Mirage owners: is 74 hp (or 78) "enough" power?

[Canoehead]

I think most people don't want for power because it is very rare that most people use all the power a car has. I almost never run my cars at/near red-line, so even if I had a 300hp vehicle, I'd only be using a small fraction of the power in day-to-day driving. With the Mirage, I just use a larger fraction of the power, and as others have stated, notice significant fuel savings.

I once had a 250cc motorcycle, and being young and foolish, replaced it with a 750cc bike. In the city, that heavy bike did nothing for me, as it was an old one and despite having a top speed of 145mph, it didn't have a very wide power band and needed to be up in the 8000rpm range to realize the power. So, like a 300hp car, most of the time the power was wasted on me.

[cookiemonster]

But, I find it FAR more amusing to drive this car than the mustang.

Also, going from 25MPG to 50 MPG overnight was a serious big win for me.

I traded in my Mustang for the Mirage ... and I agree, it's much more fun to drive the Mirage than the Mustang. Go figure, eh?

I find that my Mirage can get to the next stop light almost as quickly as a far more powerful car.

[Canoehead]

I traded in my Mustang for the Mirage ... and I agree, it's much more fun to drive the Mirage than the Mustang. Go figure, eh?

I find that my Mirage can get to the next stop light almost as quickly as a far more powerful car.

I sometimes joke that I would win every race, because while it takes me a few extra seconds, I can get to the starting line faster, as I don't have to stay at work as long to earn the extra purchase price/gas money!

[cookiemonster]

I sometimes joke that I would win every race, because while it takes me a few extra seconds, I can get to the starting line faster, as I don't have to stay at work as long to earn the extra purchase price/gas money!

Good one

[inuvik]

I just had an opportunity yesterday to test the Mirage's acceleration with my CVT. I was on a four lane city street that merged down to two lanes right after the light. The left lane had a line of cars and the right lane had no cars in it. So I rolled up to the light in the right hand lane and there was a Spark in the left lane first in line. He looked at me with a "you jerk" look and I could see the Spark move ahead a little like he was throttle braking slightly to make sure he wouldn't let me in at the merge.

I put the Mirage in "B", turned the traction control off and watched for the light to turn yellow on the other light. Applied the brake with my left foot and gave a little throttle (about 1200 rpm). Green light, floored it and took my foot off the brake. The Spark must have had a CVT too because he did the same thing.

The Spark pulled ahead for about 1/2 a car length but the 3A92 is eager to rev and spooled up to 6000 rpm's almost immediately. I could hear the Spark's crappy 4 cylinder slowly revving as I went by. Absolutely smoked him.

[Eggman]

Absolutely smoked him.

That's absolutely hilarious. I wish I could have seen *that* drag race. Any videos?

[inuvik]

That's absolutely hilarious. I wish I could have seen *that* drag race. Any videos?

I wish, would have been epic! His expression when I blew past him was priceless "Like how can this be happening"!

[Marklovski]

I wish, would have been epic! His expression when I blew past him was priceless "Like how can this be happening"!

Well he has a 4-cylinder that only produces 10 more horsepower. I bet the weight to power ratio sets it back actually. I'm very surprised that it only makes 10 more horses.

Edit: the spark does have the worst power to weight ratio

http://mirageforum.com/forum/showthr...tio-comparison

[RodeRoNL]

We get more power in Europe (80hp) and I consider that with CVT as "more than adequate" for anything normal you can conceive doing with a car.

[DWB]

I live in the mountains of WV. My fear was that the tiny engine would have trouble. Not so - I vary rarely use more than 70% throttle, even on the steepest of inclines. The little three-cylinder just pulls the rest of the car right along, and I'm getting excellent fuel economy. The way I drive, I think I would be fine with the even smaller 1.0L that isn't currently sold in the US.