Partial Eclipse of our heart
If you can deal with its eccentricities, the Eclipse Cross does a solid job of coping with anything daily life slings at it. By
Just prior to the Eclipse Cross leaving at the end of its sevenmonth spell it blotted its perfect copybook by having the temerity to get a slow puncture.
So slow in fact that the first time the tyre pressure warning bonged, I filled all four tyres and it went quiet for about 10 days. Then it bonged again, and again, and again, as the slow puncture became a medium-speed one.
Not handily at all, the realisation that this was a bit more serious than I’d thought happened at 2pm the day before I was to take the family on a 300-mile trip. I tried to get a new tyre from Kwik Fit, for whom ‘kwik’ was in fact four days, while other tyre fitters were no better.
I rang my local Mitsubishi dealer, Close of Peterborough, who said bring it in straight away, they would find a spare mechanic, and would either repair it, or take one off their demo car. Two-and-half hours later, they had removed the small nail and mended the tyre, and even given the car a full valet too. Brilliant service. This sums up running a Mitsubishi. The cars aren’t as slick as some others, but if you want solid reliability (you really can’t blame the car for that puncture), ruggedness and no frills, as well as quick service and problem-solving spirit from dealers, then they really deliver.
The things people would struggle to live with on our car would be the CVT gearbox, weird rear styling and poor fuel consumption. I would opt for the manual to cure two of those ills, and did opt for a healthy layer of mud to mitigate the other one.
In the mildly annoying camp would be the endless alarms. Even the boot gives off a beep when you open it. Usually only those that are powered do this, but the gas-strutted manual bootlid on the Eclipse Cross does too.
I came away impressed by the chassis, which allows the Eclipse Cross to be surprisingly nimble, and the traction from the fourwheel-drive system. I drove the car through a Lincolnshire winter, and it was only once it went back and the next car spent half its time with the traction-control light blinking that I realised what little fuss the Mitsubishi made of those roads.
The simplicity of the infotainment (even if it looks like Sir Clive Sinclair designed it before he was a Sir), amazingly bright headlights that scare even the most suicidal deer away, rear seats that move into all sorts of yogic positions and a workmanlike, tough cabin, and the Eclipse Cross is a crossover for those who need their family daily driver to do more beefy work than just the shopping or school run. @Sjmoody37
Count the cost
Cost new £28,705 Private sale £21,260 Part-exchange £20,270 Cost per mile 18.7p Cost per mile including depreciation £1.65
If you want solid reliability, ruggedness and no frills, a Mitsubishi really delivers