Fail of the century #8: Mitsubishi Mirage

The Mirage was everything a cheap and cheerful city car should be, save for two tiny details. One, it wasn’t cheap. And two, it wasn’t cheerful. At all.

Arriving in 2012, apparently unaware things had moved on in the city car game since the late Eighties, the Mirage married a bleak interior to a driving experience that was, if anything, even gloomier. The steering wheel and front wheels were on strictly non-speaking terms, while the suspension offered all the cosseting comfort of a nasty fall down a flight of concrete steps.

In fairness, the Mirage was not without merit. It wouldn’t cost you much in fuel, mostly because, after driving it once, most owners chose to leave it parked on the driveway and took the bus instead. And it came, as standard, with luxuries such as privacy glass, which was useful for pretending it wasn’t you driving it.

For a machine with all the glamour and vim of bathroom grout, the Mirage was expensive. For a little less money, you could have bought a Skoda Citigo. For a lot less money, you could have bought a bicycle, and still reached your destination in greater comfort and style than you would have done in your Mirage.