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We at Deyeme Racing have owned a number of Mitsubishi vehicles, including some Diamond-Star cars, which was the
joint venture between Chrysler Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors. Our first was also our first new car,
a 1995 Dodge Avenger, based on the Eclipse chassis We also owned a Mitsubishi Galant and a Dodge Stratus
Coupe. In early 2024, with a new driver in the family, we needed a vehicle that would make a great
learner car, both for driving and learning basic maintenance. We wanted something with good fuel economy
and lots of potential for improvement on a budget.
 Enter Project Melee! We researched new and used vehicles, from Chevy's Spark and Ford's Fiesta to various Hyundai and Kia models. Sadly, Chrysler no longer offers an affordable small car in the US market, eliminating them from this competition. We found a pair of Mitsubishi Mirages on a new dealer's used car lot, and decided on this red-on-grey 2021. The Mirage is basic transportation in almost every way, though it does have power windows, door locks, and mirrors. The handling is clumsy but not unstable, and some decent wheels, tires, and firmer springs should help dramatically. Acceleration is peppy (if not too burdened with extra weight) and noisy, with its inline-3 mated to a CVT transmission. It includes some cute carbon fiber look and red accents. Overall, it looks to be a great starter car for any new driver, and we look forward to digging into it, from getting updated on maintenance, since we did buy it used, and going over past projects, adapting some of those items to Project Melee, to make it a fun, safe, economical daily driver. 2024/11/11: Melee has been running well on the street and occasional performance and educational driving. Modifications so far include a hood spring kit (first developed for the '13 Dart), front license plate bracket (first seen on Project Midnight, our 2009 Challenger), and a set of 15x7 Enkei wheels with wider tires for 3-season use. These items are now available in the Products lineup. We haven't been tracking performance metrics except for fuel economy. We're currently at 36 mpg long-term average (10 fill-ups), which has been mostly in-town driving. During extended highway use, we average around 39 mpg. |
Modifications
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