HUGE sale on the 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage

These things ARE selling. The dealer near me that had 19 is now down to 7. The one down the road that had over 30 is now down to 21. Called them, NONE of them are manual, but again, they can “get one” so they say. . .

Think I figured out why the first salesman was so nonchalant; he’s confident I won’t be able to beat his deal. I THINK (of course you can never be sure) I found the dealer he’s going to “get” the car he offered me from, a dealer in a town about 80 miles away has that exact same model/color listed. They have about 5 manuals, including a green one, but all listed a few hundred dollars higher than the deal offered me (plus the $300 BS fee, of course)

What follows is a rant about manual transmissions, read on at your own discretion:

I think this is my last shot at a manual transmission car. They’re already so hard to find, I bet they phase out over the next design cycle, except for sports cars like the Mustang, Corvette, Porsche, and perhaps off-road vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler.

I CAN get a Mirage NOW with a manual transmission, supposing the dealer doesn’t tell me its been sold if/when I call him back. If I hold out for a manual Fit, I may or may not be successful. The lady I spoke to on the phone at Honda of America Corporate said they are building them and shipping them to my area, 'course she could have just said that to get me off the phone, too. . . 'Course the dealer is going to discourage me from holding out 'cause they want to make a sale NOW, not 3 or 6 months from now or “whenever”. . .

Charitably, I might be referred to as a freethinker, or stubborn, or a hardhead. Uncharitably, I have an anti-social streak a mile wide. I think most people are sheeple, gullible and pliable. Given the fact that the automatic is rated about 4 mpg higher than the manual, I MIGHT be talked into getting one BUT for the fact that everyone (friends, family, co-workers, car salesfolks) makes that face when I say I want a manual, as if I asked for chocolate covered bugs as a pizza topping. Since nobody seems to understand why I want one, that makes me want it even more. Obviously I’m excepting the folks on this forum, who seem to understand the advantages of a manual transmission.

I can think of two big drawbacks:

  1. During those rare occasions when someone else drives my car, like a mechanic, the clutch could get abused. I know Tom & Ray said a clutch can be ruined in a single afternoon.

  2. If I do need any clutch related parts in the future they could be hard to come by, even for the Honda Fit. If only 1 in 1000 cars was built with the manual, replacement parts could be difficult to find in 10 - 15 years.

If the Honda dealer KNOWS I only want a Manual Fit, in Blue, LX trim, and ONE becomes available, he could decide to be a REAL HARDAXX and refuse to negotiate on price. Fortunately I live in a major metropolitan area and there are 4 Honda dealers in a reasonable distance, although I would prefer to buy from the one within walking distance from my house, in case I decide to use the dealer for maintenance. . .

If no manual Fits become available, or the dealer hardballs me on the price, I could find myself in November with no car, and it’ll be far too late to get the deal on the Mirage.

I was hoping nobody would want the manual Mirage, and I could hold out and get a super-deal, but there’s probably another eccentric floating around out there who will scoop it up if I don’t. I strongly sense that time is running out on this deal.

I can get the Mirage for about $7,000 less than the Fit, and there’s about 7 things I like better about the Fit, so it comes to $1,000 for each compromise. Of course, if there aren’t going to be any more manual Fits, none of that matters and if I want one I need to jump on that Mirage. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to know for sure until its far too late for me to buy the other vehicle. :frowning: :cold_sweat: :confounded: :confused: :cry:

I need a cookie. :cookie: Make it a dozen. :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie:

Postscript: with due respect to all those who suggest the Rio, Accent, Fiesta, Versa, Spark, Yaris, etc. I already did my research over a year ago, almost bought a Fit in late 2014 but for the fact my Mom went into hospice care, under that mental stress I backed out at the last minute. I have stated openly the main reason for me considering the Mirage was @cwatkin 's pointing out to us how big a bargain this car is right now.

ALSO, I suspect the gas mileage on the Mirage would outstrip the Fit by a significant margin. If the Mirage really gets 40+ to high 40’s mpgs, and I suspect the most I could expect from the Fit is low to mid 30’s with the manual transmission. Of course its a heaver and much more powerful car (130 rated horsepower versus 74 rated horsepower) Next time the middle east explodes and gas shoots up over $4.00 a gallon, every mpg is going to count. @cwatkin , you’ll have pizza delivery guys hailing you at stoplights and asking you if you want to sell them your car. I had them offering me money for my old jalopy Festiva when gas was around $4 a gallon. . .