The Mitsubishi Mirage is not a well-loved vehicle. In fact, it made the top (or bottom) or many “worst car” style lists. The Mirage received terrible reviews across the board for being painfully bland and oddly dated. The 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage could easily pass for a subcompact from the late ‘90s. It is a grotesque little blob of a car that I would have argued no one could love – until I heard about the couple who drove theirs into the ground. 

414,000 miles on a Mitsubishi Mirage?

That’s right, after 414,000 miles, the Huots traded in their 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. This is an impressive odometer figure for any car; for a budget subcompact, it’s unreal. Well, the couple in Minnesota made it a reality for their 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. 

As any good Minnesotan would do, the couple dubbed the “Purple Won” as an homage to Prince. Not only did this Mirage make it 414k miles, but it did so as a utility delivery car in northern Minnesota, where winters are harsh and require plenty of road salt. How this little purple Mitsubishi didn’t disintegrate is a wonder all its own. 

Jerry and Janice Huot clearly loved their Mirage

According to Autoblog, The Huots were long time Mitsubishi owners and were quite proud of the Purple Won. Janice Huot fondly recounts the glory days of her Mirage ownership, “I always loved the comments at gas stations and grocery stores and waves from people as I’d drive by,” Jerry said. “Kids would always stop and point. Everybody seemed to love that car; it would make everyone smile whenever they saw it.” There must be a hold out of Mirage owners in the midwest we didn’t know about. 

Since they needed a delivery vehicle, they wanted to find something that was fuel-efficient as possible. Janice told Mitsubishi “Right in the middle of the showroom was this little purple Mirage that got 44 mpg… I’d had an Outlander Sport and Montero Sport before and loved them, so it seemed like a good choice. We drove the Mirage home that day, right off the showroom floor.” Mitsubishi Ride or die over at the Huot house. 

The Mirage could hang in the snow

Janice continues the lovefest by talking about how the Mirage “never skipped a beat” even in the brutal Minnesota winters. She mentions while other cars would get stuck in the snow, she and her purple sidekick would skate by with ease. (I never thought I’d write so many nice things about a Mirage)

Yeah, yeah, you can make anything run if you put enough money into it…

Nope. That’s not how it went down with the Huots and their Mirage. The way they tell it, they only had two noteworthy repairs done to the Mitsubishi Mirage. Between the 200,000-300,000 miles mark, the Mirage needed a new starter motor, and around 150,000 miles, it needed new wheel bearings. That’s it. Those are the only major repairs outside of maintenance. 

What could possibly replace a Mitsubishi Mirage?

Another Mitsubishi Mirage, duh. The Huot family did add a new Outlander to the stable, but you better believe they snagged a fresh Mirage right off the vine. Who could blame them? I mean, they did just squeeze 414,000 miles out of one. After hearing about the crazy milage, the Principal at the Mitsubishi dealership offered to buy the Purple Won to keep at the dealership for advertising. 

Hats off for the Mirage, I guess.