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Walkaround
Sleek and chic are the words. The Eclipse Spyder, like the similarly attractive Eclipse Coupe, has a handsomely sculpted form as intensely contemporary as any open car in the marketplace. Its styling is closely related to the recent Mitsubishi concept cars seen at auto shows around the world.With the top up, it has a hunkered down, rounded and smoothed contour. But when the sun shines and the summer breezes blow, releasing two ratchet latches and pressing a button for a mere 15 seconds delivers all the fresh air and open sky you'll ever need. Mitsubishi supplies a neat black-rubber folding boot cover that conceals the retracted top, giving the Spyder a handsomely finished look. Inevitably, of course, this retracting top, for all its benefits, exacts one considerable penalty -- its stowage area and operating mechanism seriously intrude upon the Eclipse's trunk space. Golf clubs, for instance, will have to go in the Spyder's backseat. Our test GT had handsome ten-spoke alloy 17-inch wheels. Wide 215/50VR17 tires admirably filled the Spyder's flat-sided, designer wheel arches. And our car also had the extremely attractive optional aluminum fuel-filler door, which really dresses up the car. The impression made by this design is altogether more grown-up, more adult than the previous rendering, which had become a sort of bad-boy street-racer weapon. From the minute you approach the new Eclipse -- Spyder or Coupe -- you know it belongs at the country club, not the IHOP.
Interior Features
The cabin of the new Eclipse Spyder further confirms its adult identity. Its dashboard is extremely modern, highly stylized, yet it avoids mere flash or showiness. An analog speedometer and tachometer are nestled in the center of the display and are easily read both in daylight and when illuminated at night. Water temperature and fuel gauges, however, can be hard to read due to glare in bright sun despite being deeply inset in their own little tunnels.To the right of the instruments is an audio readout mounted on top of the dash. However, the audio controls themselves are mounted lower down in the center console. You have to look at the controls to manipulate them, then look up at the readout. If the two were closer together, the eye would do less rushing around, causing less distraction from the road. Otherwise, climate control and audio controls on the center console are compactly packaged, befitting this very sporting car. We found the A/C control, which is switched on by depressing the fan-speed selector knob, hard to find; but that is the kind of complaint a regular user would quickly solve. Our car had the optional leather interior, which was sumptuous. We also had the Premium Package, which included a power driver's seat and an excellent Mitsubishi/Infinity sound system with a splendid six-disc in-dash CD changer, as well as side airbags, antilock brakes and traction control (the latter available only with automatic transmissions).
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