I may have said this before, but I am not much of a fan of Eco cars, but then last week I was dropped off the little Mitsubishi Mirage and to be honest from then on I was forced to eat humble pie -well one tiny corner of it anyway.
The little Mirage is a bit of a cutie really – no frills of course, but who cares – this is a car for getting about in and as I found out that week – it did a pretty good job of ferrying my family around with ease.
Basically then– we used it all that week for various trips we needed to take as part of a busy family where much of this actually involved taking my daughter to her stables down a very muddy track and even though it was very slippy, the Mirage felt very controlled and that’s because it has a very small power band, which in certain circumstances helped it to not spin up the wheels in the mud like most FWD cars do.
I also took my son and all his friends’ football training with all their gear and then I did the weekly shop because it was actually my turn and even after all that running around – the fuel gauge never moved. Now that’s what I call a very frugal car indeed.
Power and Efficiency:
Powered by a 3-cylinder DOHC 12 Valve MIVEC engine with 79bhp and 0-62 time of around – well let’s just say it will get to 60mph at some point, but as it’s what I would describe as an Eco car I will scratch over the times.
Fuel efficiency is great at 55.4mpg urban. The engine is also a very free revving 3- cylinder that feels quite nippy around town and that’s due to the cars low weight but also thanks to those tiny but very cute wheels which also makes parking easy. Also, my wife has a Twin Air 500 which is a good engine, but the little Mirage engine felt so much more happier revving hard whereas the Twin Air engine in the 500 seems to moan all the time when put under hard acceleration.
On the road:
The little Mirage is actually ok – remember it’s not a 30k car so don’t expect to find a trick diff or a flappy-paddle gearbox. What you do get though is a car that will get you and your family from one place to another in decent style with minimal fuss and using less fuel than my lawnmower.
One thing I will say however is how much I loved driving it – and that’s the important bit here I suppose. Look at it this way – if a car makes you feel happy when you are driving it, then the manufacturer has at least got one part of the design right.
Design & Technology
Inside the seats are very good for a car costing just over 10k. The dash is also made out of a decent quality material and all the switches feel well made, but finding the USB connection was a bit like hunting for a Caribbean Monk Seal.
Rear leg room is a little tight though, but then what small car does not have the same issue when it comes to rear space. There are so many cars I could name right now that would need you attend the IKEA design centre in Älmhult, in southern Sweden to learn the art of being flat packed before you can sit in the back.
The Mirage Juro model specification also comes with many standard features such as ; ABS with EBD, Active stability & traction control, TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System), Headlamps, Bi-Xenon HID, DAB digital radio, Bluetooth with music streaming, Air conditioning, climate control and cruise control
To sum up: I loved the little Mirage – it was fun to drive and costs very little to run. Your first year’s car tax is also free and your insurance premiums will be peanuts for most people with a few years NCD under their belt.
I also think you need to remember that the Mirage will carry five people at a squeeze and it’s a decent drive all round really which is what makes the Mirage such fun to drive.
If I was in the market for small low cost car with low running costs – then buying the little Mirage would make perfect sense to me.
Price: (from) £10,999 By Anthony Yates
