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Doug DeMuro's Least Favorite Cheap Car is Exploding in Value, Here's Why

No, we’re not pulling your leg or playing some cruel, sick prank here. The lowly little pre-facelifted Mitsubishi Mirage, the car most known as Doug DeMuro’s personal punching bag, is now seeing an unexpected surge in value as people become more and more desperate for four wheels.
Mitsubishi Mirage 22 photos
Photo: Doug DeMuro
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The three-cylinder Mirage, as it has existed since its 2012 re-launch as a sub-compact, has never had a particularly easy go of things. Its most memorable 15 minutes of fame (more like 22 minutes) occurred when YouTube automotive savant Doug DeMuro hailed it as “the worst new car you can buy.

Of course, the Mirage’s sub-par build quality and little three-cylinder engine made it the easiest of targets. But checking the latest sales figures might have Doug biting his tongue for once in his life. A report by Fox News supported by information from iseecars.com confirms that the average sale price on a used Mirage had increased nearly 50% from this time last year.

It went from under $9,000 on average to a high of almost $13,398. Not far off from the $16,290 sticker price of a bare-bones new Mirage. In a trend becoming all too familiar in today’s economy, experts say the cause of this inexplicable rise in sales is collateral damage from a global microchip shortage.

A shortage that’s threatening to bring the entire auto industry to its knees. With the prices of new cars shifting out of the reach of more and more Americans, a car once written off as a joke is being pressed into service as all better vehicles slip into unaffordable territory.

The Mirage is just one of the once critically panned used sub-compacts once laughed at and now desperately sought after. The Phenomenon is also occurring in cars like the Chevy Spark, itself not much better received than the Mirage. It would seem the public is willing to get behind the wheel of cars they’d have happily made fun of someone for driving just six months ago. Funny how the world can change so suddenly. Eat your heart out, Doug.
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