Eclipse Crossing - Here's the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Sorry, sports-car fans with nostalgia for a certain era – Mitsubishi still insists on using the Eclipse name on a crossover. One that’s now restyled.

A plug-in hybrid version will be offered overseas, but not here. The next Eclipse Cross will go on sale in the States in the first quarter of 2021, following launches in Australia and New Zealand.

Styling changes include a new front bumper guard and a different layout for the lights.

The rear hatch and rear window get re-worked, and Mitsu claims this helps with rear visibility. The taillights are now taller and extend more towards the front of the car, and the hatch now has a hexagonal shape.

The interior is updated, with door trim that matches the seat color, a standard 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, volume and radio knobs for the audio system, and the removal of the touchpad infotainment controller.

The 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder carries over, as does all-wheel drive and the continuously-variable that has eight “speeds” and a sport mode.

That’s about it. Really. It really is a mild refresh, so mild that I might not make our informal minimum word count of 250. Unless I tell you about that time that I was at this seedy dive bar and there was this dude with crazy eyes looking for a fight and….

Yeah, that’s close enough. Anyway, there’s no news on pricing yet.

[Images: Mitsubishi]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Ciscokidinsf Ciscokidinsf on Oct 16, 2020

    Extremely ancient 10 year old powertrain with a CVT that will crap itself immediately past the 100K mile warranty. With a less graceful design and a bunch of chrome with a larger screen. The usual Mitsu recipe. This is a rewarmed Outlander Sport. Hard pass.

  • Sirwired Sirwired on Oct 16, 2020

    I guess it's a useful factoid that Honda is still sourcing infotainment systems from Mitsubishi. I can't believe Honda is paying another company real money for that mediocre garbage. The best thing that can be said about the current generation system (which is apparently used in this vehicle) is that it's less-awful than the one they sold to Honda to put in the Civic and CR-V.

  • Lostboy If you can stay home when it's bad out in winter, then maybe your 3 season tire WILL be an "ALL-SEASON" tire as your just not going to get winters and make do? I guess tire rotations and alignments just because a whole lot more important!
  • Mike My wife has a ‘20 Mazda3 w/the Premium Package; before that she had a ‘15 Mazda3 i GT; before THAT she had an ‘06 Mazda Tribute S V6, ie: Ford Escape with a Mazda-tuned suspension. (I’ve also had two Miata NAs, a ‘94 & a ‘97M, but that’s another story.) We’ve gotten excellent service out of them all. Her 2020, like the others before it, is our road trip car - gets 38mpg highway, it’s been from NC to Florida, Texas, Newfoundland, & many places in between. Comfortable, sporty, well-appointed, spacious, & reliable. Sure, we’d look at a Mazda hybrid, but not anytime soon.😎
  • MaintenanceCosts Something that Mercedes would never do, but that would be an extremely revealing experiment: sell both a "CLE 63" with the V8 in a ~500 hp state of tune and a "CLE 65" with the four-cylinder mega-hybrid powertrain at the 671 hp or higher level. Charge the same for them, sell both on custom order only, and see which sells more.I'm positive the V8 would outsell the four by five to one or more.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Agreed, or get the Lexus LC500 with the awesome 5.0L V8. Instead of the EV/PHEV, turbocharged V4-V6 nonsense.
  • SCE to AUX I like the Crown, but it would have to be a lower trim (like the XLE) to make sense.Despite having a Toyota dealer very near me, I don't see many Crowns on the road.
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