New and Old Mitsubishi Eclipses

Yesterday, while driving to see my family in Dayton, OH, I kept playing "Interstate Tag" with a 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse. We kept swapping spots on the highway, as the other driver and I would drive at different speeds at different times. I had my cruise control on, so I blame the other driver! I readily admit I'm no car designer, nor do I have any expertise in industrial design. However, I still feel eminently qualified to discuss my observations as a consumer and potential new car buyer.

What I saw was this: the rear end of the 2008 Eclipse looks an awful lot like an Audi Twin Turbo, or TT. Both are somewhat smallish two-door sports cars, with rounded tail sections that look very similar. Here's a picture of the two rear ends side-by-side:














The car I saw on the highway had to be a 2008 model of the Eclipse, because Mitsubishi revamped its design for the front of the car to more closely match the front end of the Audi TT. Here is a picture of the front end of a 2008 Eclipse, which has no character whatsoever:












The front pictured above is completely nondescript, with rounded features and nothing to create any excitement. There's no character, no edges, and the curves for the headlights and fenders didn't even match the curves found on the rear of the car. Here is a picture of the revamped front end of the 2009 Eclipse, side-by-side with the 2009 TT, and the similarity is unmistakable:

So the good news is that the engineers at Mitsubishi realized their previous models of the Eclipse needed to be re-worked. The car I saw on the highway looked really good only from behind. The car did have the wing on the back, which was fine, and I liked the placement of the taillights and the overall framing of the rear end. I just couldn't get out of my head how similar the rear end was to the Audi TT's rear end.

But then I saw the side and front end of the Eclipse, and couldn't believe how lousy they were, especially compared to the TT. It was just a blah rounded front end, with nothing remarkable to recommend it. The two ends of the car simply did not coexist well at all. So at least the engineers at Mitsubishi realized they had to do something to improve the Eclipse's looks, and they could do worse than copying the front proboscis style of Audi. I'm still not completely sold on the new front end of the Eclipse, but it is better than it was before.

It's most interesting that Mitsubishi now copies the European style after collaborating on the Eclipse throughout the '90s with American automakers. Who can forget that the Eclipse and the Eagle Talon were pretty much the same car throughout the '90s? Pictoral evidence is on the left, but when a consumer bought one car, he or she basically bought whichever version of the car he preferred. The performance of those cars was good, if not great. I do remember a good friend of mine who owned either a Talon or an Eclipse, and he posted the second fastest time on a slalom course for amateurs during a weekend racing event. The Eclipse/Talon was not the fastest car in straight-line speed, but they certainly had good suspension and could corner well.

The bottom line is that I was intrigued by the Eclipse when I saw it from behind. The first thought that went through my head was that it could be a fun alternative to the TT, with much the same style but at a far lower price. The Audi TT starts around $32K invoice, while the Eclipse starts around $19K invoice, so the difference on price is remarkable. When I saw the sides and front end of the Eclipse, I couldn't believe how awful they were, and how they didn't match what I saw from the rear of the car. Seeing the change in the front end of the 2009 Eclipse online means I would reconsider that car, but only if I were really in the market for a new smallish sports car.

It's still fun to think about, however.