Sorry Guys, Not Hatin' On M'new Car Yet. (If These MPG #'s Hold, I Never Will)

Sorry it took me so long to post this. Lately I’ve barely had time to read everybody else’s thoughtful posts, let alone post some of my own.

Bought my new car with 82 miles on the odometer Friday, April 1, 2016. I thought about @meanjoe75fan’s comment about “paralysis by analysis”. After having put about a month into research, test drives, etc and with other non-car related deadlines bearing down on me, it was time to make an executive decision, so to speak.

I’m gonna try to avoid making this an unreadable 35 paragraph post and keep it brief and post additional comments in coming days as I think of them.

SO - I ended up buying. . . (drumroll please). . . The Mitsubishi Mirage.

I did not buy the Mirage to spite Honda, as I sarcastically suggested on another thread. Basically three reasons I chose the Mitsubishi Mirage over the Honda Fit.

1. Once I realized I couldn’t get everything I wanted regardless of what I bought, I decided to go for the $avings!

2. Most of the ‘accessories’ I wanted which cost extra on the Fit were already included on the Mirage.

3. The savings I initially calculated to be $7,000 and I wanted to save $8,000. In a backhanded way I got my savings. The Mitz dealer wouldn’t come down on his price, BUT, come to find out, the Fit would have cost about a thousand more than I had calculated.

4. I figured this would be my last chance at a manual transmission car. I expect this will be the last one I ever own.

I really did make it out the door for under $11,500 without any hassle. The standard warranty is so long there wasn’t really much they could hit me with in the F&I office. They offered to extend the bumper-to-bumper out to the 10/100 of the powertrain warranty for like $800 and something dollars, and after I said ‘no’, it was ‘sign here, here are your license plates’. I gotta tell ya, outdated vehicles or no, if this is how they’re selling Mitsubishis, they oughta be in business for a long time, compared to the Honda salesman, who seemed to think he could hypnotize me into signing the paper by having an impromptu staring contest.

So I bought the ES as opposed to the DE. Originally this was to get the color I wanted, but I procrastinated so long it was no longer available. I think I got one of the last 3 Mirages in my state with a manual transmission. I did want the cruise control and the 6 way adjustable seat and was willing to pay the extra $636 dollars to get these features. In the past 2 weeks I have also come to appreciate the fog lights, and I will admit that the alloy wheels are growing on me. Its a nice looking car. I’m referring to it as ‘snowflake’! Can you guess what color I got?

So here is the icing on the cake, though the numbers are preliminary. Bought my first tank of gas earlier this week. 347 miles on the odometer, car barely took 7.003 gallons of gas. That comes to 49.550 MPG. Seems too good to be true. Perhaps the dealer topped off the tank when I took delivery. Or perhaps the initial tank of gas wasn’t diluted with ethanol like the local gas is. I’ll have to measure my mpg over several more tanks, but that will take awhile because you gotta drive a car like that a LOT before it needs gas. A good problem to have. 49 1/2 miles per gallon?! And just like that, I forgot what was that other car I was looking at?

I really don’t feel like I settled for second best. I got a brand new car and I KNOW its never been abused, neglected, or ragged out. I think we’re gonna have a lot of fun together in the coming years exploring the hiways ‘n’ biways of the eastern United States.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you what I DON’T like about my new Mirage.

There’s no ashtray. I don’t smoke. I’ve always used the ashtray for loose change so I’d always have change for parking meters, etc. Now I’ve gotta put the loose change in my pocket and take it in the house. There are pockets in the front doors, I’m thinking buy a dollar store pencil box and use it as a makeshift change box. Can’t leave coins visible in the car to tantalize ‘smash ‘n’ grab’ thieves.

The aftermarket radio I had in my Festiva would often display the name of whatever song was being played on the radio stations. The radio in the Mirage doesn’t do that. On the other hand, since the last speaker failed on my old Festiva about 6 months ago I couldn’t listen to any radio anyway, so I’d call it a net gain.

Yeah they don’t have ash trays anymore or lighters. The book says not to put a lighter in the acc socket. I use a metal Sucretes tin that I can close the cover on.

I’m happy you’re happy and finally done. I really dislike shopping for cars. Not counting the time at the auto show and a pre lim visit, we had an appointment for 2:00 and drove off in a new car at 6:30. And that was with me closing the discussion twice and being brought back in the fold again, and the washing and detail time. That’s about all I can take. But if the wife is happy, I’m happy. So congrats. I just hope your knees hold up.

On many cars you have to pay extra for a “smoker’s package” to get the ashtray and cigarette lighter

The most important part is that you’re happy with the car and the deal.

The aftermarket radio in the festiva might have had HD Radio which as far as I can tell the Mirage doesn’t come with. Displays certain information from the station (such as the score of the game) on the display.

@wolyrobb You do not need HD radio for the song name to be displayed, you need RDS (Radio Data System) that most aftermarket radios have. The Ford Sync radio also has this standard in the base trims now. I installed one system in one of my cars and wanted to impress my 13 yr old when I showed her the song/singer displayed on the screen, to which she immediately responded; “Does it show the lyrics too?!”.

@“Ed Frugal” Congrats on your purchase. Enjoy that new car smell and the impressive gas mileage. I am surprised you still use coins because around here all meters take credit cards. I personally hate change and have none on me or in my car (it could actually hurt your gas mileage!). I think you will get used to it.

There are always minor things between different makes of car that could drive anybody crazy. On the Ford Focus I had for a short time, I hated the fact that the door lock/unlock was on the center stack and there was no manual unlock on the door itself.

Congradulations ,you withstood the Honda dealers arrogance,I hope the Car never lets you down.The other day at at Home Depot the wind was so strong it tore a piece of plywood (luan) from the yard guys hand and it struck my Dodge putting a huge dent in the cab (even causing the paint to come off) striking a light pole and breaking into a two piece sheet of plywood ,before striking another vehicle .So I recommend you get comprehensive insurance on your new “baby”.I have been accosted by dealer arrogance too.

galant wrote:
On the Ford Focus I had for a short time, I hated the fact that the door lock/unlock was on the center stack and there was no manual unlock on the door itself.

This has the advantage that a thief can’t stick a coat hanger through the door and hit the unlock button. BMWs are the same, possibly for that reason.

I was wrong. Someone asked if ED ever bought a vehicle would he tell us. I said yes, but it would take 8 paragraphs to do so. It took more than that.

@Ed Frugal
Congratulations On Your Purchase!

By Doing Your Homework (Almost To The Extreme ) You Have Avoided One Of The Most Dreadful Parts Of Car Buying For Those Who Don’t… The Dreaded Buyer’s Remorse!

I too, am guilty of almost “too much” research when buying a new car, used car, or nearly anything, (it makes the process quite tedious) but I find few surprises after the purchase and don’t have buyer’s remorse.

Enjoy the new ride. It’s You! By the way, that color is one of my two favorites (and the majority of car shoppers, also).

Good job!
CSA

I’m probably getting all goo-goo over conveniences the rest of you have known for 30 years or more, but, like @cwatkin said on his thread, Mitsubishi did put some thought into this car. You can’t lock the keys in the car, can’t drain the battery by leaving the lights on because they’ll go out when you open the door. The seat belt minder will keep nagging you if you don’t fasten your seatbelt, but I find it cute. Like my mother, the car ‘cares’ about me and doesn’t want me to go through the windshield.

When you open the hatchback, there’s a little light that goes on. Its kind of a sickly pale light, but a light nonetheless.

Its really nice having a new car. Every button and knob does what its supposed to do, the first time you press it, and there’s no stray squeaks rattles or smells to worry about. And, since I didn’t pay a tremendous amount of money for it, I’m not overly worried about bird droppings and the inevitable shopping cart dings, etc although that first one I’m sure is gonna pixx me off!

By the way, I suppose I owe @cwatkin a big “THANK YOU” for making me aware of this deal. So, “Thank You”! And thanks to everyone who’s wishing me well with my purchase.

In regards to the spare change, I hate the idea of using a credit card for small purchases like that, although I suppose in a pinch I would. Same way with fast food. I always pay cash for stuff like that. The vending machines in the break room at work have credit card readers now, and I see people using their credit (or debit?) cards to buy a soda. Good grief! If I’m a nickle short, I just do without. I’m not going to die of thirst in 4 hours. I actually get embarrassed if I have to use a credit card for any purchase under $20. I’m probably among the last of that breed.

This is off topic but maybe you are not as frugal as you think. We use our Discover card for almost all purchases and that gets us cash back. We pay the Discover amount multiple times thru are online checking and that also gives us a cash reward.

Not really lovin’ the keyless entry system, because it throws off my routine. For decades, I ALWAYS make sure my keys are IN MY HAND when I close the front door (of my house). This ensures I won’t lock myself out of my house. Then I walk to the car, keys in hand. Now, I don’t need to do that, and I run the risk of locking myself out of my house by assuming my keys are in my pocket when they aren’t. So far, I notice, when I leave (work, gym, store etc) I have my keys in my hand as I approach the car, then I realize, oh, yeah, right. . . put your keys back in your pocket.

True, one could describe the Mirage as ‘underpowered’; and one would be correct in that assessment. But, as we know, you have to make tradeoffs for excellent fuel economy. I’d rather have the 40+ mpg. To be fair, acceleration is perfectly fine for day-to-day driving. The only time its an issue is situations like merging onto a freeway with a short merge lane and heavy traffic. I have a quarter-century of experience driving underpowered cars (Chevette, Festiva) so its not much of an issue for me. As long as you know what the car is capable of, you can alter your driving technique to compensate.

My off-topic response to @“VOLVO V70” For me, using cash is more of a privacy issue. Anything put on a card is tracked, traced, and data mined. I try to keep my digital footprint small so there’s not as much for “Big Data” to build a psychological profile on. True, it probably is easier to manage one’s finances by putting everything on a card, then you can track your expenses through an “app”. But so does the card issuer and the bank. Then they use that information to try to get you to spend more money.

". . . We pay the Discover amount multiple times thru are online checking. . . " I don’t understand. Why would you pay your bill more than once?

Paying multiple times keeps the Discover balance at zero and every transaction thru the online checking has a cash back amount.

OOOoooo-kay! Whatever works for you. I prefer to pay my bills “one and done”. I notice most every store, card, and website has some kind of bonus points, cash back, whackybucks, frequent flyer miles, etc these days. They want folks to be focused on the points they are “earning” instead of the prices of the items they are buying. Its a high-tech version of the pea under the shell game. If you have a family, it almost seems like you’d have to hire a secretary to keep track of all the ‘rewards points’, airline miles, bonus bucks, etc you’d accumulate from various stores and financial institutions.

Ed: Re locking yourself out of your house, I long ago switched to locks that require a key to lock them. Therefore zero chance of locking myself out. (Actually this was for the SO after she locked herself out the second time).

On credit cards, I do like the parking meters that take a card, so I don’t have to carry around rolls of quarters. Just wish the dollar coin became useful.

Good luck on your new car.

Maybe a garage door opener if you have an attached garage. But I would highly recommend a lock box mounted somewhere in the back. The best ones are about $50 and you simply program a code to open it which will then have your house key in it. Its a small expense compared to a new car so now that you are in the spending phase, go for it. LED lights are next.

Congratulations! The Mirage is a light years better vehicle than the Festive, essentially a Kia before Hyundai bought them out.

Enjoy your ride and your overall cost per mile over the life of the vehicle will be very modest.

Using the a/c doesn’t seem to suck all the power from the engine either. EIGHT speeds on the blower fan too! My father’s old Fords had 3 speeds: low, medium, and “blow the compressor”. To this day I’m apprehensive about running a/c at its highest setting. Funny how what you experience as a child stays with you!

I will only run the blower on high for just a few minutes in the summer. The blower motor uses a lot of current to run on high, and the output isn’t usually that much greater than the next to high position. Opening a window usually draws off the excess heat when the car has been sitting in the sun, but if there is a lot of road noise, I use the high setting for about two minutes, then to a lower setting.

Your gas mileage probably won’t hold. I don’t know why, but the when the salesman takes the car to the gas station for the “full tank of gas”, they watch the gauge and as soon as the needle hits full, they stop, at least they did when gas was hitting $4/gal. Its kinda penny ante but they still seem to do it. I start recording my mileage after I fill it the first time and it usually drops a little. I don’t expect it will drop a lot though, maybe down to the 40-45 mpg.

The other thing is that most people drive that new car very carefully the first couple of weeks as they get used to it. Then their bad normal habits will return and the mileage will drop a little more.