Hoping to become a Mirage owner!

[Silk]

Hi everyone, I am currently smitten with the Mitsubishi Mirage and have been combing the used car marketplace in my area (Ontario, Canada) for one that will fit my requirements (I prefer standard transmission, low to medium km, power windows in the front at least and AC is an absolute must. I also really really want a plasma purple (pink) one if possible but not saying I wouldn't accept another colour if I can't find it in my preferred one. However, I would so love to have the pink!)

I have a couple questions for veteran owners:

1) Are you concerned about the talk re reduced safety in the Mirage (as compared to other cars in its class?)

2) If you have a CVT, what's been your experience? I have always preferred standard transmission and I know that it's also supposed to make the Mirage much zippier when driving so that's just reinforced my preference. On the other hand, I've not heard good things about CVT generally but I've read some Mirage owners saying that if they change the fluid every 30K that they've been able to avoid problems. Mind you, buying used, I don't know how well the car has been maintained and that's part of the issue.

Do you know that I was looking at the new 2022 Mirages online and the manual transmission models only come in Grey or White!!! That's awful! lol

[dspace9]

I keep it in the back of my mind I'm in a small car. Can others see me? Smart to look for a brighter colour Mirage, that is one step toward being seen. I ordered dark grey and I blend in really bad.

Freeway merges feel less confidence than with other cars, imo, like I wish I had more power. I don't do that type of driving anyway.

Overall my Mirage has been good for 8 years now. Not a race car but gets me like 5.3 L / 100 kms fuel economy and I like the 5 speed manual for sure. My nephew says my Mirage is more comfortable ride than his dad's honda civic of similar age.

[7milesout]

I think I would only be concerned about the safety if I had rear seat passengers. And being hit from behind. They're too close to the rear of the vehicle.

I have a 5 speed. I don't have a single issue with the power required to get on any interstate. But where dspace lives, maybe they have shorter on-ramps. Dunno.

You should keep an eye out for a blue one. It's been tested and certified that the blue color one is the prettiest.

[Mark]

I think I would only be concerned about the safety if I had rear seat passengers. And being hit from behind. They're too close to the rear of the vehicle.

I have a 5 speed. I don't have a single issue with the power required to get on any interstate. But where dspace lives, maybe they have shorter on-ramps. Dunno.

You should keep an eye out for a blue one. It's been tested and certified that the blue color one is the prettiest.

Sadly, the blue & yellow was dropped for the manual option in 2022. In the past, manuals could be had in any of the offered colors.

[Fummins]

Welcome. All mirages have power front windows but not all have ac. Most do though.

For safety, I just make sure nobody runs into me. It’s been working good so far. At work we’ve had tons of Mirages get into accidents. Many t-boned by people doing 60kph threw a stop sign. One car was hit so hard it rolled and landed on its side. None of our drivers have had broken bones or anything other than being sore from airbags being deployed or being rear ended.

I wouldn’t want to get into a head-on in a Mirage though. Same with any car for that matter.

As for cvts, they’re not as bad as fear mongers make them out to be. Standards have their problems too. 30k cvt fluid changes are ideal but that’s 30k miles not kms. At work we have a 2015 cvt with 450k kms on it and a couple 2017’s with close to 400,000km. Many have over 300k too.
Drivetrain parts seem to fit multiple years, I put a 2017 drivetrain in my early 2014 Mirage. Used low mileage parts are a plenty at the moment. Crash parts(bumpers and hoods) not so much.

In Canada there’s only the 2 options for the base models, the carbon edition looks pretty pointless(and it’s cvt only iirc).You get stickers and smanchy hubcaps from amazon.

[Cobrajet]

Well, if you are involved in an accident between a Mirage and a semi truck I'd suggest being in the semi truck when it happens. However, the Mirage is designed as a city car and in that capacity I don't think it is any more dangerous than any other city car.

Manual Mirages are nearly bulletproof, but some owners have reported CVT troubles around 120,000-130,000 miles (193,000-210,000 km). Other CVT owners have gone far past this mileage with no troubles at all.

No matter the transmission, if you take care of your Mirage it will last quite a long time.

[mohammad]

For anyone complaining about acceleration.
the 0-60 on the CVT hatchback mirage is 10.9 seconds
the 2020 hybrid toyota corolla is 10.7 seconds 0-60
the 2017 prius prime is 10.2 second 0-60

These were all measured by car and driver

Id definitely complain about handling well before acceleration.

[88coltturbo]

If you're buying used, having a service history is priceless. Otherwise, walk away and keep looking. Or buy a new one - they're pretty much the same price as a used on in today's market.
You can always wrap your a different colour. There are many shops that specialize in vehicle wraps.
Safety? It's not the best, it's not the worse. Small doesn't mean unsafe. There are many tests out there that have shown large, poorly designed vehicles are less safe than properly designed small vehicles.
BTW, Ontario is a HUGE province! What part are you in?