(Eclipse Cross photos: Mitsubishi) To call my relationship with Mitsubishi Motors products a “love-hate affair” would be doing a disservice to the actual status of where I am at with the company. I appreciate Mitsubishi at their height in the 1990s, when they made sports cars that ranged from affordable and fun to technologically advanced, turbocharged, all-wheel-drive menaces that had all of the right aggressive Japanese racer lines to them. I like their truck lines: the Pajero (Montero), Challenger (Montero Sport) and truck lines were stout and race proven. I mastered driving a manual transmission in a Dodge D-50, a badge-engineered Mitsubishi Mighty Max, and I have unhealthy fascinations with the Mitsubishi Starion and the Mitsubishi Sapporo (er, the second-generation Dodge Challenger. Deal with it, Mopar folks, it happened.)

Then you get to what Mitsubishi has been for the last few years and all you can do as a gearhead is stand back and mutter, “WTF happened?” Mitsubishi has a roster of cars that were worthy of notice and admiration, like the 1995 3000GT VR4 Spyder, with it’s folding hardtop roof. It wasn’t the first car to have one, and it certainly wasn’t the last, but just the fact that Mitsubishi sold a twin-turbocharged, 300 horsepower, all-wheel-drive hardtop droptop alone is pretty damn cool.

But the car that most people my age truly remember about Mitsubishi is the Eclipse, their little front-driver sports coupe that appeared on the scene in late 1989 and basically ruled the 1990s. The Eclipse is a study in what went right and what went wrong at Mitsubishi. Look at the first two generations, the ones you want…

Turbocharged engines that could make great power, available all-wheel-drive, and looks that didn’t immediately put you off. Sure, these things were ricer fodder in the 2000s, but they were affordable little rockets that could hustle and even today, people speak about these cars like they are legends. I’ve never driven a first or second-gen Eclipse, but if it is even half of what a similar-era Mitsubishi 3000GT is, I understand the appeal completely.

Now, look at what happened next:

The third-generation Eclipse lost everything that was cool in favor of a cramped cockpit and “ribbed for your pleasure” styling. A lot was lost in translation here.

The fourth-generation tried to gain back some cool points, but somehow it still failed. At this point Mitsubishi shifted gears and started focusing on the Evo. Can’t blame them. The Eclipse died off in 2011, but now, it’s returned……as the Eclipse Cross. That’s right, the 1990s dream car has now become a small crossover. Oh, goody.

Here’s Mitsubishi’s own words:

“Eclipse derives its name from (Mitsubishi Motors Corporation)’s popular specialty coupe model sold in the U.S. from 1989, while Cross is short for crossover.

Eclipse is a word used to describe an astronomical event. Marrying stylish coupe lines with the freedom of movement the SUV genre gives, the Eclipse Cross’s beautiful, dynamic form serves to bring about the same sense of excitement and inspiration as the diamond ring seen immediately before and after a total solar eclipse does. The high-saturation red body color newly developed for the model is also reflected in the name to evoke the brilliance of the prominence seen during the total solar eclipse.”

We understood when you killed off the Eclipse and focused solely on the Evo. Honestly, an all-wheel-drive, four-door small sedan was a pretty solid choice compared to a two-door sports coupe. We do not understand the drive to turning a storied nameplate into yet another rental-fleet small CUV. Anybody still pissed about the Dodge Charger having four doors, take a look at this, realize just how much worse it could have been, and shut up. Unless this thing has a 0-60 MPH time that can rival a Tesla and is shown flying through Finnish woods at 110%, you’ve basically thrown in the towel as far as we are concerned. We will keep the memories…best of luck competing in a saturated market.