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The Mitsubishi Mirage is one of the best ranges of modern cars, made by Mitsubishi, the Japanese manufacturers from 1978 to 2003 and again produced last in 2012. This was the first time when the hatchback models started to make their entrance and were noted as subcompact cars. On the other hand, you had the station wagons and sedans available as Mitsubishi Lancer with compact offerings.
The liftback was first introduced in the year 1988 and actually complimented the sedan as one added compact offering. Later, the coupe of the 1991 fitted right well within the given subcompact range. The present Mirage model is one subcompact hatchback and also a noteworthy sedan. It has replaced the Mitsubishi Colt, which was sold between 2002 and 2012.
The first generation Mirage:
Mitsubishi first launched the Mirage as one front-wheel drive with 3-door hatchback. A 5-doot hatchback was made later for the longer wheelbase later that year. As most of the overseas market did not have that powerful Minica kei car, so, the Mirage was sold as an entry-level model from Mitsubishi. The chassis codes were from A151 to 153 for the 3-doors. For the A155 and up, the longer five-door version was used.
- Mirage was noted to feature four-wheel independent suspension, front disc brakes and rack and pinion steering. The power usually comes from 1244 and 1410 cc iterations of the Orion engine, which will put out 72 and 82 PS respectively.
- Of the particular note, the 1410 cc variant featured the modulated displacement, which is a system, which will shut down cylinders under the cruising or idle conditions for reducing that fuel consumption.
- Mitsubishi added that more powerful moderate 1.6 liter Saturn engine to a certain range in 1979 March, especially for the 88 PS 1600 GT model.
The second generation:
It was later in the year 1983 when Mitsubishi launched its second generation in Japan. It spitted the range unto Mirage under 3 and 5 door hatchback and 4-door sedan, and in lancer Fiore models. Later, in 1985, a station wagon version was added and a four-wheel drive wagon with 1.8 liter of gasoline engine.
The third generation:
Mitsubishi ended up with a more rounded third generation Mirage version in 987 in Japan. The design was headed by Masaru Furukawa and Yasukichi Akamatsu played the role of the main engineer. It was one basic model with a 3-door hatchback, which came with an upright tailgate and the large glasshouse. This sedan got released in 1988 with a stylish vertical rear glass.
Fourth generation:
In 1991, the fourth generation of Mirage hit the Japanese market with the related Lancer. This new product adopted that much rounder body shape. Much like the previous models, this 4th generation one also comprises three-door hatchback and sedan, along with a new coupe body suffixed Asti.
5th generation:
It was in the year 1995, when the 5th generation Mitsubishi Mirage came into the market in Japan and introduced the rational lineup as a result of the post bubble economy here. Here, three types of bodies were issued. The first ones were the 3-door hatchback and sedan, and then in December 1995 came the two-door coupe or Asti.
The final 6th generation:
It was in the year 2012 when Colt was renamed back to Mirage from Mitsubishi. This 6th generation was mainly previewed as a concept car. For some of the European markets, this car was named as Mitsubishi Space Star and it comes with the model code A00. One of the primary design goals of this latest model was reducing the aerodynamic drag. This feature resulted in a new patent application. It resulted in the lowest drag coefficient in its present class.
Sedan A10:
Mostly known as the Mitsubishi Mirage G4 or Mitsubishi Attrage in some of the markets, this is one four-door Mirage sedan version which was launched in June 2013. Even though based on the hatchback, this sedan is noted to be pretty unique from the back door rearwards and with revised front styling. This sedan was mainly introduced as a concept car at the 2013 Bangkok Auto show.
The evolution of Mitsubishi Mirage is pretty amazing and with every change comes new features added to the field. So, be sure to get along with the best model for your daily use now.
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