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| Home » Mitsubishi Eclipse News » 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse Compact Coupe | ||
02/06/2006
Transmission: Four-speed automatic, Five-speed automatic , Five-speed manual , Six-speed manual. Fuel Economy (city/hwy): Four-speed automatic 23/29, Five-speed automatic 19/28, Five-speed manual 23/30, Six-speed manual 18/27. Standard Safety Features: Dual front airbags, Front side airbags, Front curtain side airbags, Antilock 4-wheel disc brakes, Daytime running lights. Competition: Acura RSX, Ford Mustang, Honda Civic, Scion tC. It looks like Mitsubishi is learning from the old advertising mantra that, indeed, sex sells. While the Eclipse was a hot, voluptuous car in the late 1990s, it morphed into something more dull in the generation that lasted until 2005. It seemingly changed from a Brazilian bikini model to a mousey librarian, trading in its sports-car looks and hard-nosed performance for a softer ride and boring styling. Well, get ready to brush off your old pick-up lines. The Eclipse is sexy again. Mitsubishi's sporty coupe was totally redesigned for 2006, and it's a big improvement over the previous generation. Not only does it have a gorgeous new body that harkens back to the white-hot Eclipse rocketships of the late '90s, but it also has a meaty new V6 engine that belts out a deep, throaty, melodic exhaust tone. It's enough to get your heart racing. The new look is striking from any angle. Its wheels are tucked right underneath the car's corners and accented by big, sweeping, muscular fender bulges that blend smoothly into its bulbous overall shape. A big hood and air intake show off the car's power up front, while its trim waist and sculpted rear give it a sense of agility and speed -- even when it's standing still. A 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine is available in the Eclipse GS model ($19,399), but a big, 3.8-liter V6 in the Eclipse GT ($23,699) is a better choice if you want the car's speed to match its athletic body. The four-cylinder version makes 162 horsepower, while the V6 makes an impressive 263 horses. While I love the new Eclipse's styling and V6 engine, the rest of the car leaves me lukewarm or -- in the case of its handling -- mildly disappointed. A car that looks as hot as this one should have good, sharp, precise, neutral handling, but the Eclipse actually drives like a family sedan through corners. It has a lot of body roll compared to cars like the Acura RSX and Honda Civic Si, and its manual transmission feels looser and sloppier than performance-oriented cars usually do. To make matters worse, the Eclipse is a heavy, front-wheel-drive car with most of its weight riding on the front axle, so it's far too easy to induce understeer -- when you turn the wheel going into a fast turn, the car keeps sliding straight ahead. It also suffers from nasty torquesteer, meaning the steering wheel jerks sideways when you punch the gas in a corner. WomanMotorist.com |
