Singer :: 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage ES + (Garage entry)

[Fummins]

Good to hear, thank you for all your help and information. I am not giving up on Singer just yet. Not after I have spent 20 dollars on a paint pen and over an hour touching up the paint. Lol.

Cut your losses! Donate it to the coalition for a better yesterday.

[Cam123]

Okaaaay. Things are settled. I am disappointed, but I will get over it. I will write about it as a learning experience for other potential Mirage (or any used car) purchasers.

So this was my first car purchase. I paid $3500 for it and bought it private sale. It didn't have plates on it on the day I bought it, so to test drive I just went around the block. Everything worked great: lights, signals + other basics, radio, a/c it was all great. One windhsield wiper was slightly worn but I wasn't too worried about that. The interesting thing was the engine making a slight 'tick-tick' noise at idle and when accelerating. As I'd never driven another Mirage before, I thought that might be just how they sound. Not driving another Mirage before buying was a mistake I will not make again with any other car purchase, Mirage or not.

I brought it home and it drove just fine...but that ticking noise bugged me a bit. I asked our mechanic while he had the car to do brakes and undercoating about it and he really wasn't sure. He wasn't really worried though either.

Fast forward to yesterday when I called the dealership. I told her about the noise, year and model and all that. I brought it in today, and within a few minutes they came back and said the engine would need replacing.

Well gee, that stinks. I asked if it could be done under warranty, and she said probably not as this sound often came from not following the maintenance schedule. So I pulled up the service history, and she immediately found a gap of 13,000km between changes which was much higher than the 8000 recommended distance. In addition there is another gap in 2019 where there are no records whatsoever but the car was driven ~25,000km. At first she said start looking for another car, and I get that. Some people don't like thinking that their car will break down and just not start at some point...but it doesn't bother me too much. I'll be sure to have a little safety kit in there if I do break down somewhere. So I asked if it was safe to just keep on driving it. She said absolutely. She also said the mechanic who ran the scan said I could get another 100,000km out of this thing if I take good care of it. And I sure will.

So. Lessons learned?

- Find out the service interval that is recommended for your car and see if the Carfax or other records tell you that it has been stuck to. If it hasn't been, your warranty could be voided. The lady said they could push it if there's a few extra hundred kilometers, but not thousands more.

- Do not buy a car if it is making strange noises...I know this sounds stupid simple but I did it. Even a wacky little car like the Mirage has an interesting idle sound, but it does not make a 'tick-tick' noise normally.

To you more experienced folks out there these might seem very obvious, but they weren't to me. Just going to put this up so it's less likely someone else will experience this. As for me, I am going to have fun with Singer, right until the engine goes. I will be smiling all the way to the scrapyard if I get another 100,000km out of this little thing.

[Eggman]

Sorry to hear that Cam123. I hope that you don’t give up on Mitsubishi Corporate and reach out to them directly rather than through a dealer. Also start pricing a replacement engine as they can sometimes be a very affordable option compared to scrapping the whole car and buying another.

[Cam123]

I don't think I'm going to buy another car. If this thing is still good to drive, especially for 100,000km or more then I think I will stick with it.

All in all I have spent $5034 on this car. That's taxes, oil, cvt service, safety, the whole works. If I can get 5 years or more of cheap driving then I am a happy camper. That's not to say it isn't worth trying corporate and telling them my sad story. I can also ask the mechanic our family loves to see what he thinks it'd cost for him to do the replacement. His prices are very cheap because he does his work from home and lives with his mom, so he's got very few bills to pay. Based on his estimate I can figure out if it'll be worth it or not to do the replacement.

[Fummins]

I don't think I'm going to buy another car. If this thing is still good to drive, especially for 100,000km or more then I think I will stick with it.

All in all I have spent $5034 on this car. That's taxes, oil, cvt service, safety, the whole works. If I can get 5 years or more of cheap driving then I am a happy camper. That's not to say it isn't worth trying corporate and telling them my sad story. I can also ask the mechanic our family loves to see what he thinks it'd cost for him to do the replacement. His prices are very cheap because he does his work from home and lives with his mom, so he's got very few bills to pay. Based on his estimate I can figure out if it'll be worth it or not to do the replacement.

Have you looked up to see if there's any outstanding recalls for your car? https://www.mitsubishicars.com/owner...e?q=recallinfo If your engine noise/ecm reflash (overfuelling when cold) recall hasn't been completed......

Last time I checked the service schedule for a Mirage it showed 12,000km for regular and 6000km severe schedule. So your car was once "possibly" overdue for an oil change by 2000km.

I'd try another dealer another day, have your mechanic write you out some back dated receipts for oil changes that were missing and throw them in the glove box.
If you do leave it alone plug it in when you can when it's really cold, that should help prolong it's useful life.

[Cam123]

The recalls are definitely another avenue to explore. For now I'm just gonna drive the thing I think. In a way it's nice to have some closure. I will post updates when I do decide to explore that though.

Today put $30 in the tank, being not too sure how much it'd fill. I had the low fuel indicator blinking when I pulled into the station. So $30, then got back in the car and it was 2 blocks away from being full??? Lol should have expected this but I was still laughing on my way out of the gas station. This is at $1.44/L which only a few years ago would have been looked at as insane but is now seen as normal. I'm gonna love this little car. Another one of my friends bought a used 2013 F150 at an auction for $6000. Great deal, but the 135L tank makes me cry a bit for him. I will take a $50 fill up over a $194 fill up any day.

[Eggman]

I will take a $50 fill up over a $194 fill up any day.

This is why I’m here too.

[Cam123]

Singer got a new battery today. Minus the deposit it was $120 taxes included. The exciting part was installing it. It's a simple procedure but for someone who has never really worked on a car it was very exciting. I had my leather gloves on and a cloth (insulator) always covering one of the terminals so I didn't do any accidental welding lol. Going to bring the old one back to Maslack tomorrow. I had no issues fitting the battery in, it seemed close to the exact same dimensions as the original one which is great.

Also don't worry I did put the cover down and the restraint back on, just the final pic I took was blurry so the nearly done one is there instead.

Next up is a block heater.

[Fummins]

Good job.
Next time if anything cover the positive post. If you touch a wrench into the negative terminal nothings gonna happen… touch the positive post with a wrench while tightening the battery hold hold down and that’s when the sparks and welding would happen. Negative is ground, most of the metal on the car is ground too.

[Cam123]

Whoops. Thanks for the tip Fummins.