Damn! Updated Mitsubishi Mirage Breaks Cover

This should help sweep every last thought of the Ford Mustang and its hip new sibling out of your mind.

Teased not long ago by an excited Mitsubishi, the newest Mirage is now ready for a round of eye feasting. Get your fill. And, while the subcompact model hasn’t adopted a new platform or anything like that, it has donned its largest grille to date, plus some additional finery to drive cost-conscious boys and girls wild.

Starting at $13,795 in the U.S. and $10,998 in Canada (both pre-destination prices are for 2019 models), the Mirage occupies a small but important part of the automotive food chain: The bottom. In other words, this vehicle is one the cheapest ways for a North American buyer to get into a new set of wheels. Its U.S. sales have grown year after year.

For the coming refresh, the Mirage hatch and Attrage (G4) sedan, the latter of which may not make it stateside, adopt the brand’s Dynamic Shield front styling — a design language that, in Mitsubishi’s words, “sweeps round from the sides toward the middle of the nose in a protective embrace.”

Squint a little, and it looks like a Lada Vesta.

LED combination lamps seen on this Thai-market model “makes the front look wider and more stable,” claims the automaker. We cannot disagree. While normally we’d say we’ll have to wait to see if those LED peepers become standard fare in America, the fact we’re looking at a Thai-market vehicle makes it seem pretty likely.

Inside, there are more soft bits where you might place part of your body, as well as a Smartphone Display Audio system with 7-inch display. The unit apparently “improves legibility and clarity.” Outside, in addition to the sporty vents and revised bumper seen out back, buyers can spring for a wild set of 15-inch alloy wheels.

Given that the automaker has nothing to say about the sort-of new Mirage’s potency, we have to assume it soldiers on with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder, good for 78 horsepower and 74 lb-ft of torque. Depending on trim, a five-speed manual or continuously variable automatic handles the shifting duties.

[Images: Mitsubishi Motors]