Mitsubishi Mirage

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I do enjoy Doug DeMuro's video reviews, he's not shy about equally pointing out both a cars good points and it's faults or "quirks" as he calls them.  Though he does point out and complain about some pretty ridiculous or insignificant things sometimes.
 
I just looked over the new Mirage a bit and I don't see it being the choice in this class somehow. I bought a Honda Fit Sport with a 5 speed standard transmission brand new in 2010. After 8 years and 80,000 miles it has been the best car I have ever owned. I have done all the fluid changes myself, the car has yet to ever go anywhere for service!

Long term fuel economy average over every tank is 35mpg and I drive the car pretty hard (first set of tires were gone at 30k).

I have put an 8 foot step ladder in the car and even brought a new 40 gallon water heater home in it, both with the hatch closed. The interior size and versatility of the rear seats is nothing but amazing for a car of this size.

The car has been a blast to drive. With the manual transmission and 122hp it is plenty peppy and the variable rate electric steering works well without being over boosted. I've been tempted to take it out to a local club autocross, Even stock I think it would easily outperform my old VW Rabbit that I had modified just to autocross.

When I bought the car I was VW fan and I really considered one of their cars again. The Golf back then was only available with the 5cyl engine though and the fuel mileage was appalling. I briefly considered a TDI but it would have cost about $10,000 over the price of the Fit ($16,800 with tax and fees) and the fuel savings wouldn't have paid that back even over 200K miles. I hadn't ever consulted CR prior to buying but I did learn after the fact that the Fit was their lowest cost per mile long term test car just narrowly edging out the Golf TDI.

If you are still looking in this class a Fit is worth a test drive.
 
Honda Fit

Here in Australia, the Fit is badged as the Jazz.
Not sure why the change, but I'm surprised that it isn't called Jazz in the USA - the home of Jazz music after all, isn't it?

They are a good little car for sure. The space efficiency including the clever way the rear seat folds is really impressive. A used Fit / Jazz would be a nicer car than a new Mirage for my money. The first Jazzes sold here in 2002, made in Japan, were a bit bouncy in the ride, and I didn't like the fussy dashboard, and the space saver spare killed it for us. Later Jazzes sold here were made in Thailand and got a full size spare tyre at least. Later series were a tiny bit bigger, so more roomy.

Personally I prefer cars with European origins,but everyone has their own preferences.
 
Good point Chris;

Nissan has the sub compact "Note" here in the US. All the companies seem to use different names for the same car in different hemispheres, or even in the America's.
The Chevy "Nova" did not sell well in Mexico because people thought it meant No Go in Spanish.
The Buick LaCrosse is called the Allure in Canada.
 
Dodge Dart

Why was the new Dodge Dart not a big seller, looked pretty nice, like a mini Charger. The old Neons sold well, but the Caliber and Dart not.
 
Good question Cole

Having a relative who is on the Chrysler inside, and can only tell me so much of course, is that the profit margin on small cars is much lower than on an suv, or a truck.
The Calibre did sell ok the first couple or three years.
With Fiat also came their small car, and FCA decided to nix the lesser trendy of the two. You see more of them, so it was an obvious decision.
 
After an embarrassing fubar at the dealers I got to the right salesman and he was more than willing to try to find me a car. Met the sales manager (nice guy). Gave him all the info I had printed out and they'll start looking.
 

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