am SUPER PLEASED about the MPG. I usually look at the miles on my odometer. It's always been either that or the trip meter for any of my vehicles. The Fusion had an MPG gauge, but with the MPG I was getting, I sure didn't want to look at it. This is different. I'm not starting at it or anything (except when I was at the train track), but it's a fun challenge to see if I can improve it.

The other thing I love about this is the cruise control. I meant to mention that in my above post. Even my HHR and Caravan, I always kind of had to glance at it right quick to start the process. I've had those vehicles for years. Over 350,000 miles between the two of them. This one I can do by feel by the 2nd time I used it. It's that easy. So I really like that feature.

[Mark]

Day 2- Now for the good!!! The MPG I got it over 40. I was at 37.8 after the first half. I got it up to 39.6. I was pretty happy. Then I had to stop for a train. The wait was about 8 minutes. I watched the MPG gauge go to 39.5, 39.4, and so on. Down to 39.0. So on the way back I cheated some. I took the highway at 65MPH. I got it up to 40.9 at my last stop. Then on the way home I got it to 41.1. That's not really city driving. It's more suburban driving.

You need to take advantage of your manual stop & go feature on your Mirage while waiting for a train to pass! I prefer it over auto stop & go!

[Danny]

You need to take advantage of your manual stop & go feature on your Mirage while waiting for a train to pass! I prefer it over auto stop & go!

Is this real or one of those rookie initiation things? =)

[Fummins]

Is this real or one of those rookie initiation things? =)

I assume he means turn your car off

[Danny]

I assume he means turn your car off

DOH!! The thing is ya don't know how long the train is going to be. It was moving at a pretty good clip. Line was pretty long, yet no one got out of it and turned around. No one else turned their cars off. The location was nowhere near where a train would start. There's a stop in my town where they just inch along because it's getting started 1/4 mile away. Locals know to get out of line and take another road. So I didn't realize it would take that long.

Anyway- no biggie. Live and learn. I like the MPG. My beef now is with the chimes. Yeesh!! Take your belt off 2 seconds before ya stop and it goes off. I had my mom with me today. She's elderly. She even mentioned it. Unprompted by me. That thing is a PITA.

[Fummins]

Day 2- Get the bad (which isn't even that bad cuz it's better than yesterday) For the seat belt I just buckled it up and was on top of it for some of the runs. It still chimes when ya take it off even a few seconds before I get to my stop. Ah well. I bought some clips for it. They'll be here Sunday.
.

I'm pretty sure you can turn off that seatbelt chime. At least on the 2017's you should be able to. I had my scan tool hooked up to one just now and looked through the menu's and found the seatbelt reminder settings in the "meter"(speedo cluster) section. I think the beeper is inside the cluster so that makes sense. There are 2 different settings for the seatbelt reminder and one that just shows --- which I assume means off. If that's the case anyone with a relatively up to date autel scan tool can do this for you same with a dealer if they have someone competent enough that doesn't need to call Japan.

[skyblue]

I'm pretty sure you can turn off that seatbelt chime. At least on the 2017's you should be able to. I had my scan tool hooked up to one just now and looked through the menu's and found the seatbelt reminder settings in the "meter"(speedo cluster) section. I think the beeper is inside the cluster so that makes sense. There are 2 different settings for the seatbelt reminder and one that just shows --- which I assume means off. If that's the case anyone with a relatively up to date autel scan tool can do this for you same with a dealer if they have someone competent enough that doesn't need to call Japan.

Not long after I got mine, I couldn't work out why it was beeping at me, I finally worked it out, reached under the seat and unplugged the cable that wasn't the airbag cable (which I think is pale yellow from memory) and it stopped, I did the passengers side as well because I put heavy things on the seat and it thinks someone needs to be belted. I have never in my life needed to be reminded to put my seatbelt on I don't understand why so many car makers include this annoying feature.