Chicago '08 Preview: 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse gets "evolutionary" facelift
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While a certain coupe over at Dodge is going to garner the lion's share of attention in Chicago next week, there are other reveals scheduled. Yesterday brought news that a facelifted Mitsubishi Galant will appear. It's about as noticeable and inspiring as the pre-facelift Galant, so we'll forgive if you happen to have missed it. The big Mitsu won't be alone in its booth, however. For 2009, the Eclipse also gets an update, mostly in the form of a facelift that apes the front end of the Lancer Evolution. Gone is the monochrome look, replaced by a darkened trapezoidal maw in the grille area. Out back, a diffuser-style insert takes up residence in the rear bumper (at least of the GT V6 model). The interior is essentially unchanged, and a new dual exhaust for the V6 adds 2 horsepower and 2 lb-ft of torque for a grand total of 265 hp/262 lb-ft. All well and good, but we'd still take a Lancer Ralliart over this any day.
[Source: Inside Line]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tyler Mayes 8:45PM (2/02/2008)
The front end looks very GT-R
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Andrew Tanasescu 9:10PM (2/02/2008)
You read my mind...
James 9:03PM (2/02/2008)
I haven't been an Eclipse fan since the 2nd generation (before the hideous year 2000 redesign), but this is a welcome refreshening.
Although I echo sentiments about the Lancer Ralliart.
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Derek J. Punaro 9:22PM (2/02/2008)
Huge improvement to the rear end. I owned a 3G Eclipse, whose design I actually liked because it didn't have the ghetto booty rear end. I was disappointed to see that return in the 4G. The flare out and color break in the rear bumper gives it some much needed style.
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Trent 9:25PM (2/02/2008)
WE WANT AWD!
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Franz 11:37PM (2/02/2008)
Yes, the GSX is missed. We won't realistically see the return to turbocharged power, with the Evos and Raliart Lancers already gone the turbo route, but a return to AWD would do wonders for this car.
conceptov35 9:25PM (2/02/2008)
GT-R front end and Nismo Z rear end...not much for originality
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Iridium 9:33PM (2/02/2008)
Actually it looks exactly like the Eclipse Ralliart concept that was shown at SEMA a couple years back. That was the first time the new Mitsu grille was shown.
It makes th ecar look a bit more agressive but the front end doesn't really look right without the glaring trapezoidal headlights. This looks like it is trying to be mean with cute headlights. Doesn't really work.
The worst part about the 4G Eclipse is the interior, at least for my tastes. For the refresh it looks like they toned down the riceboy spaceship looks but the sea of smooth plastic still does not look good.
Overall I thought the 3G Eclipse was a fantastic touring car, in the V6 GT model. It was heavy and didn't like the twists but at 80mph on the highway it was fantastic. The major drawback was that the car had an absolutely terrible 5 speed manual transmission. It couldn't cope with the torque of the V6 and after a few thousand miles the syncros were junk.
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fbxcore 9:37PM (2/02/2008)
+1
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Mobius_1 10:01PM (2/02/2008)
FWD on a sports car seems quite lame to me... come on Mitsu we want RWD or 4WD (like the Evo)
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SteveRB 10:04PM (2/02/2008)
The back, minus the wing, looks like an Audi TT.
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f3rg 10:32PM (2/02/2008)
Wow, much better.
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tankd0g 11:35PM (2/02/2008)
Nice looking, still wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole made of lifetime warranty.
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felfo 11:16PM (2/02/2008)
that picture is a tribute to a very popular 2G brochure picture, even the same color if I'm not mistaken, anybody agree?
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HotRodzNKustoms 11:22PM (2/02/2008)
It is a genuinely good looking car now, my only reservation was the large smooth characterless rear end now that new rear end has me happy. Still give me a Eclipse Evo Conv. and I'll buy my first Mitsubishi that isn't a consumer electronic.
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mk 11:43PM (2/02/2008)
Thank god they raised the break on the rear bumper, with the black detail, but still is too much.
Thank god even more that they deleted the fake chrome spoiler crap, body color is at least not so fake.
Better, but still nowhere near enough. Never been an Eclipse fan. But I did kinda like the Eagle Talon, which was an Eclipse with a better look, front and rear, turbo, and AWD.
Stealth was better looking than 3000GT, too.
They haven't come close with a coupe since.
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Danny Boy 11:28PM (2/02/2008)
+1,000,000,000,000,000,000
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press photo guy 11:28PM (2/02/2008)
Of course it looks good, it's been lowered for the photos courtesy of Eibach. Of course the one you buy won't look like this, it'll be jacked up in the air like it's got too much air in the air-shocks. Mitsubishi always says: "this is how the production one will look! Honest!"
Yea, right...
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Zane 12:01AM (2/03/2008)
conceptov35 wrote:
"GT-R front end and Nismo Z rear end...not much for originality"
My thoughts exactly!
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MikeW 12:31AM (2/03/2008)
Hey, they gave up the monocle in the headlght.
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