I went to the local dealer to check out the new eclipse cause my neighbor is the gm there and I thought I stop by to see what they had. There was only one thing that I didn't like about it and that was there was some real big torque steer, even on the highway shifting from 3rd to 4th at 70 mph. Maybe its cause I'm used to rear wheel, or never drove a front wheel car with so much power. Anyone else check out the new eclipse?

 

how was it all together?

 

I liked it, nice pick up, smoother transmission than the crossfire, and still had 6 gears. I don't think I'll want any 5 speeds ever, unless its a lot quicker. Would the crossfire been faster with 5 speed? and less top end? Seemed to shift around the same points as the crossfire. Real nice sound system with 650 watt system upgrade. Like i said, the torque steer was the only problem. Maybe I just need to get used to it? I tested the auto stick also. It wasn't too bad but it drove better leaving it in drive. I was able to light the tires up real good with just enough help from the traction (left on) wasn't as big of a babysitter as the crossfire. Good smooth acceleration. Getting into the back seat on the driver side with the power seat could be a annoying problem if used alot. Otherwise I thought it was nice, and would consider it if I weren't in a lease. But I'm looking at used evo's too.

 

It would be nice if the factory offered a LSD.

 

...Torque steer and big weight kept me away from this one. That, and the fact that Mitsu may not be a car company in the course of a few years. They have been struggling with crushing bankruptcy, and were it not for some huge Japanese banks injecting billions into Mitsu, they would have been gone by now. If the company folds, who is going to honor your warranty? Where are you going to get parts? How on earth are you going to unload it for a decent resale? All good questions that our British friends could answer, having witnessed MG-Rover recently implode. Truthfully, there are just too many good car companies in the world now, all fighting for the same piece of pie. Hardly any of them build crummy cars. And, inevitably some will fail.

That said, there is no doubt that the Eclipse has many fine attributes. It's just not enough to tempt me. At 28K fully loaded, cross shopping Crossfires, RX-8, Mustang GT, and many other fine (RWD) sports cars becomes a reality. Can a FWD, V6 car with econobox roots play in that league? Not quite, but close. Bring back AWD, a low curb weight, and a peaky turbo inline four, and Mitsubishi would have an Eclipse that I might actually want.

 

if they come out with a s/c all wheel drive, they would have a nice car, but i guess that's why they make the evo.

 

...would be pretty sweet if they made a coupe version of it, though...

 

One of my friends just bought one. It hauls pretty damn good. I would only slowly walk him with my SRT on the highway.

He ran a best of 14.5@98.xx with a 2.3xx 60'. They are nice little cars, though like the crossfire I think the shifter is vague. I think the STi is a tad vague too. I got use to the hard shifter feel of my STS with the booger bushings in the SRT.

 

its .1 faster than the crossfire and it hauls good and you barely walk him in the srt?? but you call the crossfire slow at 14.6?

 

He wasn't getting traction at all. His "best" 60' was a high 2.3 it was barely almost a 2.4 if you rounded.

And I would love to see a non srt crossfire trap at over 98. Even redcross with his modifications was trapping at only 94 mph. 4 mph is huge.

And walking anything on the highway shows the more powerful car. Not to mention, SRT-4's loose alot of their oomph, after 3rd gear. The Eclipse GT's are dynoing at 245-250 whp stock. You can say they are underrated a tad. And at the track I was a second ahead of him.

Btw, the crossfire is slow, just having no power and 255 of sticky rubber help get those et's down.