Mitsubishi Mirage Review

The Mitsubishi Mirage city car presents an ideal choice for first time car buyers or families looking for a second car to use as a city runabout.

The Mirage, which arrived in Australia this month, is priced from $12,990 driveway with a $1000 Westfield gift voucher, which can indeed be traded in for a lower price, effectively making the base model Mirage ES Manual $11,990 driveaway for the rest of January.

From the outside it appears that Mitsubishi has continued its current trend of designing vehicles that are no longer seen as aggressive or excessively masculine. This may not have had the desired effect on the recently released Mitsubishi Outlander, but it seems to work better `on the Mirage.

Reason for that being the target audience is 66 percent likely to be female with 40 percent of them under 35 and 40 percent over 50. As with all light cars, the market is predominantly buying automatics.

Interestingly, the company expects that 91 percent of Mirage buyers will be living in metro areas, which is why the 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine powering the city car is more than adequate for the Mirage’s expected daily duties.

With 57kW of power and 100Nm of torque, the Mitsubishi Mirage is not exactly full of muscle on paper, but given it weighs just 865kg (in manual, add 25kg for the automatic), it gets up and goes without too much stress. It sips a very reasonable 4.6L/100km for the base model manual and up to 4.9L/100km for the automatic.

Behind the wheel the five-speed manual makes far more use of the power and torque on tap, with a better sense of acceleration and a more enjoyable driving experience than the automatic.

The automatic gearbox, which is technically a continuously variable transmission (CVT), meaning it doesn’t actually have individual gears but one gear with an infinite ratio, is ideal to save fuel and is more advanced than the traditional gearboxes, but tends to hinder the Mirage’s performance to an extent â€" particularly going up hills.

This is a week point for the Mirage when compared to its direct competitors, the Nissan Micra and Suzuki Alto, both of which make use of a traditional four-speed automatic, which does have a minimal negative affect on the fuel economy, but it provides a more linear driving experience.

In saying all that, the Mitsubishi Mirage is aimed at younger first time buyers and those looking for a second car as a city run about and for that purpose, it’s well priced, available in a variety of bright colours, comes with all the safety kit, which include six airbags and electronic stability control, while offering a five-year unlimited kilometer warranty with fixed priced servicing ($250 for each of the first four services at 15,000km or 12 month intervals). If you put all that together, it’s hard to beat that total equation.

Mitsubishi hasn’t skimped on the basic technology necessitates, which means all Mirages come with full Bluetooth capabilities, including telephone connectivity and audio streaming (wirelessly transmitting music from your smartphone). There’s even a USB port, which we tested with an iPhone 5 and found it useful for both charging and native playback through the in-car stereo.

Speaking of which, it’s unfortunate that the base model Mirage ES only comes with two-speakers (located at the front), meaning you’ll need to pay an extra $1500 to step up to the ES Sport ($14,490 driveaway for the manual) for the extra two speakers, but at least you’ll also get 14-inch alloy wheels and a roof spoiler.

Pay another $2,500 for the range-topping Mirage LS and automatic windscreen wipers, headlamps and smart entry as well as 15-inch alloys and fog lamps will be added on.

Realistically, if you’re looking for a cheap, safe and reliable car, all you’ll really need is the base model Mirage ES in a manual. If you can’t drive a manual, then the CVT will have to do and the additional $500 for metallic paint will be worth it if you’re after a vibrant colour.

On the inside the new Mirage is similar to cars like the Suzuki Swift, in that it has far more room than you’d think. You can indeed fit four average-sized adults in the cabin without too much stress (though, going up hills in the CVT with a full load may not be the best idea). There’s plenty of headroom and the boot, though not large, can be extended if the rear seats are folded down flat, which would make visits to Ikea a non-issue.

The interior itself is made largely of hard plastics and surfaces but given the price tag, is not unreasonable. There are certainly some hard edges, such as being able to see a whole lot of fuses and cables when you open the glove box and there’s no option for an integrated satellite navigation system but at least there are plenty of clever storage spaces built in.

There’s a fair bit of engine noise that flows into the cabin, which can get a tad annoying if you’re going to spend the majority of the time accelerating from a standstill to the next red light but ultimately, it’s not all that different to its competitors.

Behind the wheel the Mirage is simple to drive with reasonable steering and well laid out instruments. The manual gearbox is straightforward and nothing to be afraid of. When pushed hard around corners there’s noticeable body roll, but this is a city car, and that’s unlikely to be an issue.

For the same price, buyers can also look at the Suzuki Alto and Nissan Micra. To some extent the Volkswagen Up! also fits the bill, though it’s only available in a manual for the moment and tends to creep up in price compared to its Asian competitors. What the Mirage lacks in driving dynamcis and a sense of fun behind the wheel, the Up! delivers in spades with the Micra not far behind, but the Volkswagen comes with two less airbags and both Micra and Up! miss out on the five-year warranty and capped priced servicing offered by Mitsubishi. The Alto is certainly worth comparing to the Mirage for the price, though it does have an even smaller engine with less oomph.

Overall, the 2013 Mitsubishi Mirage would make an excellent candidate for a first car or the family’s second runabout. It comes with top-notch safety, plenty of standard kit, excellent warranty and servicing costs and a wide pallet of bright colours. The CVT automatic transmission is without doubt the Mirage’s Achilles’ heel, but if you can get past that â€" or buy the manual â€" it’s a package too good to look past.