Sorry, sports-car fans with nostalgia for a certain era – Mitsubishi still insists on using the Eclipse name on a crossover. One that’s now restyled.
A plug-in hybrid version will be offered overseas, but not here. The next Eclipse Cross will go on sale in the States in the first quarter of 2021, following launches in Australia and New Zealand.
Styling changes include a new front bumper guard and a different layout for the lights.
The rear hatch and rear window get re-worked, and Mitsu claims this helps with rear visibility. The taillights are now taller and extend more towards the front of the car, and the hatch now has a hexagonal shape.
The interior is updated, with door trim that matches the seat color, a standard 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, volume and radio knobs for the audio system, and the removal of the touchpad infotainment controller.
The 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder carries over, as does all-wheel drive and the continuously-variable that has eight “speeds” and a sport mode.
That’s about it. Really. It really is a mild refresh, so mild that I might not make our informal minimum word count of 250. Unless I tell you about that time that I was at this seedy dive bar and there was this dude with crazy eyes looking for a fight and….
Yeah, that’s close enough. Anyway, there’s no news on pricing yet.
[Images: Mitsubishi]
I saw one of these, once.
Yup.
Mitsubishi moved almost 20k of these in the US last year. That’s not terrible for such a competitive field.
Mitsubishi very much needs Triton / L200 pickup in the lineup.
I like the new grill designs for Mitsubishi. This company fortunes can only improve.
Nowhere to go but up.
Ha-ha-ha. That is for you Mustang Mach Japan style.
This is probably better.
Exterior design reminds of 80’s Japanese cars. It’s interesting in a good way.
Mitsu eliminated the poorly functioning trackpad.
Mitsubishi is moving in the right direction.
“Mitsubishi is moving in the right direction”
You mean to the graveyard?
I like the Aztec, CRX like dual rear hatch glass on the current version. I see a few of these around. Usually driven by folks who just need a cheap and cheerful small ute.
Extremely ancient 10 year old powertrain with a CVT that will crap itself immediately past the 100K mile warranty. With a less graceful design and a bunch of chrome with a larger screen. The usual Mitsu recipe. This is a rewarmed Outlander Sport. Hard pass.
I guess it’s a useful factoid that Honda is still sourcing infotainment systems from Mitsubishi. I can’t believe Honda is paying another company real money for that mediocre garbage. The best thing that can be said about the current generation system (which is apparently used in this vehicle) is that it’s less-awful than the one they sold to Honda to put in the Civic and CR-V.