This may look like a standard rental car from the early-90s, but it’s a pretty unique car, at least in the US. This 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage 4WD 5-speed Diesel is on Craigslist, or here on the CL archive, and it’s located in Seattle, Washington. This unusual right-hand drive Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) gem is listed at $6,500.
A brighter color, or actually any color, would have been great, and also some nice factory wheels would have made this look less like a throw-away rental or fleet car. It takes a special person to like a vehicle like this one. Not all of the Barn Finds family of readers will see any value or interest here, but hopefully I’m not the only person on the globe who loves unusual vehicles packed with unusual features like this one has. You can see a couple of soft dents in the LF fender, hopefully those can be massaged out.
This really looks like a plain car, and it is other than checking a few boxes for those of us who love unusual Japanese vehicles. This one is a diesel, it has a 5-speed manual and, coolest of all, it has full-time 4WD. This would be a fun winter vehicle if a person had to deal with snow for several months a year and also had a long commute and wanted to get great MPG. It’s a third-generation Mirage and these 4WD diesel sedans never made it to the US, unfortunately. More on 4WD versions that did make it to the US in a bit.
The seats are wearing seat covers for some reason. That’s usually not a good sign, but maybe they’re just there to keep the original seats in good shape? This car only has 15,300 miles on it so the seats can’t be worn out yet. Even the back seats have covers. I’d want to ask about that if I were seriously considering this car, which I’m not.. (just in case my wife is reading this..) (cough).. The seller has included a YouTube video showing the car and it doesn’t appear to have any rust on it anywhere, even underneath. It looks like it’s in fantastic condition other than those dents on the LF fender.
This is Mitsubishi’s 1.8L four-cylinder 4D65 “Sirius Diesel” with around 65 hp. I know, that’s one sorely-needed feature: a turbo. You eagle-eye car-spotters may recognize this car as a rebadged Dodge Colt or Eagle Summit, and in 1992 the Eagle Summit Wagon was available with AWD. I think this would be a fun car for a person who has a 40-50+ mile commute every day, which a lot of people do. It sure would be fun and it would be a head-turner with winter tires on it, passing up white-knuckled SUV drivers going 17.4 mph in the left lane anytime that there’s an inch of snow on the road. (not bitter)..
Part of the USPS fleet?
I can just picture an elderly Japanese couple puttering down a rural road in this at 50kph to do some shopping.
I love the ‘can-do-ness’ of the diesel and AWD combo.
This seller is really reaching with the $6,500 price tag. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s a diesel right hand drive JDM Dodge Colt wanna be 4 door or not, for $6,500 im going to buy myself a Toyota Sera, at least with that right-hand-drive you get some style and alot of glass! LOL
Just sold my Sera. Not all that. They look cooler then what they are. You have a sporty looking car with the power of a Paseo = no power. The doors are a novelty but quickly wear off. Summer sun = turns the interior into a microwave. Door struts will be an issue. Good luck finding those. I paid a ton for nos. Can only get specific parts in the UK. Rides very rough. The 5E FHE develops a nasty oil leak and has a timing belt. Good luck to you.
Econo diesel, eh? So… if you’re on your way home and forget to fill up, just pick up a quart of cooking oil at a QuikeeMart and you’re good to go for another 50 miles?
Sweet looking Mitsu. I’ve seen plenty of this generation Mirage sedans during this generation’s run, but I’ve never seen, nor heard of a Mirage Diesel. It’s a shame they were never sold in the USA.
OK , I’m getting a paper route and bad weather won’t matter !
All kidding aside , I like it .
New Zealand gets a lot of used JDM machinery (my ‘modern’ is an ’05 Suzuki Not-So-Swift Sport, ex-Japan), and so I’ve seen a lot of these kinds of cars.
I’m guessing that this was a fleet vehicle, probably used around a factory or mining complex, or possibly by a local government agency. This could explain the low kms and wear on upholstery, etc.
I’m sure there are better options for one spend $6500 on a new toy…
this is a unicorn.
i say vinyl wrap it in the color of your choice and go puttering. no one will know what you have.
Kind of plain Jane but I like it. We need more barn finds like this.
How come North America doesn’t run diesel econoboxes?
Apparently Europe is full of them.
Because We dont have to, we have money for gas.
I can honestly say that I see the value in decent quality seat covers if you own a classic car (or any ordinary car really). This is an interior shot of my 1996 Ford Falcon utility (or as we call them Down Under, “the ute”). I have good quality sheep-skin seat covers as well as decent rubber floor mats and a moulded dash mat. The car is regularly taken to the local speedway where it tends to get pretty dirty. However, even with more than 169,00 miles on the clock, when you remove the seat covers, the floor mats and the dash mat. The interior looks brand new. There has to be a lesson in that.
Early EVO/Cyborg swap and enjoy
http://asia.vtec.net/side/cyborg/index.html
I can see the value. I remember in 2008 when gas was $5.00 a gallon. The stock market and economy was in in the tank and everything was going wrong according to the news.
I just saw the movie Who Killed The Electric car and was really hating GM. Having this car then would have turned it all around.
Think of it. A little sedan with no miles a manual trans. Diesel that gets what? 50 mpg? and a little bonus AWD plus a Mitsu. What could you ask for?
The next time you visit a junk yard take a look at any Mitsu. I guarantee it has over 200K miles.