Hi, advice on 2014 ES out of state

[Fummins]

Hi Casey I was gonna say I would double check that that ES has cruise control. Looks like it does from the website. I know some ES' don't have cruise, my own included. Mine doesn't have buttons on the steering wheel, and this one does I believe. Anyway just I wanted to point that out eh cheers. If you're traveling that far for the car.

You can see clear as day the steering wheel has cruise buttons on the rh side of the steering wheel and Bluetooth on the left.

2014-15 ES Mirages are not the base models & have cruise. 2017-18 ES & 2014-15 DE don't have cruise unless it's been added afterwards.

US and Canada trim levels are not optioned the same.... Canada ES is the welfare edition.

[Fummins]

Hi, I drive 160 miles round trip to work 10 times a month and looking to replace my 86 S10 pick up. I think I've settled on a mirage for mpg and reliability and I just think they're cool. I'm 43 and never bought a car from a dealer. I'm hyper economical with cars. I don't think I've spent the price of a new mirage in total for vehicles my entire life. I set a goal to find a mirage with less than 100k miles with a manual, one owner and less than $5k. I've found a 2014 ES out of state that's $5,500 with 78,000 miles. They say their price is firm. Car comes with a 1,000 miles power train warranty from the used car dealer. Any advice on this model or specifically buying a car out of state that I can't see for myself?
Thanks!

If it isn't a flood damaged repaired car I'd consider it. It'll be more reliable and WAY cheaper to operate than your S10.

[Top_Fuel]

I’d check it out for you, but I’m 300 miles from Knoxville.

$5,500 is a pretty good RETAIL number in the current market for a clean 5-speed 2014 ES. If you check out CarMax and Carvana, they would probably want $7,999 for the same car. If everything works on it (especially the AC) and the body/paint is nice, then this sounds like a fair deal.

For a comparison, I have a 1-owner 2015 ES 5-speed with 98,000 miles and nearly perfect body/paint/interior. Carvana offered me $4,000 for it last week.


OK...I just now clicked on the link you posted and checked out the pictures. The first thing I noticed is the body damage on the passenger side in multiple spots...



If you don't care about that, then it's no big deal. To repair that properly, a body shop would literally have to repaint the entire passenger side of the car and the front bumper cover. The cost to do that professionally is probably about $2,500. Now we know why this car is priced under the market and ended up at an auction. If you just need a solid driver, this could still be a good deal. I'm too anal to ignore that body damage and would want it fixed.

The CarFax report shows 2 new tires at 20K miles...then 2 new tires at 44K miles...then 4 new tire at 64K miles. I'm not saying this car has alignment issues, but it's making me wonder a little. It could be the original owner never rotated the tires (not unusual) and just put cheap tires on it (again...not unusual).


Normally I wouldn’t try to talk someone into a new car, but in some situations a new Mirage is worth considering.

You could buy a new 5-speed Mirage for $11,000 a couple of months ago. If/when the car market gets back to normal, I would expect that to be the case again. Sure…that new Mirage is $5K+ more than the 2014 you are looking at. But it’s also 7 years newer, needs nothing, is cosmetically perfect, has a 10 year/100K mile warranty, and is overall a better car than the 2014.

If you don’t absolutely need a car now, you could always sit back and see what happens with the market. But if you do need something now, it sounds like the 2014 you have your eye on is a decent deal.

[Casey]

Good eyes! They told me there was some cosmetic damage on the right side but I couldn't tell in the pics.

[Casey]

Ah, I figured out how to make the pictures bigger and zoom in. I found this one closer this morning searching in a different way.

https://www.camposcars.comhttp//www....hi/mirage/008/

[Mark]

This makes a lot of sense. I don't know your situation, but give Dirks suggestion some thought. Maybe sit with a dealer & find out what the payments will be. They may even give you some for your old S-10 on trade. Doesn't cost anything to ask

White Bear was selling 2021 Mirage ES manuals as low as $10,999 some time ago. That price did not include extra rebates (loyalty, military, & VIP) one may also qualify for. A current Mitsubishi owner could have gotten a Mirage for $9,999 (using the $1,000 loyalty rebate being offered at the time).

Today the same car is $12,999 @ White Bear.

Personally, a new $10,000-11,000 Mirage interests me. If the price goes above that, used ones become more interesting to me.

I don't think a used Mirage manual (under 100,000 miles) in the $5,000-6,000 range is a bad choice. Especially, if you could buy one from a private party that has the maintenance records for it.

[Top_Fuel]

I found this one closer this morning...

That 2015 doesn't look bad. It's a DE (base model) so it won't have cruise control or a height-adjustable driver's seat. It won't have a few other options but those 2 may be the most useful. Dang...it's got multiple damaged panels on the driver's side!?! If you aren't hung up on cosmetics, then I like this one better than the 2014. Adding cruise control to a DE isn't too bad.

Definitely get a CarFax/Autocheck report on any Mirage you are looking at. You don't want to drive 3 hours to find out you are looking at a car with a salvage title.

[inuvik]

Here is the original window sticker for that Mirage.

[Casey]

Y'all are better picture viewers than me. Thanks for all the advice. Yeah, I realized after posting it is the model with no cruise control. That's a deal breaker for me as I have a leg issue and long time on the pedal on my commute is hard on me.

[Mark]

Y'all are better picture viewers than me. Thanks for all the advice. Yeah, I realized after posting it is the model with no cruise control. That's a deal breaker for me as I have a leg issue and long time on the pedal on my commute is hard on me.

2014-15 DE manual = no factory cruise control
2017-18 ES manual = no factory cruise control

2019 was the year cruise control became standard for all trim levels. Aftermarket cruise control can be added to most any car, but that's an extra cost.

If you want a manual with factory cruise, you are shopping for a

2014-15 ES manual

2017 SE manual

2019-21 ES manual

This is somewhat confusing, because the ES was the upper trim level in 2014-15, but the ES became the base trim level in 2017-21.

If Fummins & dspace9 bring up Canadian trim levels, we will just become more confused.