The final Mitsubishi Eclipse. Image: Mecum Auctions
The Mitsubishi Eclipse has been around for 22 years and four generations, and in the early part of its life, the car defined “affordable performance.” The first and second generation cars could be had with either front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive, and the AWD cars (and their badge engineered cousins, the Eagle Talons) dominated both club and pro racing for years. Read More…
Image: Mitsubishi
In the end, Mitsubishi’s storied Eclipse is being removed from life-support and sent into that good night not with a performance and handling package worthy of the name, but with a trim and content package designed to maximize value. The car that began its life racking up road racing trophies across the world is being retired with some paint, stitching and vinyl decals that make up the SE (“Special Edition”) package. Perhaps the ultimate in irony is that SE cars will only be offered with a four-speed automatic transmission, so don’t expect the cars to return either world class performance or even reasonable fuel economy. Read More…
Thumbs Up: One seriously quick grocery getter.
Thumbs Down: Passive solar heating cabin.
Buy This Car If: You want a truly entertaining small sedan daily driver.
If you look at the numbers on the 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart, they aren’t all that impressive. Sure, it’s got 237 horsepower, but it also weighs nearly 3,500 pounds and costs $30k by the time you add a few options. There are plenty of other amusing rides for even less money, so if all you’re doing is comparison shopping online, it’s easy to overlook the Lancer Ralliart. Drive one, on the other hand, and you won’t believe how good the car is, or how much better it feels than the numbers would indicate. Off-idle stumble in first gear aside, this car is seriously quick, with a rock-solid chassis capable of taking all you’re willing to dish out. It’s not an Evo, but it is a more attractively priced, more comfortable sedan that’s a better real-world choice for your daily commute. Read More…
The 2012 Mitsubishi i. Image: Mitsubishi
Want to buy your own Mitsubishi i, their funky cartoonish EV set to hit the market in the U.S by year end? Mitsubishi has released pricing and order details for battery powered urban commuter. The base model, called the Mitsubishi i ES, starts at $27,990 before you factor in the federal tax credit. Even the base model gives you speed-sensitive steering, LED tail lights, a heated driver’s seat, air conditioning with a micron particle filter, remote keyless entry and a 4 speaker, 100w audio system. Base models come with a 120V, 8 amp charging cable, which allows for overnight charging. Read More…
Thumbs Up: Styling reminiscent of the Evo X, S-AWC all wheel drive
Thumbs Down: Interior materials could be better
Buy This Car If: You want an Evo X but really need a crossover
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll confess up front that I’ve owned two Mitsubishi vehicles over the years. The first was a 1977 Plymouth Arrow, which was a sporty hatchback built by Mitsubishi but sold through Plymouth dealers. It had the proper front engine, rear drive layout, even if the live axle, rear leaf springs and under-powered 1.6 liter, four cylinder engine excluded it from being an actual sports car. It was, for the most part, reliable and entertaining transportation, and it sure looked cool next to other compact cars of the day. My next MItsubishi was a 1991 Eclipse GSX (the AWD Turbo variant), and the car was flawless in the six years I owned it. It was fast and possessed with utterly predictable handling, even at the absolute limit. To this day I haven’t found a car that was as good driving to the track as it was driving on it, like my old GSX. Read More…
I told you yesterday about the pending demise of the Mitsubishi Evolution, which will end production with the current Evo X. The automaker apparently wasn’t prepared for the worldwide backlash from the announcement, and issued this vaguely worded disclaimer on Facebook:
Further to some comments published in the press recently, production of the current Lancer Evolution continues as planned. As for its successor, regulations and market feedback will dictate its engineering package & architecture. Stay tuned. Read More…
A 2010 Evo X MR Touring
If you want a Mitsubishi Evolution, you’d best hit up your dealership in the semi-near future. As The Truth About Cars reports, the current Evo X will be the last of the line. Despite rumors that an Evo XI was under development (featuring a hybrid or turbo-diesel drivetrain), Mitsubishi’s global product director, Gayu, Eusegi, says that’s not the case. In an interview with Britain’s Autocar, Eusegi was quoted as saying, “There is still demand (for the Evolution series), but we must stop. Our influence now is EV technology.” In other words, there’s been a paradigm shift at the Japanese automaker, who will now focus on developing and launching some eight electric or hybrid cars in the next four years. Read More…
Ford Mustang in Hamburg, Germany. Photo courtesy of Jan Riggert.
It’s February and we’re in the heart of Winter 2011. For car enthusiasts, it’s very easy to dismiss this season as a time of dreary dormancy. When the grey skies and the bleak landscapes make even the cherished weekend drive unwelcome. When the air is too agonizingly frigid to endure with the roof tucked away and the windows down. When you long to pitch your keys after frantically scraping your windshield in the quiet hours before dawn and your thoughts incessantly turn to the salt feasting on your vehicle. Sitting behind the wheel, your breath visible, you find that even your car starts begrudgingly, chugging to life with the reluctance of a teenager waking on a weekend morning. In winter, the sleek, silvery hides of the cars we’ve fondly lusted over in the warmer months are locked away, sheltered from the elements, and the bronzed, bikinied goddesses of the tuner meets are in hibernation. Winter is a terrible time for car enthusiasts.
Or is it?
The following are some of my favorite winter photos from around the Web. If you’re bemoaning the winter blues, take a look at these and get out and drive. Winter is no reason to stay inside. Read More…
I’m not too sure how I feel about Mitsubishi’s newest marketing campaign. Apparently they’re somewhat disappointed that they haven’t received a cavalcade of awards for their rather boring vehicles, so to combat this they’ve decided to invent some new (and completely pointless) ones of their own. To do this Mitsubishi contacted the Guinness Book of World Records and had them monitor a group of challenges that no one had ever attempted before so that they, and they alone could get into the record books. The idea was to take a 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander and Outlander Sport up to a frozen lake in Alberta, Canada and show off how well their new all-wheel control system works. Click through for the video.
Read More…
Aside from the EVO, Mitsubishi as a car company is just about as boring as they come. The Galant is bland and old, the Eclipse should have been taken out to pasture and shot years ago and the Endeavor, well, I actually kinda’ like that one so we’ll give it a pass. As a brand Mitsubishi is in desperate need of an overhaul which is something that if the rumor mills are true, may be happening sooner than we think. Autoblog is now reporting Mitsubishi is thinking of selling a rebadged version of Infiniti’s M car as they have nothing that is considered to be a premium class vehicle in their line-up. The Infiniti M would be rebadged as the new Diamante, a car that last saw production in 2005. Back then it was actually quite a nice vehicle, but slow sales and a lack of marketing unfortunately helped lend to its demise.
Read More…
