CAR REVIEW – 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage Rockford Forsgate Edition #DriveMitsubishi

I was provided with a week long test drive of the 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage Rockford Forsgate Edition featured in this post, courtesy of DriveShop. This post has not been monetarily compensated. Please note that, as always, any personal opinions reflected in this post are my own.

Perhaps you’ve heard the expression “good things come in small packages”? I have many times. When the 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage Rockford Forsgate Edition was delivered to me last week for my one week test drive, I wondered how accurate the saying would be in regards to this subcompact car. Here’s what I found out.
The 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage is a cute little subcompact car. The RF model that I drove was a 5-door front-wheel drive hatchback in the color Sapphire Blue. The vehicle is equipped with an anti-lock braking system, electronic brakeforce distribution, active stability control, electric power steering assist, and a tire pressure monitoring system. The car also has advanced dual-stage airbags, driver’s side kneebag, and side curtain airbags. The Mitsubishi Mirage received an overall vehicle score of 4 out of 5 stars in Government Safety Ratings, with 5 being the highest.

Being that I have driven suvs and mid-size cars since the 90s, I was a bit hesitant about the Mirage. Let me explain. I always drive as the 374 pound person that I used to be. While I may not weight that much anymore, I am still overweight. And at almost 5’11”, I’ve always been on the tall side. I looked at the Mirage and wondered both if and how I would fit in there.

As soon as I opened the driver’s door and sat down I received surprise #1. The driver’s compartment in the Mitsubishi Mirage was considerably larger than I expected it to be. I had no problem getting into the car. There was plenty of room for me – plenty of headroom, plenty of legroom and plenty of “belly” room. My 20 year old son sat in the passenger seat, his knees didn’t bump the dashboard as I’d expected they would.  Speaking of seating. As the car is technically able to hold five people, that means that the back seat can technically hold three people. My 16 year old is on the small side and fit back there with ease. I asked my 20 year old to try sitting back there and his knees were up against the seat.

From the driver’s seat you can see everything in the front dash. And that leads me to surprise #2. All of the gauges are very clear and simple to understand and operate. There are people that don’t want tons of menus to go through, they just want to do the simple stuff they want to do. The Mirage is unbelievably simple.

While it is bluetooth capable, even that is simple with setup being taken care of through the use of voice command controls located on the steering wheel. The stereo system allows the driver to play music from the radio, CD or anything on their bluetooth connected phone through the speakers and Rockford Fosgate 300 watt ecoPUNCH amplifier and subwoofer. I must mention that the instrument gauges are all in red. I know many people like the red, but I have horrible vision and the red is really blurry for me at night.

The Mirage is powered by a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine that produces 74 horsepower and 74 pound-feet of torque. Both trim levels give you the choice of a five-speed manual transmission or a CVT. It starts off a bit slow, but does make its way to its “happy place” between 40-60 mph. How does surprise #3 relate? The gas gauge! It takes a loooooooong time to go down. With an average fuel cost of only $1,300, the vehicle gets an astounding 40 mpg combined city/highway! It averages 44 mpg on the highway and 37 mpg in the city. 37 mpg in the city – that is phenomenal! I found the car to pick up a fair amount of road noise, so between that and the room in the back it would not be ideal for a cross-country family road trip. But it is ideal for running errands. You know those days when you feel like you’re doing nothing but spending hours in the car running from one place to another, and the gas they can use? The Mirage is perfect for those days. And that reminds me of the next surprise I got.

The 4th surprise is storage space. Now the Mirage is a subcompact car. As such, it’s obviously got a small storage compartment in the back. That storage space can hold a surprising amount of stuff with the seats up – 17.2 cubic feet. On my errand day I was able to fit bags in there from three different stops, including a stop at the grocery store. I think it could probably hold an umbrella style stroller but didn’t have one handy to check. If you need to have something larger back there you can put the split folding back seat down, which increases storage space to 47 cubic feet
The 5th and final surprise for me was the pricetag. Pricing for the Mitsubishi Mirage starts at about $12,995 and comes with a 10year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. The  RF model that I drove has an MSRP of $14,945, making it one of the most affordable cars currently on the market. Who could benefit from it? Lots of people! Couples wanting to save money or needing a second car.  Couples and families looking to add a third car (a just in case car). Single folks wanting to save money or needing a second car. People that need a car to commute in. Teens and new drivers needing something reliable to drive, because truthfully some people spend this much on a used car with no warranty and that’s just plain silly. Folks on a fixed income needing to replace a car. The list goes on and on. While I cannot say the car would be great for huge families or speed demons, I can say that it does offer a value for a number of different markets.
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