Cars don’t come more basic than the Mirage in Canada, but here at TheCarMagazine.com we celebrate simple. After all, where else can you buy a new car for just $12,698? Over at Nissan where the equally small and even simpler Micra hatchback sells for just $9,988 and is a whole lot more fun to drive.
The Mirage focuses more on comfort, especially in new four-door G4 guise, which is how Mitsubishi dressed up our 2017 loaner. We’ll leave our thoughts about styling for the upcoming review, but suffice to say it excites our eyes as much as it’s 78 horsepower 1.2-litre three-cylinder ignites our Evo X aspirations, but then again its as-tested 6.9 L/100km city and 5.7 highway fuel economy put a smile on our faces.
That’s with the optional continuously variable transmission (CVT), the base model quite not quite as thrifty with its five-speed manual gearbox. The CVT comes standard in $18,298 SEL trim, lesser models including the $14,498 ES 5MT and the $15,698 ES CVT.
As tested the G4 SEL is actually very well equipped with 15-inch alloys, auto-off halogen headlamps, fog lamps, heated power-adjustable body-colour side mirrors with integrated turn signals, variable intermittent wipers, cruise control, a multi-information display, a leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel with tilt, piano black and chromed interior accents, micron-filtered auto climate control, Bluetooth phone connectivity with audio streaming, voice activation, a USB port, remote powered locks, powered windows, four-speaker display audio with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (Porsche doesn’t even offer the latter), a rearview camera, premium fabric upholstery, heatable front seats, a rear centre armrest with integrated cupholders, hill start assist, all the expected active and passive safety equipment including a driver’s knee airbag, and more.
As noted earlier, the Mirage was built (in Thailand incidentally) for comfort, while it’s also built for peace of mind thanks to a 10-year comprehensive and 160,000 km powertrain warranty (can’t get that at Nissan, or anywhere else for that matter).
As for convenience, the trunk is well proportioned for a subcompact city car at 348 litres, while it offers a lot better security for your belongings than the more accommodating 487-litre hatch.
A full review is on the way, so if you’re looking for a simple, straight-forward commuter car that’s great on fuel, plenty comfortable, feature filled, and backed by an incredibly good warranty, you’d best come back to find out what we think about everything else…