Crap cars available in the US?

Tyler H (Forum Supporter) said:

kevinatfms said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

The Mirage is under 2100lb, I refuse to consider them crap (even though they are) and still have evil thoughts 

I just looked and wish i hadnt. Like a modern day Mini. 

1700lbs(ES), 78hp, 3 cylinder with an available 5 speed. 

Im sure it really is total doo-doo but id bet for the price used it would be a total riot.

Where are you going to find a used one?  Do any of them ever get paid off?  Has there ever been another car less likely to ever share the same physical space as its title? :)

Literally looked at Carmax local and they have 4-5 in stock with manual transmissions and lower mileage. All within the $12-13k range for under 40k miles. 

Dont know about craigslist, facespace marketplace or autotrader yet.

What does a Rover Mini weigh? Wonder how close this would be to an OG mini.

85hp, 1700lbs, 5k/3k spring rates, rear bar and 195/50R15s(with some ebay flares)

sounds like a fun little car.

By the way, I'm checking on the availability of a Mirage with a manual transmission. You know, for science.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Oh, they're out there.  The ebay Spec series could also be a good place for GRM to have their name too.  

The most plentiful Mirages though are the rental spec, automatic and air (and little to nothing else) versions.  

A quick dip into autotrader shows nationwide there are 69 manual trans Mirage listed ranging from 2014 to 2020

In reply to John Welsh :

I immediately thought after a second gen Prius that one of the you should be the next GRM project car. 

Dammit, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't asked the question...  Not that any of these options are significantly better than the '99 Swift in my driveway, but, you know...

All the weight specs I can find are in the 2000-2100lb range.  Still super light by today's standards but nothing close to an old Mini or the 1700lb number stated.  As it is so basic I doubt it would lost much weight at all in racing trim once a cage was added. 

Here's the other fun thing about the 2050 curb weight with the manual transmission. That's in a vehicle with seven airbags... If we're going full on weight loss and we're going to pull out the airbags, Those side curtain bags are going to be mounted up high as well, so the center of gravity is going to greatly improve. 

By going from a 165 to a 205 tire, You're picking up between 20 and 25% of width so you've got more surface area so your grip is going to increase in the dry by that much, before you even factor in that 200 tread wear 205s are going to have a compound on the sticky end of the spectrum compared to a 165 where you're going to struggle to find a treadwear lower than 400. 

I haven't quite gotten to the point where I'm checking copart for ones with blown airbags, but I'm almost there as it's not going to take much to total these vehicles out. 

In reply to Sonic :

I'm not sure where the 1700 came from. It's under 2100. If going lexan, pulling carpet, pulling airbags and harnesses to airbags, removing whatever sound that mean there may be (I honestly wouldn't expect there to be any), removing the rear seat, rear seat belts, going lightweight battery and deleting the power steering lines and pump (plugging the rack and doing the Prius rack assist mod) . Getting under 1800 lb should be feasible. Caged around 2,000 lb is likely. At that point as well I'm willing to bet that the roof is not aluminum. Once caging as would be the case for a spec E Bay series, I would look into considering either an aluminum replacement roof skin or a composite to replace the steel. 

Dammit, you guys have me looking at Mitsubishi website now. They didn't have much value to begin with so I imagine great deals can be had 

2000 or so pounds and 78 hp would need a kick in the butt for more fun. Zx2 is somewhere in the 2200-2400 pound range and 130hp. I can confirm that they are fun to drive and have about the right power for spirited sort of legal driving.

So say.....another 20 hp and less weight?

I find this thread amusing because I'm racing such a car. The Datsun 1200 was nothing more than a disposable bare bones ecnobox; turns out they are great fun to thrash for  37 years and counting.

This is reminding me of the Bad Obsession "Bargain Racement" car.  Some cross-pollination of ideas might be valuable.  Perhaps a sub-class for the '22 Challenge?

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

I haven't quite gotten to the point where I'm checking copart for ones with blown airbags, but I'm almost there as it's not going to take much to total these vehicles out. 

Don't bother.  Within 2000 miles of central Texas, there are only 5 (of a total of 245) manual transmission cars listed and 2 of those are the sedans.

Given that most of them are subprime cars, I wonder A) What percentage sold are manuals (based on above, about 2%) and B) How many will be totaled assuming most were bought at retail or retail+ or had a previous loan rolled into it.  Would an insurer total a $15k value car with a $30k note?

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

If insurance is fixing them based upon the amount owed instead of the value of the vehicle, that makes me think two things. First, at least in Maryland, that's actually not legal. But second and most importantly for my standpoint, It means if I pull the seven air bags out of a hatch that hasn't been in an accident that there's likely a value for them in the secondary market. 

Mirage spec ebay class enduro racing.

I am pretty sure that this exists in Canada.

EDIT: I was wrong, but not really. There is (was?) a Micra Cup.

https://jalopnik.com/you-can-get-a-hilariously-fun-small-race-car-for-so-che-1788609424

In reply to Pepe :

Yeah there was a Micra series, now I believe that it's Sentras. That's not as much fun as embracing the crappiness and having an eBay budget based off of the number of times a vehicle has entered would be. And endurance racing embraces the budget with regards to cheap consumables, we'll also means that you're not going to see as much contact as you would in a  sprint racing format. It's a very silly idea. But it's also a very fun idea

Tyler H (Forum Supporter) said:

kevinatfms said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

The Mirage is under 2100lb, I refuse to consider them crap (even though they are) and still have evil thoughts 

I just looked and wish i hadnt. Like a modern day Mini. 

1700lbs(ES), 78hp, 3 cylinder with an available 5 speed. 

Im sure it really is total doo-doo but id bet for the price used it would be a total riot.

Where are you going to find a used one?  Do any of them ever get paid off?  Has there ever been another car less likely to ever share the same physical space as its title? :)

There were quite a few when I searched Marketplace, but they were all $6k and up. 

Not to side track the thread, but how much does a early Honda fit weight gutted out? 

There are crap cars all over the US available now at higher than ever prices...... it's a bad day to be in the market used or new.

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Pepe :

Yeah there was a Micra series, now I believe that it's Sentras. That's not as much fun as embracing the crappiness and having an eBay budget based off of the number of times a vehicle has entered would be. And endurance racing embraces the budget with regards to cheap consumables, we'll also means that you're not going to see as much contact as you would in a  sprint racing format. It's a very silly idea. But it's also a very fun idea

I would be all over that.

Would that Mirage 1.3L 3-cylinder be similar to the 1.0L 3 in my wife's Smart? Hmmmmmmm?

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

I got my license in a 1981 Civic 1500 DX. I get the tossable small car thing.

I can find nothing about a Mirage that makes me suspect it could possibly be fun.

I had fun in my 87 Samurai. A Mirage cannot be any worse.

House across the street from where I work has a white Mirage hatch with alloy wheels that gets my mind churning whenever I see it. 

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Would that Mirage 1.3L 3-cylinder be similar to the 1.0L 3 in my wife's Smart? Hmmmmmmm?

It's a completely different engine.  Altogether.

According to Wikipedia, the 1.1l version of the engine WAS used in the Smart Forfour.