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You know it's bad when political correctness hits car culture....

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  • You know it's bad when political correctness hits car culture....

    I am writing this after someone tried to “lecture” me. As a car enthusiast, there is one common phrase you often hear:

    “A good quality used car is better than a shitty new car like a Mitsubishi Mirage.”

    Recently, someone – who is also a car enthusiast – said to me “A Mirage may be shitty to YOU, but it may not be shitty to someone who owns one and that person can take offense to what you’re saying.”

    Ok, first off, you know that political correctness has gone too far when it even hits car culture.

    The thing is…. the Mirage is a shitty car even by objective normal people standards. I mean come on, even a Hyundai Accent in base trim feels like a luxury car in comparison. People who own a Mirage know what they have and even they know it’s shitty. So why do people buy it?

    As a car enthusiast, you have to understand the target audience of *all cars* even if you would never buy such a car yourself. That does not mean you're insulting owners of said car.

    Allow me to explain....

    Car enthusiasts are not the Mirage’s target audience and Mitsubishi knows that. The target audiences for the Mirage are people who work at the kind of job where their employment hangs by a thread, are paycheck-to-paycheck, do not have much disposable income and simply cannot afford the risk of a used car.

    A quick search on Autotrader shows that a typical Mirage has a list price of around $16,000. Many dealers are desperate to get this thing off their lots and are selling them for fewer than 10 grand.

    Searching Autotrader shows you can find plenty of pre-owned – some even factory certified – last-gen Honda Accords or Toyota Camrys for 16 grand or less with low mileage, many still with with the balance of the original warranty. Sweet! For the Mirage’s list price, you’ll get a much more substantial car.

    Now try to find a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry for what Mirage’s are actually selling for. Most in this price range are much older, have a lot of miles on them and by this time are way out of warranty. For a person who lives on a shoestring budget, adding the cost of possible expensive repairs can be a backbreaker.

    The Mirage is a new car that gives you a full 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty for 10 grand. For people who don’t care about driving experience, style, performance or features and just want a car they know will start when you turn the key and move when you shift into drive it’s worth the price of admission.

    The other thing to consider is financing. You can get financing on a new car much easier than on a used car. Also, being that Mitsubishi dealers are desperate they are willing to finance to people with bad credit with interest rates that are still decent. For many used cars in the Mirage’s actual selling price, the only dealers willing to finance to someone with bad credit are the “buy here pay here” places, you know…. The ones that covertly place GPS trackers on their cars so they know where to send the repo agent once the owner defaults. Assuming the car doesn’t break down first.

    So before you are afraid to possibly offend someone by calling a car “shitty,” please understand that we are not insulting the owners of these cars. We just know the target audience.
    AKA sld72382 on customerssuck.

  • #2
    Originally posted by HEMI6point1 View Post
    Car enthusiasts are not the Mirage’s target audience and Mitsubishi knows that. The target audiences for the Mirage are people who work at the kind of job where their employment hangs by a thread, are paycheck-to-paycheck, do not have much disposable income and simply cannot afford the risk of a used car.
    It's not so much that--people tend to buy such cars for fuel economy. That's one of the biggest selling points on Mitsubishi's site. They compare the fuel savings over the similarly-sized Chevy Spark, Nissan Versa, and Toyota Yaris. All 3 of those cars are aimed at people who value economy over performance. If you live in an area with no mass transit or have a long commute, fuel economy is important. It doesn't make sense to buy a large sedan or SUV, and less so if your family has multiple vehicles.

    As for me, I'd never buy one of those things. They're too small. I'll get a few less mpgs in my Corollas instead

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    • #3
      You also get into that nasty grey area where people politically signal with their vehicle choice which is... uncomfortable.

      I did that one time by offending a guy who basically had a Tundra, no family, no construction, no hobbies that required it and I just asked him the very generic, "umm...why??"

      Seriously wasn't looking to get into a climate science discussion but get one I did.

      I'm sure there are plenty of those conversations in reverse as well. Hell, SP wrote the SMUG episode about it.

      Personally I've always had an economy car which proceed to beat into the ground. It's not by necessity - but a good make/model like a Civic means I'm just not spending that much overall and when I factor fuel in as well as what I actually use it for, the only times I need more I can comfortably rent something cheaper than buying it. Not sure why as an F1 fan I've always been cheap about cars, but there you go.
      Last edited by D_Yeti_Esquire; 04-22-2019, 09:18 PM.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by D_Yeti_Esquire View Post
        Hell, SP wrote the SMUG episode about it.
        They also did one on annoying Harley owners. The episode dealt mostly with the fact that quite a few people draw their identity from whatever they own. They tend to get pissed off when someone makes a negative comment about their vehicle. To them, you're bashing *them.* For example, many of them think that because they own a Harley, they're now a badass biker. No Bob, you're still the same bald, overweight accountant you were on yesterday. Buying a Harley isn't going to change that.

        Add me to the "cheap car" crowd as well. I just can't see the point in spending a boatload of cash on a car. Then again, I don't have it, but that's beside the point. A Bentley isn't going to get me to work any faster than the Corolla does in rush-hour traffic.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by D_Yeti_Esquire View Post
          I did that one time by offending a guy who basically had a Tundra, no family, no construction, no hobbies that required it and I just asked him the very generic, "umm...why??"

          Seriously wasn't looking to get into a climate science discussion but get one I did.
          Maybe he has always wanted a truck and has finally saved up enough scratch to get one. No idea why he chose a Tundra but I digress.

          When people buy such a vehicle and are never going to use it for its intended purpose, it's an emotional purchase not a logical one.

          I'm sure there are many people who plunk down money on a Corvette ZR1 knowing full well they are never going to take it to a racetrack. On the same vein, if someone pays a reputable restoration shop around $200 grand to resto-mod a 1970 Chevelle or a 1969 Camaro when when they could buy a brand new Audi R8 V10 or whatever is currently the high performance model of the Porsche 911 for the same price is also making an emotional purchase.

          Asking a person "why?" is just asking for a lecture.
          AKA sld72382 on customerssuck.

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          • #6
            That's offense cultural not political correctness. There's nothing politically correct about withholding your opinion of a car.
            Jack Faire
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