1 1.0 MIVEC 69 5dr Hatchback

Cheap car for getting to work plus a bit more

The first 2 Years / 40,000 miles in my Bargain Mirage I

The Mitsubishi Mirage had bad reviews, that worked to my advantage, I purchased my 15 plate Mirage with 15 miles on the clock for £5,000 less £450 part exchange (about 25% more than a certain online car buying site) for my 13 year old Hyundai Getz. The Getz was due an MOT, Service, brake pipe and the engine warning light had lit up a few times, and the central locking was a bit hit and miss. The day after I collected the Mirage an online car buying site quoted a figure that was more than I paid for it.

The bad reviews were mainly for the handling, so I thought it would not be too bad compared to my old Getz. Although I did notice that none of the reviews said they had crashed the car, some were very alarmist about the handling. So starting off from the dealers towards the Sainsburys Petrol station to give it the first tank of fuel I approached the roundabout with caution, to be pleasently surprised. The handling was not a problem. I expect some people might not be so happy, so I would recommend a test drive. Remember car reviewers drive lots of cars that have amazing handling, so the Mirage shortcomings may be more obvious to them than to you.

If you want to get the best mpg from this little car you will also need to adjust your driving style. On the long journey home, when I behaved on the motorway by sticking behind a big lorry I was soon up to 70+ mpg, but a bit of enthusiastic overtaking soon knocked that down to the mid 60s. A light right foot will reward you well. My journey to work is almost 30 miles, mid to late 50s is not an effort, Early to mid 60s are common, 70+ is an effort. Even a short run into town can show anything between 45 and 50 mpg. This is my main reason for buying the car. My best mpg was on a trip from Andover to York. From my driveway to the city center hotel car park I averaged 76.2mpg, but heavy traffic on the way home meant I only got about 66 mpg. I drove up on a Friday returning the next day and despite weighing 18 stone I was comfortable enough. My average so far is a shade over 60mpg. Cold winter weather uses more petrol, summer gives some high results.


If you want it to shift then you will need to shift the gear down, probably a gear below what you would use in a car with a larger engine. It takes a bit more gear changing than the Getz did to get the same acceleration.

My basic model has some stuff is lacking, such as the parcel shelf (got one from eBay), central locking (I don't have passengers), spare wheel (Google & eBay + £20 sorted that), and the drivers side only has an electric window button for my side, the Getz could do both. Someone said it was so cheap as they only gave me half a car. No air conditioning, which has been an issue for me for only a few days each year, but the Getz did not have aircon so what I didn't have before has not really been missed.

The plus side is a radio/CD/MP3 player better than I would expect, to top is smooth enough for the suction cup of thmy GPS to stick OK. I found the rear doors had wiring for speakers and the mounting brackets were available on eBay. The speakers were better than the front so I replaced them as well.


I find the intermittent wiper settings on the front cover me for most of the rain I have driven through, the rear wipes a few times before going into intermittent mode, so you might think it is full on if you do not wait. The hazard lights that go on automatically if you break hard.

First MOT passed with no advisories. Apart from the standard petrol tyres & servicing (costs more than the Getz did) I have had brake pads and windscreen wipers (one set of each) done. The parcel shelf was really needed, the spare wheel is peace of mind, the new speakers because I like my music.


So thanks to all those bad reviews I have a car that I like, you might not like it though.

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