I have always understood why US auto manufacturers make cars that are focused on straight line speed, and tend to ignore handling, and other such things. After all, the american way of driving is dictated by the 1/4 mile and "races" such as NASCAR where they drive in a "curved" straight line for 3 hours.

You have cars like the SRT4, which everyone loves to hate. Though given its own respect, it serves its purpose, even if that's not what the majority of us roadster loving bastards want in a car. (unfortunately its price puts the car into the hands of often immature and inexperienced "kids") Then you have those redneck T-shirts that say "my lug nuts require more torque than your honda makes". (meanwhile, i can't find a single USDM car that requires 153lb/ft of torque on the lugs, but i digress) Ah yes, nothing greater than the epitome of ignorance in regards to the laws of physics, such as that infamous T-shirt.

Anyways, enough of my ranting, but here is my point. Mitsubishi introduces to us their most recent iteration of a car called "the eclipse". Ironically enough, it'd take an object with probably as much mass and size as this car has, to be able to block out the sun and cause an eclipse. That's right folks, I'll be here all week. This new eclipse seems to be mitsubishi's attempt into the sport compact market, using american convention. A larger displacement engine, and lots more torque. Ironically enough, this makes the car larger than anything I'd consider a "sport compact". So honestly, what was mitsubishi thinking? If they wanted this much power, why didn't they go back to the era of the turbo eclipse?

Instead we get this bloated, 3,500 pound car. Not only that, but this thing eats PREMIUM gas like a fat kid at a cupcake bar. The "official" EPA mileage rating for this 3.8 liter V6 10.5:1 compression engine is 27mpg highway, and 18mpg city. However, not a SINGLE person I know with an eclipse, nor any car magazine that has done actual extensive road testing of the car, has EVER gotten better than about 17mpg AVERAGE.

Whoa, what's that? That's right. The people who tested this car (drove it around for 3000-5000 miles) AVERAGE around 17mpg. Well gee, how the heck does that happen, one might ask. Interestingly enough, the EPA figures put the car just BARELY into the gas guzzler tax penalty. In other words, there is a $1000 penalty added to the sticker price of any eclipse sold due to it's mileage. If you use ACTUAL figures that people are getting, this penalty WOULD be about $3200. This piece of sh*t car gets WORSE mileage (on average) in the city, than most SUVs. And it gets only .6 mpg BETTER than the FORD EXCURSION!!! The only benefit I see of this, is the instantaneous weight savings you get when racing someone, as your car will actually get lighter as it burns off gallons of fuel.

So I'm on the freeway last night, and I see a car dipping through traffic in my rear view. I'm in the left lane, going 80 in a 65 as it is, and eventually this car gets through traffic and makes its way past me. I see it's a new eclipse. My guess is he's low on gas (since he stopped at the last station to fill up 30 miles ago), and he needs to find a gas station quick.

Apparently, my car catches his eye, and he slows down a bit to let me catch up. I slow down to almost 60, and he gets next to me and starts to accelerate. I roll on the throttle a bit at first, and then finally downshift to 3rd. Now I don't know what kind of planet altering gravitational forces it takes to accelerate that much weight, but whatever he had, it wasn't enough. Once I heard him downshift and go, I hammered the gas and left him easily in my wake. Another fat pig, skewered by the S2k.

nice beat mang, well told story, but lets see you keep up with my 3600lb fat pig that averages over 20mpg

i'm not sure what to say, i don't like the new eclipse, but i'm not feeling the bashing considering both cars are said to run similar times in the 1/4

w/e good kill, keep them coming

Which version of the eclipse was this? the GS only has a 2.4L 4 cylinder making 162 hp. If it was the GT, i thought they were faster than that, trapping around 100

Congrats...?

Well, I don't especially care for the Eclipse myself...nor do I care for the S2000 - and I actually like Honda's. I drive a fat pig myself...a 3800 lb 3000GT VR4...it gets 25ish mpg regularly...and I smoke S2000's. But hey, congrats on your pig slaughtering.

Ha, I should have gotten the fat pig of AF award!!!! Mine is around 4500lbs.

an S2000 is sorta a fat pig compared to me. Its got about 400 lbs more.

dude...any track where the start/finish is the same line is a curved straight line, thats retarded.

Hypocracy at its finast, talking down on the American facination with power and straight line speed, than bragging about beating another car in a straight line. Maybe you should have bought a camaro. What a rant. I mean honestly, what percentage of people use "great handling cars" for road racing? I am not sure but I am sure its right about the same percentage of people who take SUV's off road. There is a forum for writing rants on how much you hate another car too believe it or not. I don't like the new eclipse that much either but there is a better place to put a 7 paragraph rant on eclipses than here.

I don't ever go by published road test reporting of a vehicles fuel economy, they in a sense beat on them test cars to wring out any faults in the short time they drive them to publish the results of the findings, read just about any review and their average fuel economy is like you stated, at or just above or just below the EPA City rating, that doesn't mean that in the real world that everybody who buys and drives the car in a "normal" manner will get the same economy, they will get better more times than not.

Case in point, my 1996 Chrysler LHS, a 3600+ pound BIG BOAT! EPA rated at 18/26 MPG, I can probably find a review of the car in Car and Driver, and i'll bet they probably got 15 or 16 MPG out of the beast. In city driving I have consistantly seen between 17 and 19 average MPG depending on the stop and go, the absolute lowest has been 15, on the highway I have seen a 27-28 Average on a short trip of 80 miles and I have only had the car since the day after Thanksgiving so the wintertime seriously affects the mileage, it will be better after the thaw and we are off the "winter gas" and the studded snows are removed and the summer treads are back on. but it still depends on how you drive the car. I'm betting that Eclipse does better.

Speaking of vehicle weight, it is a known fact that cars these days are getting "porkier", all that safety equipment and stretching them out to make more room and stuff takes it's toll on weight and that virtually (not all of them) affects every car being built today, they are getting heavier and heavier every year.

And what the heck is wrong with using 0-60 and 1/4 mile times to judge a car's performance? You just crowed about laying waste to a "porker" by doing the same thing! They also do braking, lateral accelleration, and other measures too besides just straight line performance, I read lots about those numbers all the time in road tests of both domestic and foreign vehicles.

Finally, about SRT4's. lighten up dude, so you hate them, you ranted about them and the people who own them on 2 consecutive threads, we do get the point, quit beating your agenda against it to death! We don't care about what they are or the type of person who drives them, they are still considered a performance car even if it is a beefed up Neon, I suppose your gonna dump on the Cobalt SS next or some other decent performing Domestic car!

nice beat mang, well told story, but lets see you keep up with my 3600lb fat pig that averages over 20mpg

the story here is meant to be entertaining. dont read into it. in the 1/4 mile, i wouldn't be able to keep up with your car. ;)

i'm not sure what to say, i don't like the new eclipse, but i'm not feeling the bashing considering both cars are said to run similar times in the 1/4

w/e good kill, keep them coming
as i said, don't take this personally. just my opinion on a car. i dont expect everyone to agree with it. :) (the new eclipses can run 13's stock?)

Hypocracy at its finast, talking down on the American facination with power and straight line speed, than bragging about beating another car in a straight line. Maybe you should have bought a camaro. What a rant. I mean honestly, what percentage of people use "great handling cars" for road racing? I am not sure but I am sure its right about the same percentage of people who take SUV's off road. There is a forum for writing rants on how much you hate another car too believe it or not. I don't like the new eclipse that much either but there is a better place to put a 7 paragraph rant on eclipses than here.
i happen to use my car for more road racing than drag racing. that doesn't mean i dont like to do both. again, you read too much into this. if you want to call my S2000 a girlie car, be my guest. not everyone is going have the same likes and dislikes in a car.

I suppose your gonna dump on the Cobalt SS next or some other decent performing Domestic car!I actually happen to like the cobalt. decent all around performing car, good price, etc.

Did Digital Quirk get an S2000?

as i said, don't take this personally. just my opinion on a car. i dont expect everyone to agree with it. :) (the new eclipses can run 13's stock?)

i think ive seen mags quote it at a 14.1 at 100 or so

i think ive seen mags quote it at a 14.1 at 100 or so
faster than I thought. i guess it's my mods helped make a difference then. an S2000 can pull off 13.7@102 or so, though an average driver will be in the 14.0-14.2 range.


any idea as to how they respond to mods?

I actually happen to like the cobalt. decent all around performing car, good price, etc.

How can u say you like a cheaply made and engineered car like the cobalt SS and dislike the srt-4?

I would like to point out that, while foreign car companies continue to widen their grip on our US market, the main-stays of US domestic car companies are slowly dying. GM layed off over 40,000 workers and Ford just layed off 30,000. It's because their cars are out of date, cheap and alltogether tasteless. Excluding Chrysler (who has a chokehold on the performance car market right now that will only grow when the chalenger is released) the US domestic auto industry is in trouble. They need to go back to square one. GM needs to put less time into flashy designs and more time into a little quality control (have you seen some of their new interiors... you'll be lucky to get 100k out of you car before it falls apart underneath of you) and Ford needs to grow up a little, or maybe get younger. Ford offers 2 sporty cars, Mustang and GT. While the mustang is a great car (even better when a cobra arrives) the GT is overpriced and won't last in it's current state. Ford continues to design cars that appeal to my grandparents, take the 500, hardly more than the next installation of the crown vic. The list goes on. Wake up Gm/Ford. Take a hint from chrysler. America wants quality and power. Gm's meager attempt to appease the power crowd with their SS line is a joke. Take the new Impala SS. 5.3L V8 (303 HP) this car looks like it's better suited to carry grandma to bingo rather than perform. Even with the beefy HP rating, it's no match for an R/T charger (and my god, what about the SRT-8??) Basicly what i'm trying to say is that they're half assing. They take an old car and put a decent size engine in it, put the SS badge on it and try to sell it. It's a joke and they know it, that's why nobody is buying. At least Ford isn't trying to play to that tune yet. I hope to god i never see a Ford 500 GT. But hey, all they'd have to do is put a v8 in it and add some chrome...

That got a lot longer than i wanted it to be, but i had to vent. I'm a domestic guy but if these companies don't do somthing soon, they might as well turn the assembly line off because america isn't buying.

:grinyes: i agree with wethepplebmxer all the cars that gm and ford make suck ass (no offence to mustang owners or anything) but they need to take a good long look at the new age driver and base it around all that

How can u say you like a cheaply made and engineered car like the cobalt SS and dislike the srt-4?

I would like to point out that, while foreign car companies continue to widen their grip on our US market, the main-stays of US domestic car companies are slowly dying. GM layed off over 40,000 workers and Ford just layed off 30,000. It's because their cars are out of date, cheap and alltogether tasteless. Excluding Chrysler (who has a chokehold on the performance car market right now that will only grow when the chalenger is released) the US domestic auto industry is in trouble. They need to go back to square one. GM needs to put less time into flashy designs and more time into a little quality control (have you seen some of their new interiors... you'll be lucky to get 100k out of you car before it falls apart underneath of you) and Ford needs to grow up a little, or maybe get younger. Ford offers 2 sporty cars, Mustang and GT. While the mustang is a great car (even better when a cobra arrives) the GT is overpriced and won't last in it's current state. Ford continues to design cars that appeal to my grandparents, take the 500, hardly more than the next installation of the crown vic. The list goes on. Wake up Gm/Ford. Take a hint from chrysler. America wants quality and power. Gm's meager attempt to appease the power crowd with their SS line is a joke. Take the new Impala SS. 5.3L V8 (303 HP) this car looks like it's better suited to carry grandma to bingo rather than perform. Even with the beefy HP rating, it's no match for an R/T charger (and my god, what about the SRT-8??) Basicly what i'm trying to say is that they're half assing. They take an old car and put a decent size engine in it, put the SS badge on it and try to sell it. It's a joke and they know it, that's why nobody is buying. At least Ford isn't trying to play to that tune yet. I hope to god i never see a Ford 500 GT. But hey, all they'd have to do is put a v8 in it and add some chrome...

That got a lot longer than i wanted it to be, but i had to vent. I'm a domestic guy but if these companies don't do somthing soon, they might as well turn the assembly line off because america isn't buying.good post.

i admittedly dont know as much about the cobalt as the SRT4. maybe there is more to it than meets the eye.

Did Digital Quirk get an S2000?

You Know I think your right the digi Quack got an s2k and thinks he god now.. watch he gonna start on how much mor comfortable a Grand am is to an srt now

i'm not this "digi quirk" guy you keep referring to.

unlike him, I actually do know what I'm talking about. (most of the time)

How can u say you like a cheaply made and engineered car like the cobalt SS and dislike the srt-4?

I would like to point out that, while foreign car companies continue to widen their grip on our US market, the main-stays of US domestic car companies are slowly dying. GM layed off over 40,000 workers and Ford just layed off 30,000. It's because their cars are out of date, cheap and alltogether tasteless. Excluding Chrysler (who has a chokehold on the performance car market right now that will only grow when the chalenger is released) the US domestic auto industry is in trouble. They need to go back to square one. GM needs to put less time into flashy designs and more time into a little quality control (have you seen some of their new interiors... you'll be lucky to get 100k out of you car before it falls apart underneath of you) and Ford needs to grow up a little, or maybe get younger. Ford offers 2 sporty cars, Mustang and GT. While the mustang is a great car (even better when a cobra arrives) the GT is overpriced and won't last in it's current state. Ford continues to design cars that appeal to my grandparents, take the 500, hardly more than the next installation of the crown vic. The list goes on. Wake up Gm/Ford. Take a hint from chrysler. America wants quality and power. Gm's meager attempt to appease the power crowd with their SS line is a joke. Take the new Impala SS. 5.3L V8 (303 HP) this car looks like it's better suited to carry grandma to bingo rather than perform. Even with the beefy HP rating, it's no match for an R/T charger (and my god, what about the SRT-8??) Basicly what i'm trying to say is that they're half assing. They take an old car and put a decent size engine in it, put the SS badge on it and try to sell it. It's a joke and they know it, that's why nobody is buying. At least Ford isn't trying to play to that tune yet. I hope to god i never see a Ford 500 GT. But hey, all they'd have to do is put a v8 in it and add some chrome...

That got a lot longer than i wanted it to be, but i had to vent. I'm a domestic guy but if these companies don't do somthing soon, they might as well turn the assembly line off because america isn't buying.


I dont think Ford is making the GT anymore. It will just be the mustang GT and the GT500. I would like to see in betweens of those models, like a mach 1 or gt350, something along those lines for the stangs. You bring up a good point with the half assedness(word?) in the domestics, I really hope it changes soon. The saturn sky and the pontiac solstice are pretty good new cars tho, too bad that the supposedly 20 grand solstice was selling for 32k near me, a couple thousand more then the ls2 400hp gto next to it

^^ and even if it was cheap, the solstice is in no way a "performer"... we're talking average pwoer and times, nice looks but no bite.

Did Digital Quirk get an S2000?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

^^ and even if it was cheap, the solstice is in no way a "performer"... we're talking average pwoer and times, nice looks but no bite.

Once they turbo it, it will have bite

Ugh... I don't like this guy.

Closed.