Overall recap of 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage DE

cwatkin
Fri, 23 May 2025 16:51:16 +0000
General Discussion

As mentioned, insurance carted this car off due to damage sustained in a hailstorm and edge of a tornado.

I figured I would mention how I liked the car overall and why I was considering selling it before it was totaled. Overall I liked the car. It was as reliable as the day is long and the gas mileage was phenomenal. At the time of purchase it was considered one of the top “green” cars and the only one without complicated hybrid technology. It really never needed any work and routine maintenance was not hard to perform. It started like a champ no matter how hot or cold it was and handled driving on highways and backroads. I could always count on this car. Mine was a manual transmission which I liked. Of course the CVTs have more reliability issues so cannot judge those but the manual was great and shifted smooth.

I had done all the maintenance myself and could see that the inside of the valve cover looked as clean as a new engine on the day it left. I had done brakes myself as well as changed the transmission fluid so the mechanicals will make a good donor for someone needing a new engine or transmission. None of this work was difficult. Overall I found this to be a simple and reliable little car.

With this, why was I considering selling? I do a lot of driving while working and it seems that people overall have gotten to be far worse drivers than just a few short years ago. I bought this in late 2016 or early 2017 as a closeout for $10,000 brand new. This was before the pandemic seems to have changed people and not for the better. Being such a small light car, I began to worry about safety. Of course this had a pretty low safety rating compared to others and near misses were becoming more common. I swear people are like zombies today, both on and off the road. Basically I still liked the car but was really starting to think seriously about selling it or trading it in because of the safety concerns.

I have had Mitsubishi Outlander Sports as rental cars and found them to be a decent car. It was funny how all the controls are just the same and everything looks pretty much the same. I kinda forgot I wasn’t in my own car. My main concern about buying one of these is the CVT. I know they get overall decent safety ratings and there is more room but I really want to avoid a CVT for now. I understand new designs are coming and might overcome some of the shortcomings of current designs. I know there are some manuals and traditional geared automatics in the older models.

I am also considering a Mazda CX-5 or Ford Escape when I decide to replace it. For now I have others that run. The damage to them from the storm was not as bad with their heavier construction. I did replace the windshield on the 1997 F-250 LD, only to have it blow up a few short days later.

19 posts - 9 participants