2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse | Retro Review
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2022
- Despite Mitsubishi's brilliant attempt to turn the 3rd gen Eclipse into Roman Pierce's hero car in "2 Fast 2 Furious", sales still dropped the baton and slipped Eclipse's first wheel in the grave.
Show 1901 | Original Airdate 09-08-1999
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The absolute beginning of the end for the eclipse and might I say Mitsubishi as a whole.
I was thinking the same thing
Lol, so their most successful Eclipse generation was their downfall. 2002 was the best selling model year for any Eclipse.
@@LakeHowellDigitalVideo Coincidentally, 2001 was when the Eclipse rocketed into the spotlight, in Fast and Furious. People wanted the name because of the movie. Being a rebadged Stratus, people quickly found out Mitsubishi doesn't give a 🐀 💩 about what we think. The name was for marketing hype. Nothing more. Just like the new truckie thing they call the "Eclipse".
@@yubentrolled7097 Yeah, I owned a 1st gen. They were flimsy and poorly built. The later gens were much better cars even if they were a few tenths slower in the quarter mile. They didn't eat head gaskets like the turbo motors. They stopped offering the turbo because they couldn't keep up with warranty claims.
@@LakeHowellDigitalVideo I still have my 99 Spyder GS and absolutely love that trim level. The SOHC 2.4 paired with the 5 speed, as long as you aren't wringing it out to redline, is bulletproof. Enough torque to get that fat pig on the freeway without too much strain on equipment. I guess that's why that engine stuck around so long.
3G+ can be called "better cars". Like the Supra and the dollar store brand BMW "Supra". Better "car"? Sure. Better Supra? No. If consumers wanted a "better car", they would buy... a better car. Certain name plates we buy because they're cheap, fun and break necks, even today. The rattles, cheap trim and road noise are just reminders that cars haven't always been identical to their competitors.
To my eyes, 1st and 2nd generation eclipse are better looking. 3000gt are one of prettiest looking car ever made.
Agreed. The 3rd gen was the ugliest. I do like the the final generation
As an owner of gen 2 it's the best but I love the fto over the GTO
3rd gen is similar in size and design to 3KGT.
Get one then
It was following the trend of tall headlights like the Celica, Civic, etc. of the same era. I think the older horizontal headlights were a classier look.
I can't see one of these third generation Eclipses without hearing 'Days go By' in my head. I still bump that song.
Oh, yeah! It's been my ringtone for ages. Sporty cars, fun times, electronic music. The end of the era. Then we got 9/11, SUVs, and American Idol. All downhill from there.
Yeah back then Mitsubishi introduced me to some cool songs that I may have never come across otherwise...along with Start the Commotion by the Wiseguys lol
I still VASTLY prefer the previous two generations, and I remember hating this one when it was introduced, but I think this one aged reasonably well (in the sense that it doesn't look more than 20 years old). If it were introduced in a bubble (or by a different brand), it would have been remembered as a fine car.
The reason it doesn't look much more than 20 years old is because its not much more than 20 years old lol at 22 years old, it definitely looks as dated as it is. The previous gen still looks newer than this one imo. The 3rd gen was so notchy and blocky looking.
EXACTLY!!! Never figured out why they'd get rid of an AWD turbo 4cyl (considering in the mid to late 90's there weren't many of 'em) in favor of a, urgh, FWD NATURALLY ASPIRATED V6?!? That effectively removed the Eclipses identity & KILLED THE CAR.
@@dodoubleg2356 Two reasons:
NA powered cars were in at the time (RSX, 350Z, S2000, RX-8, Celica [Think about the cars that came out 2000 - 2005 and the previous gens of some of these same cars to their latest 00-05 versions]) So it only made sense they applied the same thing to the Eclipse like everyone else going NA
2. Nobody really bought the GS-T & GS-X like everyone thinks. Only 5% total were sold throughout the *ENTIRE* DSM lifetime from 1990-1999. Out of over 1 mil sold, about 70k turbo models in general were sold in total give or take. Plus only 4% we're even GS-X models either. So the turbo clearly wasn't that preferred or bought. Hence, the 3G *_WAS_* supposed to be just the same, but I assume they caught those sales of the last two gens in total, and they said "no, let's change it last minute" as they did. Cuz the 2G was supposed to have a V6 but they changed that last minute too (1G & 2G can take V6 swaps as well depending on which models you have)
@@jordanprice9285 Right on the money. However, I think it had more to do with going with a V6 than just going N/A altogether. The low end torque/smoothness of a V6 was becoming en vogue with the Big 3 and their Japanese bedfellows creating a bandwagon in the 90's to go that route instead of rowdy and peaky 4 bangers for higher performance FWD/compact/mid offerings in the US market. That was also better in terms in terms of "seat of the pants" performance when paired with the automatic transmissions of that era, which more to your 2nd point, most American buyers preferred. Aside from the DSM cars, Chrysler had pulled the plug on turbo 4 cylinders in exchange for a slightly different version of the V6 in this videos Eclipse, and their Avenger/Sebring were pretty much all but a "V6 2G DSM" and preview of the 3G Eclipse... Ford/Mazda dumped the turbo 4 from the Probe/MX6 in exchange for a V6. And GM had dumped their weird turbo 4 and the more premium versions of their NA Quad 4 motor for V6's.
And it made sense for Mitsubishi as they were gearing up to grow their market share in the US... Oh whoops, I mean give away free cars with their failed 0/0/0 finance plan.
Then of course Fast and the Furious came out and everybody wanted stuff like Turbo's and VTEC again...
@@tinystar3010 I like the experimental look of the 3G more imho and I’m a 1g eclipse soy boy lmao
I bought my 2000 Eclipse GS brand new the day after I saw the television commercial ad and it is still my daily driver with 200K miles on it! It has been a great car and very reliable. Besides routine maintenance, the only issue that I had was the clutch slave cylinder started leaking at 90K miles, but was easy and inexpensive to replace...it still has the original clutch and alternator in it!
I have a 2000 also 5 speed 200,000 also I drive it sometimes I just won't sale it because it's still clean and not common any more .
I have my 01 mitsubishi with 156k and I still love it to this day never see them anymore
do you guys remember when Mitsubishi actually used to make cars? Good times.
Mitsubishi with turbo eclipses and VR4s. Toyota with the actual in-house Supra’s and celicas. Honda selling affordable, lightweight, simple, cars with NA high-revving vtecs. Nissans that didn’t have ugly designed, shitty CVT everything. All the aforementioned (save for the obvious Supra/3KGTs/etc) didn’t average 30k price and weigh 4k lbs with A/B/C pillars thicker than my fat ass. Could go on for days. Oh, and of course- actual manual transmissions.
@@akutan04rt50 they dont even want to produce cars anymore. its all crossovers.
@@MamesJatthew29 The good old days. But i prefer my 4 cylinder in the American catagory. Id always surprise the hondas at the local meet with the Quad 4. Good days long gone thanks to the bullshit from the government.
@@Lrules364 not really that, just the entire market has shifted. Consumers want SUVs and companies got to adapt if they want to survive.
@@akutan04rt50 They really should bring the L pickups here.
I refuse to believe this is old enough for a Retro Review.
23 years ago
A friend of mine had one in the early 2000s. We rode around in it quite a bit. it was nice because it was new, but that was about it. The previous versions of the eclipse were more engaging. Smaller, better styled IMO, and more fun to drive. This was the attempt at keeping the eclipse customer who had gotten older.
They still should have made a top-tier Halo version maybe a VR4 with turbo v6 and all-wheel drive they wouldn't have sold very many of them compared to just the v6 automatic spiders but the option would have been there for your hardcore eclipse driver kind of like how Ford does with a mustang sell bazillion base cars and a handful of cobras
@@robertstone9988
Yes a VR4 version was a missed opportunity.
That’s probably absolutely true, they figured the demographic was aging and wouldn’t give a shit about AWD turbo coupes anymore. Maybe they were right, but sucked ass for the used market in the future.
They should've kept the 2.0 turbo.
Right at minimum.
love the body design of this car, loved the ads for it too, especially the "Days Go By" commercial
“Days go By” commercial’s silver Mitsubishi Eclipse is what comes to my mind every time I see one of these..lol
*The fate of the Eclipse is the most tragic in automotive history.*
I remember when this car came out fell in love with the styling now they are nowhere in sight to be seen anymore.
I still have mine! I know what you mean you never see them anymore but when people do see them they don't know what it is till you tell them
I know most people hate it but this is my favorite Eclipse in terms of looks.
Looks were OK, the engineering was a step down by comparison
Dislike. This was a huge downgrade in the looks department. The previous generation Eclipse basically defined a generation and this car signaled the beginning of the end of a car maker.
So you have no taste?
Yeah it's not a bad looking car, but I still prefer the 2nd gen
Man people in these replies are mean, who cares what someone thinks is the best looking generation of a car? Beauty is entirely subjective people need to learn that. I actually would rank Eclipse design in order of the generations, but I still respect your opinion completely!
I remember not liking the styling of this car at the time they were a current generation, but it's grown on me and I like it quite a bit now.
Same here.
Same lol, bought one a few months ago
@@djpollo2474 how has it been?Curious
@@blade58824 I also bought one a couple months ago, got a pretty good deal on it, 1000$ for a '01 rs stick shift, the torque makes it feel must faster then it is and its not a terribly slow car to begin with. Its my first car and I can say its definitely a fun little sports car. Theres plenty of room and besides the dash being cracked and almost falling apart from the previous owner breaking the clips I havent had much issues. The 2.4l litre engine that comes in the rs and gs model also has a turbocharged sister thats in the galant and its supposedly a great engine if you want to turbo the n/a one yourself, be prepared to rebuild the engine though because nowadays most of them have so many miles that they wont hold up. The v6 models are very tight in space though im not sure how they would hold up with being turbocharged if you could fit one it. They are flashy cars and definitely look good after being lowered and with some tint on them. I cant say that im disisatisfied with the car in anyway.
...and now it's yet another mini SUV. How far the legend has fallen...
I know, right? I'd rather have the 3G Eclipse over the mini SUV.
Unpopular opinion: this is my favourite gen. Design has aged incredibly well.
Fr I don't think the haters in the comments ever owned one lol tbh I never really payed attention to em but once I bought one I was in awe 🤣 n had admiration for em
Lot of hate for the 3G.. I absolutely loved my silver ‘00 GT, though! Was just fast enough, black leather interior held up nicely for an (at the time 14 year old car) and the handling was fun! What a pain it was, trying to smog it, however.
man that things a pile. there's a reason even the GT has near-zero resale.
@@BossItUp911 Not in Canada, these cars are rare and held in high regard. Currently on autotrader there are 2 available in 4 hours around me and the cheapest is $10,000 and needing a lot of work, new ECU, etc.
I remember this car coming out... It was the beginning of the end of Eclipses. It no longer had the amazing 4G63 motor, no GSX awd model, and the looks both exterior and interior were horrible.... No one liked these cars, or the 4th gens either. Only the first two generations of Eclipses were phenomenal cars in their categories.
I had a 95 Eagle Talon TSI, it was a good looking fast car, I can’t say the same about the 3rd or 4th gens, they were complete bombs.
Built quality was way better on the 3rd gen Eclipse. The reliability of the 2nd gen Eclipse was awful, probably why I haven't seen one in many years.
@@hakeemsd70m it’s quite the opposite in my experience, the 3rd gens suffered from faulty brake master cylinders, and the v6 engines were leakers, i remember doing valve cover gaskets on an 02 with 35k. I see more 3rd gens in the junkyard than I do 2nd gens, not to mention I never heard anyone say I’m gonna build a 3rd gen eclipse.
I was around 15 when this car came out and wanted it so badly because of the commercial with the Days Go By song from Dirty Vegas. At the time I thought it was the coolest car... Ahh the memories
1G and 2G are hands down the best eclipses made.
Still better than the new Eclipse crossover thing they have now
I had a 2005 GT. I liked how they looked and the v6 sounded good. It was reasonably quick, handled well and was amazing in snow, plus you could carry quite a bit with the seats folded down. Overall it was a pretty good car.
2015 I had the GTS model, looked literally MINT, nice red color we picked it up for sale on the side of the road. Some idiot hit me months later.
@@preciadoalex123
Don't you love that!
My Mint 2011 TSX encountered 3 idiots the first year I owned it.
Previous owner of 9yrs had only One scratch on the front.
So weird seeing one of these with clear coat intact on the horizontal panels and headlights that aren't hazed over.
I was a big mitsu guy in my youth, I had all 3 generations of this car. 1G and 2G were awd and the third was the v6 GT. It gave me the least trouble of them all that is for sure but it slow compared to my Talon TSI.
I want to see a segment MotorWeek with the 1995-1997 Eagle Talon turbocharged all-wheel drive. One of my favorite cars before it was discontinued along with the Eagle Brand.
I owned a 96 TSi AWD with the 5spd. It was fast and never got stuck in the snow. Even had the moonroof. Easy to modify that 4G63 as we all know. I was more than content with 300whp/300ft lbs tq
I liked the talon the best then the Plymouth laser
They just uploaded it!
My first car was 2000 Eclipse GT with the 4 speed automatic. At the time I loved it and even to this day I still have a thing for it. Wish I bought the 5 speed though. Even slapped some Evo 8 wheels on it. Still in the Mitsubishi family with my Evo though!
This car is one of those rare cars where the automatic feels VERY sluggish. And the manual pulls SUPER hard. Wtf happened there Mitsubishi? Lol
This was the beginning of the end for Mitsubishi.
So I guess the Lancer Evolution didn't exist at all in the 00's??
@@hakeemsd70m it did, but it also existed in the 90’s and they stopped selling them in the US 6 years ago.
Mitsubishi’s US market share has more than halved since 2000.
@@cannoncolossus2449 But the Lancer Evo wasn't available at all in the US until 2003. I'm just saying, I strongly disagree that the 2000 Eclispe was the beginning of the end for the Eclipse, since in my opinion, at least, the 3g Eclipse was a cool car. It broke Eclipse sales records in 2002. The beginning of the end of Mitsubishi was the 2004 Galant, in my opinion.
This was the sign of the beginning of the end for Mitsubishi in the US.
Could you imagine if they made a VR4 version of this eclipse anything to make the eclipse enthusiast feel like they didn't get robbed by the last three generation eclipses that's the SUV the bubbly thing and the carp.
True performance was not Eclipse anyway, good point A to B car. The lick was the VR-4's and EVO's.
I'm always a fan of Mitsubishi cars, most likely the first second and fourth gen Mitsubishi Eclipse. This third gen is unappealing because it lacks the turbocharged 2.0 L AWD, but I like the convertibles even more on the third gen. And interior layout looks exactly like the Dodge Stratus and the Chrysler Sebring Coupe.
Gen 1 n 2 where the icons that put Mitsubishi where they where. Regular body and Spyder where virtually identical except the top. Gen 3 is this one. The start of a downhil trend from there.
@@christopherhernandez78
And was even worse, the Eclipse is a bloody crossover, now that is sacrilege...!
@@ericbritton9346 I agree 💯 with that. But unfortunately as a company wanting to make a profit they have to abide to the trend. They did also butcher the Eclipse name. Rumors of a Lancer cross was on the table back then.
@@christopherhernandez78 and now the next gen Lancer is stuck in China. It is still a sedan but specially for them only iirc. No sign of it coming anywhere else.
@@christopherhernandez78 What about the Lancer Evolution?
This is when Mitsubishi began losing focus and began losing their appeal. It's been down hill ever since. I remember the 3000GT, Montero Sport, Diamante, Eclipse (GS-T and GS-X beating a lot of V8's at the time), and overseas their was this monster called the Evo (which hadn't come to the states yet). Now, unfortunately, they have some of the worse rated cars on the market. I had the 1997 GS-T. When the 3rd generation Eclipse was released, I left the brand permanently.
What was the sedan they offered in the early 90s, the galant maybe, that could be had with the dsm turbo motor and awd, and a stick, the vr4 I think? Always wanted one of them. In 95 I bought a 91 talon tsi, awd, and loved it, til I wrecked it. Lol
Lol, "losing their appeal." This was the best selling Eclipse among all the generations. Peak sales for the Eclipse happened in 2002. I'd rather have one of these models than a cramped/flimsy 1st gen. I owned both of them, the later ones had much better build quality.
I don’t know how they could even consider this as a “more successor to the 3000 GT than the previous Eclipse” seriously?? Just no. Like you ErwinSchrodinger64 I also had a 1997 GS-T. With 210 HP, and being super light weight, it was super engaging on the back roads! I would have smoked this new car in a race. 7.6 to 60 in this new one? I think my GS-T could do it like 6.7-7. loved that car! I liked it more than GS-X, because while the GS-X had the same engine, it was heavier cause of the leather/power seats/all wheel drive. The GS-T was perfect. Too bad I got a little to enthusiastic on a rainy night headed home on a curvy road, and ended up totaling it (ended up in a ditch sideways. I had spun out. I was alright. It was just me. I was sober, just being stupid 23 year old LOL (this was in like 2000) I just remember thinking that the new Eclipse had lost all the passion of the previous generation.
The Montero Sport was actually a slow, dangerous, top heavy piece of shit. It couldn't compete with the Ford Explorer, Chevy S10 Blazer, Isuzu Rodeo, or Nissan Pathfinder.
They should’ve kept All Wheel Drive and the Turbo 4 cylinder either 2.0 or higher.
I remember seeing commercials for these when I was little and I’ve always wanted one. I eventually bought one in 2019 right out of highschool. Instantly fell in love with it. It’s a perfect car for someone going to college. Reliable, good on gas, enough cargo room to go on trips and other run around activities. And it’s a super fun car and (albeit subjectively) a good looking car. I’ve gotten compliments on my car a decent amount of times surprisingly. And after I sold my first 3g. I just had to buy another one. They get a bad reputation but they’re good cars. And even better looking when you modify them just a bit
I can definitely agree, bought one of my own a couple months back at 15, for a first car and in high school its of course an eye grabber, having the 2.4litre saves on gas as well while still sounding pretty good. I have gotten plenty of compliments on it and its the only one I know of in my city as I haven't seen anyone else with one though I have seen a fair bit of 4th gens. My friends all love it and it drives smoothly and you're able to push it quite a bit if you have the stick shift.
Would you recommend it as a first car?
@@lucky_lulu317 if you’re getting the 4cyl. Absolutely. Dead reliable. Fun. And comfortable and really cheap and easily to maintain. Great on gas too
My pops bought one brand new back in 2000. Same colour as this one in the GT variant. It certainly turned heads when it was brand new, but I also prefer the previous generation. That said, he STILL has his and it's given him very little trouble in the 22 years he's had it.
That's a nice sporty car sure hope it's not replaced by an SUV/crossover later in life
Second gen by far the best most futuristic looking, even today.
I wouldn't say futuristic, but it is the cleanest looking
For its years it did and even today it looks awesome
All these people hating on this generation due to the “lack of the AWD 2.0L Turbo”, but come one. I am pretty sure that only a fraction of you guys actually owned a GSX model. You seem to have forgotten that all the other, more common model were are N/A FWD cars. Although, I would not say the exterior was an upgrade (2nd Gen preferred over this), but performance and handling wise compared to the older gen FWD models is way better. Yes, it didn’t come with a “GSX” model, but there’s a reason why they were discontinued, and all of their performance cars in general. They just simply didn’t sell as well. I just think all this hatred towards the 3rd Gen is not really reasonable.
It's just people trying to be in the cool club by hating on the 3g. Give it 10 yrs or so and people will be looking for these cars and willing to pay top dollar for them.
The beginning of the end for the Mitsubishi Eclipse.
The design that killed a brand.
Absolutely did
They should have made a Halo high performance version for the enthusiast. It's like they just designed the basic clips and then stopped. Could you imagine like a VR4 drivetrain in a third gen eclipse? I understand they may have lost their ass on cost but you make up for it and all the base cars you sell. When I was in high school there was a kid that was like two grades older than me and he was like the coolest dude in the whole school he smoked cigarettes and he had a first gen eagle talon TSI with the biggest freaking intercooler hanging off the front of it you've ever seen and no front bumper it went sssssshhhhhhh p chu chu chu chu and blared hoobastank from Walmart subwoofers in the hach. All the cute skater girls wanted him and all of us dudes wanted to be him.
@@robertstone9988 lol. Good Ole times. Now we're ollllddd
@@johnl3230 getting old sucks but it beats the alternative. His name was Chris in when he raced Greg Koya the rich kid at school and is WS6 Trans Am behind the trailer park may have been the most epic Night of My Teenage life. I saw Greg get his ass stomped i went to a bonfire party got drunk as hell made out with a chick and got to see some boobs that weren't on TV or in a magazine for the first time in my life. It was like Dazed and Confused but it was like 2003.
@@robertstone9988 Lol, bet that was fun, thanks for the share haha. Now look at Mitsubishi, they are pretty much dead. And the new Eclipse Cross is a joke!
This car has aged surprisingly well.
I wanted one of these in high school but preferred the previous gen. My poor ass couldn't afford either and now it's hard to find any.
This car does remind me of 2 Fast 2 Furious driven by Tyrese.
Still one of the most popular Eclipses.
94 Galant please!
Also, I really like this gen. Yes, it isn’t as cool as the first two, but it was a proper sports coupe! You don’t find anything sporty from Mitsubishi nowadays
Mitsubishi have slowly gotten worse.
Kommentierst Du eigentlich JEDES Motorweek, Doug Demuro und Car Ranger Video...?
@@accept_everything_ nein aber viele anscheinend 😂
@@accept_everything_
He is Local Legend on this channel :)
Looked great, wish they kept the prior models drivetrains
I think it was the worst looking generation.
They technically did, especially since it's literally the same chassis from the firewall back just more rigid and doesn't have the AWD from factory. It still has a 4G64 engine in it like the 2G but it's just flipped and is the only 4 cylinder offered which is just a head swap and turbo setup away from being a basically newer GS-T.
2:14 the launch with both tires spinning makes me happy!
As much as I'd love to have a gen earlier, I'm happy with my 03.
Hey I got an idea, let's take our best selling sports coupe and make it softer, slower and number! That's what performance drivers want! --Mitsubishi
It's a shame they didn't have the budget on the 4th gen to fix all of the problems in the 3rd. That car was pretty competitive as a larger sports coupe for about a year then everyone added 100HP to their drivetrains and Mitusbishi responded by adding dual exhaust and dropping the ride height.
Own an early Spyder 3g in the UK. Attracts so much love, especially from the 6g72 owners over here! It's good that there's plenty of parts cars out there 👀 there is much to some people's beliefs; a community where many mods have been done to this gen. I can imagine I'll end up like Clint Eastwood looking after my car lol
Interesting how in the 90s a lot of cars went from 4cyl, or 4cyl turbo , to V6's. Nowadays it's the other way around.
Remember the whole 0 down , 0% interest and 0 payments for one year on these cars? Why did Mitsubishi do that?
Much preferred the earlier versions over this one.
This wasn't an Eclipse. It was just a restyled Gallant.
Nothing alike don't be salty cause you couldn't get one 🤣
Lack of ABS? Woah...
Did the 2003+ Eclipses have ABS standard?
All the 4th gen eclipses had abs standard. (06+)
@@VIRIS2 I’ll take that as a no.
It looked nice but I owned a brand new 2004 GT model. It was a slow poor handling POS that quickly had issues.
It needed a GSX trim. Turbo and AWD.
Ricers started having kids, that's why they put all the juice in the Evo and brought it to USA
I remember the factory paint job being really bad on these.
*they should made this car RWD or AWD*
Weird ass question did y’all make one for 03 bonneville ssei 🤔
The interior of this gen is actually nice
my 1st car was a 2000 eclipse GT and i loved that car it was such a cool high schooler car! it got me into cars and into the eclipse in general currently i have 1990 eclipse GSX that’s MINT!
Days go by and still I think of you.
A girl in high school got one of these for her Sweet 16. Brand new 2000 Eclipse. I parked near her in my 1990 Plymouth Acclaim 😒
People are going to hate me for this, but I personally prefer the 3G over all the others including the 1st two gens. Most notably I don't like the 2G the most. Just seems to try to hard for my taste. Plus, I love how much more strong the Manual transmission is compared to the earlier models and feels much nicer to sit in and drive than the older models. Plus, thankfully, not having a turbo wasn't a problem since it was able to push the same 200/205hp stock and was still just as quick as the GS-T of the day.
I own one and I'm buying one with a 3.5L swap in a couple weeks from a buddy of mine. And lastly, we never got the 420A in these so we have the good choice of Mitsubishi only engines and transmissions thanks to not being a DSM.
Not to mention the lower end 4 banger models are just a Evo 8 head swap away from being a 2.4L DOHC car. And like the guy said in the video, the 3G V6 is basically an affordable newer 3000GT with a better stock ECU you can actually tune from factory (the engine blocks are literally the same between each other so internals carry over and even the 4 bolt blocks can be interchangeable to fit as long as it's mated to the SOHC heads so you don't have to revert the ECU setup to the 3000GT style ECU's because it's much more primitive and requires it if you go DOHC.) It's really the best of both worlds.
Maaan, you said a whole lot of stuff I didn't understand but It sounded great! lol
I love this car's design, bit it'll be cooler if it has a full Evo drivetrain swap!
This generation is built on the Gallant Platform? No wonder the 3rd Gen went to hell. 🤔🤔🤔
I feel like this was the beginning of the end for Mitsubishi. The 2 previous versions were better looking IMO. Their cars just got plain ugly and now they’re using Nissan tech so a CVT in their vehicles which is a huge nope for me.
God, I was in a high school when these came out and my friend's dad bought a V6 Eclipse. It was talked about as if he had just purchased some rip roaring Corvette eater. While, even at the time I knew these claims where a tad off the mark, I'm truly shocked to see how lethargic of a performer this thing truly was. Really help explain why mitsubishi is where is is right now
These are pretty fun cars for what they are, I miss mine.
This is when Mitsubishi began to take a dump and was almost the end for them. The Eclipse before this was so sexy and still is, this was the car that made you throw up in your mouth a bit when you saw it on the road. How they screwed it up so bad I will never know....then again Acura thinks their new Integra is something amazing, Acura is almost dead.
Co worker bought a copper colored 2nd gen, that was a sexy little car. 3rd gens……not so much
This car signaled the decline of Mitsubishi.
Mitsubishi dropped the ball by getting rid of the 4g63 and putting in a v6 that made less power and added weight.
3:32 terrible brakes! ABS on a sporty coupe should have been mandatory on higher trims if not all models!!
Im restoring a 2001 Spyder GT 5 speed with the sun and sound package. Engine work done, some underbody welds and rust restoration almost done. Up next a metallic purple paint job. Love the body and interior. More interested in it as a corner carver than straight line performance. As a sport bike guy i get my 0 to 60 in 3 seconds kicks there. I look around at all these privey new German drop tops and to me theye boring looking.
This thing looks fast just sitting. Im stoked.
ahhh the year they ruined the eclipse and made it goofy lookin yet now its grown on me lol
@@67tomcat of course lol even the new "eclipse" is a stupid crossover suv. i own a 02 eclipse gt convertable now and its such a blast. still would perfer a 97 to 99 2.0 turbo one though
Well the brand new eclipse is so much better looking.. 😂🤣
Mitsubishi knew this was the end of the eclipse, So much so that they even started naming a tiny shit box SUV after it
I don't understand the hate surrounding this 3rd gen. Seems like a perfectly fine car to me.
I have a 2005 eclipse GTS and the real notable thing about it is that the 6g72 in it is bulletproof
Crazy it didn't come with abs standard. Also can't remember the last one I've seen on the road.
I had an 04 GTS, but automatic. Dark blue. Looked nice but was slow as all hell. Women liked my car though. Was very reliable too
Wow! That dash is really something 😳
Can y’all post the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Convertible Spyder test drive review or more old Convertible reviews.
When you see a really nice condition one in blue or silver, the looks hold up well. Still lame what they did to this and the Celica, dropping the AWD turbo models
Been waiting for the 2000 Celica for 6 years now.... Anytime?
yea, right after the galant upload comes lmao
When they stopped making the 4 cylinder turbo. I stopped caring.
i have a 2000 eclipse gt i do prefer the second gens but i have a love for the third gen cause its so rare to see a built one cause of how much they were hated
I remember the seeing the first prototype images of this eclipse in Super Street Magazine i think ... It looked cool, but it didn't move me like the previous generations
Not only I used to see this car on the road before (or rarely still driven around) this car is also were in Better Call Saul and you all know what happens.
Anyone remember the "remix" edition that came out for this generation?
They looked good but after I wrecked my gst I got the gts v6. Wasn’t as sporty or quick as my old one. Traded it for a 2001 cougar xr7
That color looks so good
I personally think the Mitsu Diamonte of this same time was a MUCH better looking car and more powerful too. Just a shame there are no parts for it around and they aren't the most reliable vehicles.
This gen of Eclipse didn't age horribly, but it was never that refined to begin with. Really nothing special.
I think they had the same amount of hp not sure on the torque.
@@dontelindsey5846 the 3.5L Diamante made more torque
I agree with everybody who said this Eckipse was weak and generic. A V6 over the turbocharged 4 and the jelly bean shape just makes the car a bore.
I was prepared to defend this car, but it is fundamentally worse than the previous generation, yikes. I guess rear leg room increased?
I have an 03 eclipse Spyder gts. I do love my car but I do also wish it was a turbo'd AWD beast like the previous generation was... I've always preferred the looks of the 3rd gen but the performance of the 2nd gen is unbeatable really... Imo anyway.
Very interesting that motorweek would say the 3G eclipse was the successor to the 3000GT
One of the rich kids in my high school had a new at the time V6 Eclipse by our junior year he decided it wasn't fast enough and his parents bought him a Roush Mustang to replace it with.
Wasn't the Stratus and Sebring coupe basically the same thing
Yes.