Finally! A negative Canadian review of the 2021 Mirage!

[MetroMPG]

Summary of this review: go test drive a Spark.

if you're thinking of going with the Mirage, you owe it to yourself to make the time to test drive the Spark - you probably won't be disappointed!

Actually, there's a lot more to it than that. This reviewer clearly didn't drink whatever Kool-Aid the other Canadian reviewers have been drinking, because this one stands out from the crowd for the negative vibe:

...dodgy upholstery in both rows, flimsy padding for the seating and almost no support in the front buckets.

...the Mirage is limited when there’s only one occupant on board, but times it by four and things are downright painful - and even a little funny - when accelerating, passing and on-ramping onto the highway.

...a car that is genuinely terrible when equipped with the CVT.

At $15,183 (including transport fees), the 2021 Mitsubishi Mirage ES is not as compelling a choice as its lone rival. The Chevrolet Spark is a fun-to-drive, confidence-inspiring little car, at least when compared to the Mirage.

...that long warranty: do you really want to drive this car for a decade?

The glaring omission from the review that puts the professionalism of the reviewer in question: he says NOTHING about fuel economy. That's the #1 motivation for Mirage buyers, according to Mitsu Canada.

Read the full review: https://www.auto123.com/en/car-revie...-review/68300/

[Mark]

Summary of this review: go test drive a Spark.

The glaring omission from the review that puts the professionalism of the reviewer in question: he says NOTHING about fuel economy. That's the #1 motivation for Mirage buyers, according to Mitsu Canada.

Read the full review: https://www.auto123.com/en/car-revie...-review/68300/

If I had to haul family members (more grown kids) quite often, I don't think the Mirage would be for me either. There's nothing wrong in stating that. Likewise, the A/C is taxing on the car. There's nothing wrong with stating that either.

So this person reviewed a base model manual & knocked missing features like power windows for all 4 doors & lack of remote entry. If those items are important to someone, they could buy an upper trim level.

Those items are pretty much non-factors for us , because our base model has power windows & remote entry/power locks. Our base model has alway had A/C and cruise control became standard in 2019.

If I wrote a review of the Mirage, I would take the opposite approach. If Mitsubishi is going to offer 4-5 trim levels every year, I wish one of them was a more basic/affordable one. If you love extra features, buy one that has them. It's really quite simple.

If the car is going to have two crank windows, I would rather the car have all crank windows. I'd also much rather have power windows in the rear if it only has two power ones. If you can't reach the window, power windows are more useful there.

When I was learning to drive a large semi-truck last fall, the passenger side window was electric powered not the driver's side window of the cab. That's the way it should be! Our Ford Focus cars (driving school) are the same stupid way! If you are going to use two cranks in a car, put them up front where you can reach them. It's stupid to have them in the back where you can't reach them. That's makes no sense to me. I realize the cranks are for rear passengers, but I lower my rear windows during the summer almost every time I drive my Mirage. I could open a front window by hand. Put the power windows where I can't do that! Having the power window only up front just reminds us that some people are just too lazy to crank a window by hand, and I find that sort of depressing.

As far as having to unlock the rear hatch from inside the car, that is a pain. That's where remote entry is nice. At the same time, it's not much of an issue if the car has power locks. The other day I misplaced my factory key. I grabbed my $15 spare chipped key without remote entry. So I had to insert the key in the lock, turn the key, and then hit the power unlock button to unlock the entire car. Wow! Talk about work! I say all this in just. It was no big deal. Not having power locks, however, would have made it more of a pain. I can't deny that!

If the car battery was dead, I don't think I could unlock my rear hatch on my Mirage? It's power locks or nothing for the rear hatch on my Mirage. There's no key hole or backup plan for that. Our Ford Focus cars don't have manual door locks to flip or push down on any door. It's power locks or nothing for all the doors, (except using a key in the driver's door). If your power locks don't work, however, you are not locking your car back up. I find that even worst!

There nothing all that offensive about this review. If you crave a digital dash, the Mirage is not for you! I don't think the average person who would be interested in the Mirage would care about that.

To be a winner, a Mirage has to seem affordable, reliable, & economical. This review questioned the affordable part, & I feel that is fair! They didn't really hit on the other two items at all.

Overall, the review is quite useless. I would give the review a 2 of out 10 rating! That's being generous on my part!

[MetroMPG]

As far as having to unlock the rear hatch from inside the car, that is a pain.

Clarification: hatch is un/locked externally with the key.

There nothing all that offensive about this review.

Sure there is: it completely omits discussion of the most important thing that buyers say they're looking for (and finding) in this car.

Overall, the review is quite useless. I would give the review a 2 of out 10 rating! That's being generous on my part!

Review the reviewers!

[dspace9]

I know the headline is rhetorical, but yea, I've driven my own Mirage for closer to a decade now.

Kinda depressing that time flies like that. Not depressing, however, has been driving my Mirage for that long.

The positives: I get 45 MPGs all the time; my car is still under warranty for another 8000 km's (not that the warranty has been all that great); thirdly, I pay like $68 bucks a month on insurance.

Mitsubishi Mirage: Cheap to insure, cheap to fill up, easy on the eyes.

So all in all, about as cheap as you can get for a newer car. I think everyone shopping for a Mirage is getting the best value with the base ES model. Once you start to dress up this econo box with options, then it's just silly and expensive. Cheap glitz with no glamour. The depreciation is so bad with these cars, it's really best to stay as base as possible. And get the 5 speed imo, just makes the car have a bit more spunk.

[Mark]

Sure there is: it completely omits discussion of the most important thing that buyers say they're looking for (and finding) in this car.

Review the reviewers!

I wanted a small, manual transmission hatchback that was affordable, reliable, & economical. I would use the word "useless" verses "offensive" for this type of car review.

Affordable: The MSRP of Mirage is a bit high. Mitsubishi deserves some criticism for that, but that doesn't take away from the Mirage itself. I paid less than 66% window sticker for a new Mirage. If I had qualified for the three $500 rebates at that time, I would have paid under 55% window sticker for a brand new Mirage. I am not making this up either. Here's the math $7,799/$14,220 = 54.8%.

This type of review doesn't discuss the discounts/rebates. I can thank White Bear Mitsubishi for that. I bought a car that I could drive for the next 10-15 years without having a car payment. Cars are money pits, & I prefer shallow ones!

Reliable: This should be more of an emphasis for all car reviews, but it's not! Thanks to guys like Fummins, I learned the Mirage was a reliable little car before I bought one. A good warranty is like having an extended insurance policy in your pocket. It's nice to have, but you hope you never use it!

Economical: Mirage owners base performance in mpg, not 0-60 mph times. This review misses that point completely.

If I was in the market for a small, economy car, I would clearly see this review isn't focusing on anything that's important at all! It's really a stupid, useless review overall. I change my review rating to 1 out of 10 stars now!

[Dirk Diggler]

If I had to haul family members (more grown kids) quite often, I don't think the Mirage would be for me either. There's nothing wrong in stating that. Likewise, the A/C is taxing on the car. There's nothing wrong with stating that either.

So this person reviewed a base model manual & knocked missing features like power windows for all 4 doors & lack of remote entry. If those items are important to someone, they could buy an upper trim level.

Those items are pretty much non-factors for us , because our base model has power windows & remote entry/power locks. Our base model has alway had A/C and cruise control became standard in 2019.

If I wrote a review of the Mirage, I would take the opposite approach. If Mitsubishi is going to offer 4-5 trim levels every year, I wish one of them was a more basic/affordable one. If you love extra features, buy one that has them. It's really quite simple.

If the car is going to have two crank windows, I would rather the car have all crank windows. I'd also much rather have power windows in the rear if it only has two power ones. If you can't reach the window, power windows are more useful there.

When I was learning to drive a large semi-truck last fall, the passenger side window was electric powered not the driver's side window of the cab. That's the way it should be! Our Ford Focus cars (driving school) are the same stupid way! If you are going to use two cranks in a car, put them up front where you can reach them. It's stupid to have them in the back where you can't reach them. That's makes no sense to me. I realize the cranks are for rear passengers, but I lower my rear windows during the summer almost every time I drive my Mirage. I could open a front window by hand. Put the power windows where I can't do that! Having the power window only up front just reminds us that some people are just too lazy to crank a window by hand, and I find that sort of depressing.

As far as having to unlock the rear hatch from inside the car, that is a pain. That's where remote entry is nice. At the same time, it's not much of an issue if the car has power locks. The other day I misplaced my factory key. I grabbed my $15 spare chipped key without remote entry. So I had to insert the key in the lock, turn the key, and then hit the power unlock button to unlock the entire car. Wow! Talk about work! I say all this in just. It was no big deal. Not having power locks, however, would have made it more of a pain. I can't deny that!

If the car battery was dead, I don't think I could unlock my rear hatch on my Mirage? It's power locks or nothing for the rear hatch on my Mirage. There's no key hole or backup plan for that. Our Ford Focus cars don't have manual door locks to flip or push down on any door. It's power locks or nothing for all the doors, (except using a key in the driver's door). If your power locks don't work, however, you are not locking your car back up. I find that even worst!

There nothing all that offensive about this review. If you crave a digital dash, the Mirage is not for you! I don't think the average person who would be interested in the Mirage would care about that.

To be a winner, a Mirage has to seem affordable, reliable, & economical. This review questioned the affordable part, & I feel that is fair! They didn't really hit on the other two items at all.

Overall, the review is quite useless. I would give the review a 2 of out 10 rating! That's being generous on my part!

I agree Mark. For what crank windows lack in convenience, they more than make up in reliability and ease of repairing, not to mention the cost.

[Mark]

I agree Mark. For what crank windows lack in convenience, they more than make up in reliability and ease of repairing, not to mention the cost.

It's the cars that are given electric power window up front & crank windows in the rear that make no sense to me at all.

I had this happen this past week. I was taking our driving school Ford Focus through the automatic car wash. Just prior to entering the car wash, I thought that I should double check all the windows are completely up. I was wedged in next to the brick column where you insert your money/tokens/credit card. There's no opening your door to get out at this point, and other cars are lined up behind me.

Reaching for those hand cranks in the rear was a pain in the butt. If you are going to only add 2 power windows to a car, put them in the rear!

Secondly, let's say you don't want your kids in the back to open the windows. You can control that with power windows back there. You can't turn off a crank window.

I don't mind crank windows, but don't put power windows up front without doing the rear ones, too!

Would I buy a Mirage with manual crank window? Sure I would!

Would I pay extra to have power windows up front? No way!!!

I would pay extra to power windows in the rear, however. I open my rear windows almost every day I drive in the spring, summer, early fall.

[dspace9]

Ya eh, that's the annoying part of having the rear roll-downs, even though I have very long arms, nobody has arms long enough to reach the rear passenger door window's crank. C'est impossible!

I just "roll" with my front windows down all the time. Plus I have no AC lol.

[MetroMPG]

^What?

I can reach the right rear window crank by sticking my left arm backwards between the seat and the B-pillar. I will say it's difficult to do while also texting and eating, though.

And I also have a side gig as a contortionist with the Cirque.

[klroger]

^What? I can reach the right rear window crank by sticking my left arm backwards between the seat and the B-pillar. I will say it's difficult to do while also texting and eating, though.

HUH??? I gotta see a video of this. In fact I may even pay to see it