Swapped into being a driver

[Nydiver]

My name is Colin and a long time Ford trucks owner (over 25 in the past 35 years). My fiance was tired of her 18yr old son hitting everything under the sun with her 2018 Mirage so I gave him a 96 Ranger that I did a complete rebuild of the motor and manual trans to do as he wishes and I am driving the Mirage now. I'll be doing front fenders, hood, entire front and rear facias and sub structures in the spring. Car is amazingly fun to drive, very shocking at the pep and the ability to wind right up. It does scare me a little at highway speeds with a cross breeze, I feel like maybe he messed up the sway bars or some of the suspension. So I'm here to soak in some Mirage knowledge and ideas so I can make this car even more fun and bring its body back to close to perfect.

[dspace9]

Car is amazingly fun to drive, very shocking at the pep and the ability to wind right up. It does scare me a little at highway speeds with a cross breeze

Mirages are very light cars. They get pushed around in the wind, I am used to it now. Only bothers me when I'm on the freeway and there's lots of traffic and heavy winds. Hope the repairs go well and its just cosmetic that you have to repair. Steering is very light in these cars as well.

[7milesout]

Colin - The drawback of owning / driving a Mirage is, a person does get sort of used to the low fuel bill. Yesterday I STUFFED 7 gallons in it (I get a point for every gallon I purchase, so when it clicks off at 6.6X gallons, I feel compelled to squeeze it on up to 7.000 gallons for that extra point ... since I'm OCD). It did have 2 fuel nuggets remaining, but I was going right by my preferred dinosaur juicer station, so I figured I might as well.

The point being, when I drive, for example, my Paw's Sierra (which is mine now, 4.8L V8 SCSB 2WD), and it gets low on fuel, I get all pissy thinking about I'm going to have to slam 20 gallons in it after only covering ~340 miles or less. That's about as many miles as I slam on the Mirage and barely put 7 gallons in it. And I tippy-toe around in the Sierra trying not to waste fuel. But it just blows it out.

So yeah, a person gets used to the low gas bill, and can get a little difficult to consider driving a vehicle that just blows it out. F150s are also very skilled at blowing out the fuel.

[Nydiver]

I hear ya. I’m in NY, she’s in MN. I think we stop 4 or 5 times. Full in Syracuse, 1st exit inside OH, maybe just past Cleveland, I know the oasis by IN mile marker 90, then 1/2 hr inside WI, then eau Claire. About $20 each stop to fill. Let’s say it’s 150 in gas for that run. My f250, 150 probably wouldn’t get me to OH. It’s a real 11mpg and the ride is abusive. The deRanger was nice like that, 26mpg and it was acceptable for a long run. Still nothing like the mileage of the mirage. Go to work and back all week for 20, truck was 80 and 110 with the plow in the winter.

[MetroMPG]

Welcome, Colin!

very shocking at the pep

Are you sure you're on the right forum? This is a Mirage we're talking about?

OK, maybe peppy relative to an F250 (I've never driven one.. but I'm assuming not "peppy").

As for highway stability... that's what 2000 lbs and a ridiculously soft suspension feels like. Some owners add stabilizer bar and/or stiffer springs and report better road manners.

Glad to have you here.

Darin

[Fummins]

These can take a little getting used to on the highway, especially if it's windy. The complete lack of steering feel and fact that the wheel doesn't really return to center helps make it feel sketchy as eff at first. They are little tanks if driven sanely.

I had to take a quick vijeo of how greasy on the highways out here right meow. Can spin the tires doing 55.

[mohammad]

These can take a little getting used to on the highway, especially if it's windy. The complete lack of steering feel and fact that the wheel doesn't really return to center helps make it feel sketchy as eff at first. They are little tanks if driven sanely.

I had to take a quick vijeo of how greasy on the highways out here right meow. Can spin the tires doing 55.

what's the airbag issue you're having fummy?

[Fummins]

what's the airbag issue you're having fummy?

Airbag module needs to be reflashed. There’s a recall to stop it from setting a false code. It goes off if you hit a hard bump. I got tired of resetting it and too lazy to take it in.

[Dirk Diggler]

What are highway speeds in New York, 55mph on average? You'll be fine on the highway. I drove my Mirage like a bat out of hell in Atlanta on the highways often doing 80mph and never felt unsafe AT ALL. As far as crosswinds, I drove my wife's G4 Mirage onto the Sky Bridge in Tampa Bay, one of the tallest bridges in the country. It also has some of the strongest winds once you get to the top, but I had zero issues besides perhaps holding the wheel a bit more steady than I would in a Cadillac. The Mirage is up for serious road trips, hell, you even get used to the loud interior and thank god Mitsu put some half way decent speakers in them. I have no issues hearing my podcasts on road trips at all.

[skyblue]

Airbag module needs to be reflashed. There’s a recall to stop it from setting a false code. It goes off if you hit a hard bump. I got tired of resetting it and too lazy to take it in.

here's a piece of black tape