Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (GK1W)

Mitsubishi, once made cool cars for speedo boys, called it quits when they stopped making the Lancer Evolution and what was once the coolest Japanese carmakers in the world shriveled to making redundant city cars that are too regular for its own good. To make things worse, Mitsubishi revived the name of the once famous sportscar and then slapped it on their newest compact crossover. They christened it as the all-new Eclipse Cross.

2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

This is the all-new Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, ladies and gentlemen, and I know. It's a disgrace to put the name of the once-famous sportscar to another regular compact crossovers that are idiotic and irrelevant in the hearts and minds of speedo boys everywhere and because crossovers are becoming part of your daily neighborhood or your family from every generation when your sister once owned a Honda CR-V, your granny's friend has a Subaru Forester, your other cousin has a Toyota C-HR, so on so forth, the Eclipse Cross may soon be your kind of crossover that can be part of your family if you got your driver's license on your first attempt.

First and foremost, while this is basically a crossover that slots between the RVR and the Outlander, the Eclipse Cross's design is all about borrowing the elements from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, creating a crossover with a coupe-like silhouette and while it sounds sexy at first, looks can be somewhat puzzling because while it's small in size, the front looks very similar to the Outlander while the back reminds you of a Pontiac Aztek. Yep, you heard that right. It's like an Aztek with the face of an Outlander and it's not half bad by the looks of it.

2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross interior

2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross interior

On the inside, the Eclipse Cross is somewhere between good and bad and while the spacing is good for a five-seater, the bad side is that you can't use it as a family car because being a five-seater, chances of finding a sweet spot is almost impossible. What's even weird but wonderful about the Eclipse Cross is the dashboard that looks like Mitsubishi nicked some from luxury car makers from the world. See the sat-nav that works with Apple Carplay and Android Auto? It looks like it came from today's BMW iDrive. Then, there's the Remote Touch interface that looks like they stole it unashamedly from Lexus. So, what you have here is a regular crossover that has the bits and bobs from a luxury car. Well done, Mitsubishi.

2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

And now, we get to the dark side of the Eclipse Cross, the performance, and although it can be worth the trip to grandma's house, the driving delight is nowhere as good as, let's just say, the Hyundai Kona and the Kia Stonic. It's got a 1.5L 4B40 MIVEC Turbo engine that produces 150PS of power and 240Nm of torque, which sounds less but it has a sprite to it. However, with the INVECS-III 8-speed Sport Mode CVT, like I said, that gearbox spoiled its driving delight for you but on the long trip, it promised between 14 to 15kmpl of fuel economy based on JC08 Mode standards. Still, it's a tad less than the Kia Stonic, which is basically more fun to drive than the Eclipse Cross but on the upshot, it doesn't have the Eclipse Cross' electronically-controlled 4WD system with Super All Wheel Control that sends most of its torque to the rear wheels like a Ford Focus RS, which is great but when you are stuck at a sheep's pen, you're really stuck so don't bother trying it because being a midsize crossover, the Eclipse Cross won't promise you the dynamics of the late Lancer Evolution. Instead, it's going to be like that old Pajero iO you used to own back then. On the plus side, you can slap that "turboactive" feeling to it.

The Eclipse Cross starts at 2,526,000 Japanese Yen (around $25,300 or 1,270,000 PhP) and it's slightly more expensive than the Toyota C-HR but still, this is the lesser of the two evils if I'm honest. So, how can I sum this car up? Well, the design and the interior is not half bad, the performance is kinda upsetting everyone because of the turbo engine that is short on power and the CVT gearbox that is not good on your driving pleasure, despite the 4WD system that works rather well until you get stuck in the sheep's pen.

Available colors: Red Diamond, Red Metallic, Bronze Metallic, Lightning Blue Mica, Titanium Grey Metallic, Black Mica, Sterling Silver Metallic, and White Pearl.

Photo: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation