Looking for a larger/safer car but nothing too complex

For my work I have been driving a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage. This is a simple car by modern standards and has been very solid and reliable. It has only needed wear items and basic maintenance like oil and other fluid changes. Recently a friend’s daughter was involved in a pretty serious wreck due to a crappy driver that ran a light in a large pickup. She was in a Chevy Spark which is basically one of the closest competitors to the Mirage.

I like the simplistic nature and analog controls of the Mirage. It doesn’t spy and collect information to be sent home. While some might want a car with more bells and whistles, I think this is a great car. I am just looking into something larger and safer. The way people drive seems to be getting worse by the day as well.

I recently had a new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport as a rental car. It has a lot in common with the Mirage and is nothing all that complicated. New ones are all CVTs which I have some concerns about. I never hear the good stories about these things. The early Mirage CVTs were a 120,000 mile failure item although I think they have gotten better. Then there are all the horror stories about Nissan CVTs. The early Mirage used the same basic unit as the Versas of that era so you know they were not good.

There are geared automatics and manuals in older Outlanders so maybe that would be something to consider. The safety rating of these is also much better than the Mirage of course.

Any other small SUVs that don’t include all the extra nonsense and possibly a manual transmission as well?

I might have an option on a 2017 Ford Escape 1.5 turbo soon. Any opinions on those?

Something with decent gas mileage is important as I do lots of driving. Of course I don’t expect anything to match the Mirage on mileage that isn’t a hybrid.

Looks like the 2017 Escape had lots of enginie troubles, Not just the 1.5T but the other engine choices as well. Mazda made a CX-5 with the manual for a few years as a basic trim in FWD only and no options other than the usual floor mats and other accessories. 2016 is the newest I can find on the market nationwide but they do exist. Honda made the HRV in a manual with the previous generation. You could aim for a Mazda CX5 sport or a Mazda CX-30 which is what a good friend bought used about a year ago.

Have you done a search on cars.com, for example, with your requirements? And I agree, an Escape wouldn’t be at the top of my list.

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It sounds to me like the Mitsubishi Mirage is ideal for your needs. And it is actually the only modern-ish vehicle that I would consider. Although at this point, I’d rather have a classic car from the 1990s. You should keep the Mirage and resist the temptation to “upgrade” unnecessarily.

The most important thing to remember is that the most powerful safety feature in any car is the person driving it. If you drive safely, pay attention to your surroundings, and keep your car in good mechanical condition, even a 1980s model with no airbags/ABS/etc can be very safe. If you drive aggressively, play with your cellphone while driving, fail to pay attention to your surroundings, etc, even the latest-and-greatest models will be a death trap.

Here’s a review of the 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport from US News. They don’t like it at all. I’m not suggesting that their review is authoritative, but they do present 15 alternatives in the same class of SUV. You might use their list as a way to narrow your list of alternatives down. Note that you can change the year near the top of the page to take advantage of manufacturing changes for the years you are interested in.

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/mitsubishi/outlander-sport/2022

More nonsense !! Even a careful alert driver can be T-boned by an idiot running a red light just by driving through the intersection .

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Bingo! Also, a car that veers into the wrong lane can hit you head-on, and the outcome would be very different for the victim–depending on whether he is driving a modern vehicle, or one from as recently as the '80s.

Many years ago, my brother was T-boned by a guy who ran a stop sign, and our really nice '66 Ford Galaxie 500 was destroyed. Because that car lacked most of the modern safety features, he had some significant injuries.

Much more recently, I was a passenger in my friend’s Accord sedan when it was T-boned by a wacky woman driver who careened onto the property of a gas station, and hit us as we were about to exit from the gas station. Even though the Honda had enough damage to send it to the junk yard, the presence of side airbags, reinforced side impact beams in the doors, and shoulder harnesses with pretensioners allowed both of us to escape w/o any injuries.

There was nothing that anyone–even the world’s most skilled drivers–could have done to avoid the drivers who T-boned us.

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I was a passenger in a friends Saab sedan in an unforeseeable accident. We were entering a limited access highway on a cloverleaf. A driver exited the highway too fast and spun out into our lane. The spin was just right for us to hit that car squarely in the rear. My friends car shrank several inches but there was no damage behind the firewall, including no broken glass. I’d guess we were going about 25 after braking and who knows how fast the other car was going during the spin. No injuries in our car. The woman driving the other car had a bruised thigh and we all wore seat belts.

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The Chevy Spark accident mentioned was a a T bone type deal. Some oblivious idiot ran right into them and I am seeing more and more of this type of driving lately. People just don’t care.

Mazda has always made a good car if you ask me so that is definitely one to consider. If I were to get a manual transmission, I would definitely avoid this. Out-of-Production Part Leaves Some Manual Mazdas Undrivable.
Would any other makes be impacted? Also, I assume some shop could custom make a cable if needed although it might be more than just buying the part.

As for the Outlander Sport, it seems all the people who review the Mitsubishis hate them while those who drive them have no issues with their simplicity. The Mirage is the poster child for this. I am not dead set on the Outlander Sport, especially with the CVT which seem to be problematic.

I am also hoping for a non-turbo as well but the Escape was an option I might have in a few weeks. Unless really cheap, I will pass on that.

I had a job that required lots of driving , many daily stops in several cities and at the end of a 10 hout day the last thing I wanted was a manual transmission . It won’t be long before a manual will be hard to find .

Edit: I think asking strangers on a forum on what vehicle to buy is silly . We all have brands we like and some we would not even want seen in our driveway.

That said there are many new vehicles out there that will not break the bank . Using the Build your own features can help a person make a list of ones they would consider.

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Personally, I’d drive the Mirage until it rusted out or could no longer be repaired. The Mirage is a great simple reliable car with the best warranty. While most car publications don’t like it because it’s slow, noisy and plain, Mitsubishi knows its market. It builds the Mirage for abuse on rough potholed third world and American roads. And get the higher profile 14 inch rims for a smoother highway ride. It’s a great car for city speeds and parking because of its size, and it’s great for everyday rural driving cause it gets better real world mileage than a hybrid on the open road. Our neighbors have one and they like it even for long distance trips, admittedly not its forte. But it’s real-world highway MPG matches hybrids – for far less cost. It’s an amazing simple little vehicle. Yes the interior surfaces are hard plastic and plain. But that hard plastic is easy to clean and the plastic won’t crack like the interior of my Toyota’s has. No its not as fast as a Nissan Versa or any other car, but its cheaper and better built. It has a 60,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty and a 10/ 100,000 drivetrain warranty. And it’s not a poorly built Hyundai/KIA or made in China. It’s what a low cost car used to be: boring, reliable and built to take a lot of abuse.

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+1
At one time, I drove into Manhattan very often, and my manual transmission cars were not pleasant vehicles to be driving. Because of that reality, I switched to automatic trans vehicles, and I’ve never considered going back to a manual trans. And, I can add that I’ve never had any problems with my automatic transmissions, even up to 12 years/140k+ miles.

I agree with everything you say. I am nearing 100K miles with nothing more than brakes, tires, battery, and oil/fluid changes. It is a great simple and reliable car and something about that is refreshing to me. It also has one of the worst, if not the worst, crash ratings of any modern car.

Before this, I ran the 3 cylinder Geo Metros. Again, this was a dead simple and reliable car with exceptional mileage. A combination of factors steered me into the Mirage. Again, the Metro had a pretty poor crash rating.

I agree the Mirage is better built than a Versa. I was looking at the Versa as well as the Spark at the time I purchased it. There were plenty of engine issues with the Versa and the Spark had mixed reviews.

Most of my driving is on interstates or rural two lane highways. There isn’t a lot of big city stop and go or parking for me to be concerned with.

I disagree with the sentiment here. While some accidents may very well be unavoidable, eg a person fleeing from police with literally nothing to lose, most are avoidable if you anticipate what might happen, and act accordingly. We all grew up driving (or being driven around in) cars from the 1990s or older, and we’re still alive. If it was safe for me to drive a 1991 Toyota Camry 20 or 30 years ago, then it’s safe for me to drive one today, assuming it’s still in decent condition.

Nope. This means that in almost all accidents both parties are to blame. Not the case. And the ‘I drove a death trap and survived, so they must not have been that bad’ claim is similarly wrong. The dead folk killed in those accidents don’t get to post here, do they? Death rates have plummeted with the advent of safer cars, it’s that simple.

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Of course you do . I can only hope your children ( if you have any ) can someday realize just how wrong you are about so many things.

BC… I also disagree with you on this. The most careful driver in the world can’t afford a crushing side impact or rear ender. Its the accident you didn’t see coming that can kill. There isn’t a vehicle made today that is less safe than anything made before 2000. Airbags, crumple zones, side impact beams, anti-lock brakes, smart seat belts tensioners, all of it, have saved many, many people from injury and death… and the statistics on injuries per mile driven back me up. Unless you drove a large Volvo or Mercedes in 1990, you were driving a car that wouldn’t come even close to being as safe as any car on the road today. Almost all 1990 cars came without anti-lock brakes or even a driver’s side airbag. Safety-wise you’d be better off in a 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage than anything that came off the line in 1990 or before. Anti-lock brakes alone changed everything.

Yes, WE are, but the people who died in car crashes in the '90s–and earlier–are not around to tell their tales.

Just because you and I might not have contracted Polio in the 1950s, that doesn’t eliminate the fact that millions of children did contract it, and that is why we took the Polio vaccine when it was available.

Even the so-called Black Plague (Bubonic Plague) of the Middle Ages had “only” ~ a 50% death rate. I wonder if the folks who survived that epidemic would have argued that The Black Plague wasn’t that bad because “we’re still alive”.

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My daughters only wreck to date was a lady in a GC Jeep rear ended her at a red light, the lady was not RUNNING from the police or just robbed a bank, my car was totaled… Dad had a grey market 1984ish 500SEL (only reason he lived they said) was minding his own business going around a curve 100% in his lane and a truck coming from the opposite direction crossed over into his lane at the last second and totaled out both vehicles, the other driver was NOT driving twice the speed limit nor was running from the police or anything like that… Stuff happens and no matter how good of a driver you are, you can still be involved in a wreck… I was in the drive through line at Wendy’s 25 years ago and had already placed my order and moved forward one spot and got rear ended sitting still with my e-brake on, how the f are you supposed to avoidable or anticipate that???..

EDIT: to change a word I really shouldn’t have used, my apologies…

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I also had an opportunity for a Chevy Equinox but then saw the issues with those and will avoid. It sounds like the timing set is a 90,000 mile service. You would expect a belt for that short of an interval and not a chain. Chains are harder and more expensive to swap of course.

Also had a chance on a Chevy Trax. Sounds like those are terrible so no thanks…

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