The Mitsubishi Mirage is often the target of critical negativity. From its ride quality to build quality, it’s far and away from what one would consider a luxury car. That being said, it is one of the cheapest new cars you can buy in 2023. For a new, affordable, efficient, and reliable car, one could easily learn to live with its character flaws. It may not be what you want. If you’re shopping on a budget, though, it’s what you need.

Is a Mitsubishi Mirage good on gas?

According to the EPA, the Mirage sees up to 43 mpg highway and 36 mpg city when equipped with the CVT. In addition, it gets up to 41 mpg highway and 33 mpg city with the five-speed manual transmission.

For a vehicle that isn’t a hybrid, seeing numbers over 40 mpg is impressive! Suffice it to say, yes, the Mirage is great on gas.

The Mirage has one of the best warranty offerings in the automotive industry

The Mitsubishi warranty is pretty insane compared to other automakers. Its bumper-to-bumper coverage spans 5 years or 60,000 miles. The powertrain warranty, though, is the show stopped. It covers the engine and transmission for 10 years or 100,000 miles.

Of course, as with all warranties, wear items like brake pads and clutch disks are not covered. However, this warranty period is far beyond what most automakers offer. If 10 years of coverage doesn’t give you some peace of mind, we don’t know what will!

Most review coverage doesn’t paint a great picture, but the Mirage can be quite reliable

As with most cars, treating the Mirage right will result in it treating you right, too. There are many Mirage examples with hundreds of thousands of miles.

In fact, there’s at least one with north of 400,000 miles on its odometer. Over the course of its life collecting those miles, that particular 2017 Mirage only needed a starter at 200,000 and 300,000 miles, and wheel bearings at 150,000 miles. Overall, that’s a pretty clean track record for the mileage!

The interior of the Mirage is bad, and there’s no sugarcoating it

Yes, the interior plastics are low quality. It falls short of virtually every other automaker’s interiors. That being said, it also falls short of the price of virtually every other vehicle, too. So, what would you expect?

On the flip side, it’s available as either a sedan or hatchback. So, it can be quite practical for its size. At least, when it comes to cargo.

While we’re talking about its low points, let’s cover how slow it is. By 2023 standards, the word slow is almost too good for what the Mirage is capable of. With a zero to 60 time over 10 seconds, it’s one of the slowest vehicles currently available in the U.S. But who needs speed when you have efficiency, right?

Is Mitsubishi Mirage a safe car?

The Mitsubishi Mirage tested quite well in IIHS safety testing. Though there are some points where it received a moderate or poor rating, it is a pretty safe car overall. Especially when you consider its size. In addition, the NHTSA safety rating for the 2023 Mirage is four out of five stars.

Overall, the Mirage is a cheap car that is cheap to drive. Between its incredible fuel economy and outstanding 10-year warranty, it’s a car that you don’t have to worry about destroying your wallet throughout its entire lifespan. It may not be flashy or all that fun to drive, but for a brand-new car with a backup camera, good safety ratings, and a price tag well under $20,000, it’s hard to justify all the hate.

Of course, for the same price, you could get a multitude of trustworthy, reliable cars. If you’re shopping for a new car on a tight budget, though, the Mirage might just be exactly what you need.