1996 Mitsubishi Mirage Vie Saloon review from UK and Ireland

The tappets started to make an terrible racket when the car was first started, but once I drove it for a few minutes the noise went away, had the same problem on my last 1.5 Lancer/Mirage.

When I bought the car it had 74000 miles on it, and hadn't had a good service in a long time, but still ran like a dream. I finally got it serviced at 78000 miles when one of the plug leads gave in, I also replaced the plugs and timing belt as they were never ever changed, which was very noticeable when being changed, although in saying that, it never seemed as if it was going to break down, it just kept on going.

I changed the oil and filter regularly to keep it running smoothly, as I drove the car very hard but it never ever let me down.

It was a nice car to drive with plenty of leg room and plenty of space in the back for 3 people. Also the boot has lots of space.

It had excellent fuel consumption for a DOHC engine, I could get 100 miles for 10 euro of petrol, with petrol being on average 115 cent per liter.

The handling is very good, even though it only had crappy little 13" wheels on it.

The engine is very responsive, even though it only has 115 hp, I could keep with most 1.6 DOHC cars easy enough; 0-60 time was 8.5 seconds and could do the clock in 4th gear (185kms) with 2000 rpm left over and a whole other gear.

I would most likely still have this car if someone hadn't crashed into the back of me and wrecked it.