The EFTM Garage – Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sport

One of the cars in the EFTM garage this week is not a small car, it’s a micro car – the Mitsubishi Mirage is right down in the “entry-level” bracket as a great first car option, we’ll put it through the ringer for a week.

Make: Mitsubishi

Model: Mirage

Variant: ES Sport

Standard Features: Three-cylinder 1.2 litre 57 kW / 100Nm five-speed manual, keyless entry, CD player, bluetooth with steaming, basic voice recognition system, four-speaker stereo system, USB / AUX inputs, power windows and side mirrors, leather steering wheel, 14-inch alloys, five doors!

Price: $14,190 (ES Sport)

Wow Factor: Price. Base model ES manual is $12,990, some dealers go even lower.

Most Impressive: Handsfree system, full suite of safety features. Five-door, usable boot, the fact our test car wasn’t coated in the ‘Mulberry’ colour scheme.

Not so impressive: Perception of “you get what you pay for”. Tinny, cheap overall feel. Whining manual transmission. The ungainly steering and suspension tune needs work. Fuel efficient but should be even better (we averaged 5.8). It doesn’t have to be this way, EFTM finds it hard to look past the VW Up!