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2021 Mitsubishi Mirage: Will Bigger Wheels and Tires Make It Less Lame?

There's a long and drawn-out story behind why I, as an alleged "expert" in the auto industry, wound up owning a brand-new 2021 Mitsubishi Mirage ES hatchback. Anyone who legitimately thinks I'm an expert on anything is bound to be disappointed, but I digress. But in the three or so weeks I've owned the much-maligned car so far, it's had a profound impact on me.
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Photo: Benny Kirk
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The Mirage is the kind of car with a remarkably vibrant and polarizing history in its time in the North American market. In parts of the world where cars are still unobtainable commodities for most of society, the Mirage and its sister cars, the Attrage and the Space Star serve as a gateway to car ownership.

But in North America, where SUVs and pickup trucks rule the roads, the Mirage was less warmly received, at least initially. Critics panned the little Mitsu as everything from "underpowered," "unrefined", and "pathetic." one particularly popular auto YouTuber was incredibly unkind to the little Mirage, hailing it as "the worst new car you can buy," strong words there.

Truth be told, Doug DeMuro did at least explain that he completely understood why people in need of cheap, reliable transportation genuinely enjoy the Mirage, even if some of the commenters on his video couldn't be bothered to watch for long enough to hear him say it.

But what this contextualizes so perfectly is how much of an impact the Mirage was bringing for such an unassuming little runabout. Over three million people have watched this particularly damning review of the Mirage, and it's one of the first reviews DeMuro created that went genuinely viral back in 2017, kicking off his rise to automotive stardom. So then, knowing what we know about the Mirage, why would anyone in 2021 see any need to own one of these little boxes on wheels?

2021 Mitsubishi Mirage
Photo: Benny Kirk
Well, I don't think anyone could have possibly anticipated the auto industry to take the dramatic fall it has this year. As the global microchip shortage laid waste to auto factories the world over, the global supply of cheap used cars became substantially more depleted than it had been in recent memory.

Suddenly, used Corollas, Civics, and Camrys buyers had banked on for decades as emergency wheels had suddenly eroded away. And the Yaris? Toyota doesn't even make them anymore for the U.S. Much of what remained afterward was old, high mileage, and years out of warranty. The prospects of any cheap beater I'd be liable to buy in today's market spewing its transmission's guts up on my parking garage's floor was not in my list of plans this holiday season.

Evidently, neither is it in the plans for many Americans, who've helped the Mirage rise to the highest selling new sub-compact in its market segment, a badly needed win for Mitsubishi. With that in mind, the five-year, 60,000-mile, bumper-to-bumper warranty, 100,000-mile, ten-year powertrain warranty, and seven-year corrosion warranty all looked positively delectable to a person who'd been without a car for six weeks to that point. Mitsubishi is still on shaky ground these days, and the warranty was ultimately the dealmaker in my case.

So, then, what do I think? Well, my expectations were meager when I drove off the Mitsubishi dealer lot that November evening. My only wish for one of the most affordable new cars in the world was for it to take me from point A to point B and get me from assignment to assignment for autoevolution. Oh, and it'd help if it could merge onto the interstate or climb up a steep Western Pennsylvania hill without falling backward or getting creamed by a semi-truck in the right lane going way, way too fast.

2021 Mitsubishi Mirage
Photo: Benny Kirk
By those measures, the Mirage passed with flying colors. Those on the Internet who say a Mirage can't go on the highway or up a hill must have never actually driven one because even the steepest hills in all the Pittsburgh metro area were no issue. Apart from a bit more engine noise under the hood than I'm used to. At least it's a pleasant, peppy sound from the 1.2-liter 78 hp three-banger. It also merged onto and maintained 70 mph (112 kph) on the Pennsylvania Turnpike just fine, if slightly slower than I'm acustomed.

Features like a seven-inch infotainment touch screen with Apple Car Play and Android Auto support, collision avoidance assistance, power windows, and remarkably effective climate controls for such a cheap car are features that would have made the Mirage a luxury vehicle 15 years ago. Still, in 2021, it's a perfectly acceptable level of features.

These additions definitely took away from the shortcomings in the rest of the interior. Like the absurdly cheap-feeling plastic that makes up the dashboard. It's also worth noting that there's nearly zero soft-touch surfaces anywhere in the car, apart from the seats, of course.

2021 Mitsubishi Mirage
Photo: Benny Kirk
Speaking of the seats, they're reasonably comfortable, and the seat fabric's red stripe pattern is pretty funky. Rear seat passengers I've ferried around so far have had nothing to complain about when asked. But I doubt anyone would want to sit there on very long trips.

But the one thing I absolutely couldn't stand about the 2021 Mirage ES hatchback was the puny, diminutive, positively hopeless set of Falken 165/65 14-inch all-season tires that came standard with the car. Not only are they the easiest thing on the Mirage to make fun of, but it makes every interstate on or off-ramp feel like a session at the roller derby, so to say, it handled like it was on roller skates, and that's being kind to it.

The idea of rolling with these wheels and tires through the frigid and snow-covered PA winter sounded like a death sentence, considering how much driving I get up to. So I devised a little scheme to try and resolve a problem that was becoming a real dealbreaker for me.

2021 Mitsubishi Mirage
Photo: Benny Kirk
A quick call to my local tire shop had that sorted. Gone went insultingly small and useless OEM wheels and tires. A set of larger, wider Petlas Snowmaster 651 15-inch tires and new, larger black steelie wheels went in its place.

To say this profoundly changed the demeanor of this little car was an understatement. Not only does the new set of wheels not appear to be borrowed from a golf cart, but the wider, taller tires made tight highway ramps no more stressful than in a Yaris or a Versa and potholes feel subtantially less dramatic.

I really have enjoyed what I've experienced so far in my Mirage. Yes, it's still cheap, and yes, it's still underpowered and slow. But especially after the wheel and tire upgrade, there's not much seperating the Mirage from more established ecomony cars from Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Granted, I suppose going so long stuck at home without a car helped with that feeling. It almost makes me wonder what else I could do to make it even more fun. Maybe a set of coilovers? Please don't tempt me.
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