New 21 Mirage owner and a car guy shares his thoughts

[M81]

Hello Folks,

I recently picked up a 21 Mirage 5 speed and White Bear Mitsubishi- one of my local dealers in Minnesota. I wanted an easy to teach with stick shift for my 15 and 19 year old kids before they drove some of the other cars in the barn. I had low expectations, mostly based on the reviews I read- it was primarily just the price point that brought me in. I was really surprised. Yes, a great car to teach with- but also fun in a way only a small light weight car can be, and a tremendous value for what I paid. I decided to pick up two more. A little more about them here- https://carbarngarage.com/2021-mitsubishi-mirage

Also- this forum has been super useful. Put foglight in all of them!

[MetroMPG]

Welcome!

That's quite a fun car collection you've got. I love the oddballs (Mirages included!) among the more expected classics.

[inuvik]

Welcome aboard and you might have the largest "Mirage family" on the forum outside of Fummin's fleet that he manages. These little cars are great to drive with a manual transmission and it sounds like you were pleasantly surprised. You can create garage entries for all 3 if you want and keep us up date on how your mini-fleet is doing.

[Redoubt]

How is the audio quality in the 2021 ES?

[M81]

How is the audio quality in the 2021 ES?

Audio quality is average, as would be expected. I'm sure a couple hundred dollars spent on better quality and efficient speakers would do a lot. There is a factory sub box availble, but I think you could do a complete aftermarket speaker/amp setup for about the same cost that would do better. The head unit is much better than I expected- easy to use, with faster response time and much better CarPlay stability than a 2021 Honda I recently purchased. I would try to keep that system as part of any light upgrade you do.

[allrock]

thats a lot of mirage you got there i bet your sales agent is very lucky to have you as a customer, cant wait to finish my payment to get a manual,..welcome to the forum..

[M81]

thats a lot of mirage you got there i bet your sales agent is very lucky to have you as a customer, cant wait to finish my payment to get a manual,..welcome to the forum..

Actually- I had to talk to the sales manager to assure them I was not purchasing to re-sell them. On a per-car basis, at $4,400 off the $15,565 sticker price- they are loosing thousands. I'm sure the salesperson gets a small $X per each car, or just retires a monthly unit target. The only reason the dealer would sell at the price they did is to hit a monthly store incentive or step target from Mitsubishi. Sell X cars over Y threshold, receive a $Z thousand dollar bonus for the store. Those bonuses can be tens of thousands- so worth loosing money on a small number of cars if you hit the target.

[Mark]

Actually- I had to talk to the sales manager to assure them I was not purchasing to re-sell them. On a per-car basis, at $4,400 off the $15,565 sticker price- they are loosing thousands. I'm sure the salesperson gets a small $X per each car, or just retires a monthly unit target. The only reason the dealer would sell at the price they did is to hit a monthly store incentive or step target from Mitsubishi. Sell X cars over Y threshold, receive a $Z thousand dollar bonus for the store. Those bonuses can be tens of thousands- so worth loosing money on a small number of cars if you hit the target.

When I decided to buy a 2017 Mirage, I called Richard Herod III (general sales manager at the time). Richard never handed me off to one of his sales people. He took care of the deal. The salesman became the guy who delivered my Mirage to my home (4-hours away in SW Wisconsin).

Richard has become the owner of White Bear Mitsubishi since my purchase. It's my honest opinion, that poor dealerships are the biggest obstacle to Mitsubishi being successful not the product itself. If more dealerships were like White Bear, Mitsubishi would become a more popular brand again.

Richard has been recently appointed to the Mitsubishi Motors of North American National Advisory Board. I hope he has some impact on that board, because Mitsubishi as a company could really use some work!

https://www.whitebearmitsubishi.com/...visory%20Board.

[M81]

When I decided to buy a 2017 Mirage, I called Richard Herod III (general sales manager at the time). Richard never handed me off to one of his sales people. He took care of the deal. The salesman became the guy who delivered my Mirage to my home (4-hours away in SW Wisconsin).

Richard has become the owner of White Bear Mitsubishi since my purchase. It's my honest opinion, that poor dealerships are the biggest obstacle to Mitsubishi being successful not the product itself. If more dealerships were like White Bear, Mitsubishi would become a more popular brand again.

Richard has been recently appointed to the Mitsubishi Motors of North American National Advisory Board. I hope he has some impact on that board, because Mitsubishi as a company could really use some work!

https://www.whitebearmitsubishi.com/...visory%20Board.

White Bear Mitsubishi did a very good job, kept their commitments, and followed through taking care of a couple delivery issues. They are further away from me than another Mitsu dealer- but they earned and deserve the service business for the fleet. It also looks like it has been worth it for people on the forum out of state buying their cars from WB. I can't speak for the dealer experiences elsewhere being a cause for low market share- but I can't remember seeing any kind of national advertising campaign for the brand. I think they have a pretty solid line up now- and they look good too. That is also to say, if they do have a national advertising campaign... it missed me or my demographic (52 year old guy with teenage and adult children who still watches network and cable tv).

[Mark]

White Bear Mitsubishi did a very good job, kept their commitments, and followed through taking care of a couple delivery issues. They are further away from me than another Mitsu dealer- but they earned and deserve the service business for the fleet. It also looks like it has been worth it for people on the forum out of state buying their cars from WB. I can't speak for the dealer experiences elsewhere being a cause for low market share- but I can't remember seeing any kind of national advertising campaign for the brand. I think they have a pretty solid line up now- and they look good too. That is also to say, if they do have a national advertising campaign... it missed me or my demographic (52 year old guy with teenage and adult children who still watches network and cable tv).

My local Mitsubishi dealership was so bad that they were eventually shut down & investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle in March/April of 2020. Even COVID couldn't hide the fact that were shut down by the state and being investigated. I am led to believe things were so bad that they had to sell their dealership to someone else & leave the state of Wisconsin. The two former clowns who owned the local Mitsubishi dealership are now back to selling used cars in northern Illinois.

The local Mitsubishi dealership was by far the worst car dealership I have ever seen in my lifetime (age 58). If they were my only Mitsubishi experience, I would have never bought one. By comparison, White Bear was the complete opposite. I got the deal that I wanted without negotiating or ever visiting the dealership. No money down ahead time, & we did the paperwork on my kitchen table. No surprises or pressure at all!