Total Eclipse of the Point

This spry yellow car is the 2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse. This car is really cool!........if you happen to be 17. For anybody else in the know, it's a joke wrapped in sheetmetal. The car goes out of it's way to badge itself as a  GT. It has a large V-6 motor in it with no assist from turbochargers. The powerplant actually isn't terrible. But the effect is lost in such a heavy car.

I'm no expert, but I wonder why the heaviest part of the car seems to be the door. I have no idea why the door panel and metal is so thick and dense. I thought maybe it was just one faulty car at the autoshow. It was a problem the entire Mitsubishi booth seemed to share.

Style-wise the car just doesn't do it for me. It's too round and much too heavy looking. The cheap plastic treatment on the grille doesn't help matters either. And the wing on the back is ridiculous. It's not a space ship. And unless the wing is aerodynamically proven to provide downforce it just creates drag. Drag on a sports car like this means more wind resistance and slower speeds.

Cost is another issue. For around 26 grand at the same price you can get a Mustang GT or Camaro V-6. Both cars  have around 40 more horsepower. The Camaro especially trumpts the Eclipse because it has the same number of cylinders and does more with them.

Historically, there is one more reason Americans should object to buying ANYTHING from Mitsubishi. Remember that little dustup known as World War II? Well, it just so happens that Mitsubishi built the A-6 M Zero Fighter Plane. There's just one itsy bitsy little problem: That plane was used by the Japanese......to attack Pearl Harbor. I'm all for forgiving and forgetting but if they're going to sell us something made by a company that took American lives they could at least give us a quality car. Again, this is all just my humble opinion.