The name of Mitsubishi’s newest model pretty much tells the story of its mission — “Eclipse Cross” intends to marry the sportiness of the former Eclipse sports coupe with a compact SUV structure to form what is known in the trade these days as a “crossover.”
The Eclipse Cross will fight it out with such stalwarts in the Canadian market as Ford Escape, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Traverse, Nissan Qashqai, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester, Volkswagen Tiguan — and I’ve probably missed a few.
The Ford, Honda, and Toyota tend to be Canada’s biggest sellers in this hot segment, but Mitsu is going after a younger, more affluent, more urban, and less-likely-to-have-kids-at-home slice of this market, so they have their eyes on the Mazda, Hyundai, and Kia.
Eclipse Cross shares wheelbase and some mechanical components with the larger RVR, but gets a new engine, a 1.5-litre turbocharged four producing 152 horsepower at 5,500 and 184 pound-feet of torque between 2,000 and 3,500 r.p.m.
The horsepower number is well down from the CR-V (190 horses) but Mitsu claims they were aiming for better fuel economy. We’ll have to wait and see if the Transport Canada numbers bear this out; Mitsu hasn’t yet got those data for Eclipse Cross, while CR-V is pretty good at 8.7/7.2 l/100 km, city/highway.
The engine is nominally direct injection, but like some Toyotas, it also has port injection under certain conditions, for improved driveability.
To this engine is bolted a continuously variable transmission, which like most CVTs these days has been modified to act less like a CVT and more like a conventional automatic because customers don’t like the way a CVT hunts around looking for the optimal r.p.m.
Sure, it takes away some of the fuel consumption advantage of a CVT, but the customer is always right, even when they’re wrong.
Eclipse Cross will be offered in Canada only with Mitsu’s advanced, perhaps segment-leading, full-time, four-wheel drive system. (Some markets, like the U.S., will also offer a front-drive variant.)
Dubbed S-AWC (Super All-Wheel Control, dontcha know ...) this system continually monitors traction conditions at each wheel, integrating data from the stability control, anti-lock brake, and active yaw control systems to direct torque to whichever wheels can best use it.
The primary characteristic is front-wheel drive, because Mitsubishi believes that for most drivers, this is the most predictable — hence, safest — way to go.
The driver can choose from AUTO, SNOW or GRAVEL settings; the S-AEC system adapts accordingly.
There is no ‘SPORT’ mode, because according to Don Ulmer, senior manager product planning for Mitsu Canada, the ‘AUTO’ setting is pretty much what ‘SPORT’ would normally be.
Consistent with the Eclipse part of the name, the vehicle aims to put more “Sport” into Sport Utility. The almost-fastback profile gives the car a sleeker, less-boxy look.
The rear window is divided horizontally. The upper half slants down beneath a rear spoiler which also cleverly hides the rear wiper, while the lower half is nearly vertical. Its bottom edge is significantly lower than in most such vehicles, giving the driver better rearward visibility.
Unlike other vehicles with a similar split rear window — the original Honda Insight comes to mind — this horizontal bar between the panes of glass in the rearview mirror does not materially affect rearward vision.
Wheels are always an important component of any car’s styling — think about what percentage of the profile they represent. Mitsu has made 18-inch alloy wheels standard on all trim levels, so good on them.
Eclipse Cross is strictly a five-seater — the larger RVR on the same wheelbase gets a third row, but Mitsu feels this market doesn’t want or need one.
The seats are comfortable and supportive, and the one-third/two-thirds split rear seats can be adjusted fore-and aft independently, to give you more flexibility in legroom/cargo space allocation.
The fabulous roads of Malibu offer an excellent venue to test any vehicle’s performance, although the perfect weather didn’t put much strain on the four-wheel drive system. We’ll have to wait to see if we get any winter back home this year to try that out.
The little engine revs willingly and is much quieter that the bigger brother RVR.
The hills of Malibu presented a bit of a challenge, however, because as noted earlier, it is out-horsepowered by most of its direct competitors.
The CVT can be left to its own devices, in which case it occasionally sniffs around, looking for the correct ratio which does take some getting used to. Motor boat owners will feel right at home.
You can instead select Sport mode which allows direct shifting via steering wheel paddles. These operate in what seemed to me to be an odd way. If the engine got within sight of the red line (5,000 r.p.m.), and you did not upshift it yourself, the car would do it for you. But if the car slowed right down to a dead crawl, it would remain in whatever ratio you had selected, leaving you with no acceleration at all.
Shouldn’t it at least be consistent? If you are going to let the car decide, then it should upshift at the red line and downshift when revs get too low. If you’re going to let the driver decide, well, then let the driver decide. Don’t mix the two strategies.
The handling is a pleasant surprise. The steering is light, yet precise, the car corners well and does not lean precariously in the twisties.
The perfectly paved Malibu roads put few demands on the ride side of the suspension equation, but the car feels confident and well-planted.
OK, I have to talk about the instrumentation and minor controls. This is where “the customer is always right even when they’re wrong” phrase rears its ugly head again. I can’t recall a recent product presentation that spent more time talking about what customer focus groups wanted than the one for Eclipse Cross. And it was all pretty dismal.
True, the customer is paying the money. But seriously — there is not a single proper round knob or sliding lever in this entire vehicle. It’s all push buttons or one-or two-finger gestures on a tablet-like surface. Are they trying to create a market for self-driving cars?
The centre screen includes Apple Car Play and Android Auto, but there is no native SatNav. If you don’t have a compatible phone, you’re on your own. You can either smack the screen itself, or use a ‘gesture pad’ on the centre console, like some Toyotas used to have (and have largely abandoned). But you simply can’t do any of this without taking your eyes off the road. This is dangerous.
The only logical thing to do is rip the entire centre console out and start over. That’s not going to happen, so I hope those of you focus group attendees who talked Mitsubishi into this can live with the consequences.
Too bad, because otherwise the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is an interesting addition to a pretty crowded part of the automotive landscape.
By: Jim Kenziem (Toronto Star).
Photo: Car and Driver.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, Flagship Records.