(By Tom Lohnes) – Breaking news, Mistubishi is not out of the car business yet and they actually have announced a “new” model for 2021. We’re not exactly sure that is a good thing, though.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross has been one of the most controversial vehicles ever, bringing back the name of Mitsubishi’s iconic Sports coupes and placing it on the literal modern version of the Pontiac Aztek. Weird. Well for 2021 the Eclipse cross gets a mid-cycle refresh after only selling 11,000 units in the first two years of its life.
Thankfully, the Eclipse looks more “normal” now. Ditching the Prius-style dual rear window and hunchback design in favor of a traditional SUV look. The Eclipse cross carries exactly three features of the original model over. One being the name and the others a turbocharged inline-four and AWD. What’s funny though is the Eclipse cross makes less power than a first-gen Eclipse GS-T, with the former making 175 horsepower to the 1989 car’s 201. All the 175 ponies are routed through standard selectable AWD and a fun-killing, should sucking CVT. 0-60 remains a pathetic 9.3 seconds, which is coincidentally the same time a base model first generation Eclipse could hit 60mph as well.
My favorite phrase for the Eclipse cross is “It’s evolving, just backwards.”
YUCK!!!!!
It’s like Mitsubishi has been trying to figure out how to kill the Eclipse deader and deader since 2000. First they get rid of the turbo and AWD, and come out with styling that’s looking decent now but was seriously odd when it first came out. Then there’s the seriously over the top ugly styling on the fourth gen Eclipse, which probably will never look good. And now, slapping the name on a generic crossover.
Mitsu has a history of missing the market by a mile. REmember when Americans were screaming for a raly-spec’d Lancer EVO and they sent us a standard LAncer with a decal package? Took them a few years to figure out how stupid they were…
countdown to when Mitsubishi pulls out of the US market in 3, 2, 1…
Nothing more exciting than a pod car…
Needs a power lift gate, ventilated front seats and finally dual exhausts. Then
and only then would I trade in my 2014 Mitsy