Eclipse or no Eclipse?

Hello,

I'm currently an owner of a 1992 Honda Civic, but im really tired of being like every other import entusiast out there and have looked into buying a Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. I've researched the car quite a bit and was excited about the idea until I had a couple of friends (also Civic owners) jump on me about how fast Eclipse's fall apart and what pieces of shit they are. Mainly about the engine and transmission mounts problems. I'm really disappointed, because I really like these cars. However, I think my friend's opinions are biased so any help would be nice! If someone could tell me the advantages to an Eclipse and the TRUTH about these problems and how I can keep the car for as long as possible i'd really appreciate it. I will be using this car to race and as a daily driver so i'd like something really reliable that won't have to be in the shop every month.

Thanks for any help!

Alax54

Any car will have problems if the original owner didn't take care of it. A properly, idealy stock GSX will run quite well.
Just don't throw a 200-shot nitrous kit on it & you'll be fine. You'll be going alot faster than you could ever go in your Civic imho.

hey what yr eclipse are you talking about? well one of my friends has a 97 eclipse gsx, it has 75k on it with mods and it runs pretty good, running a little over 300hp at the fly, and the biggest thing that went wrong with it was that one of his front cv joints broke, but he drives it really hard all the time. i suggest getting strong cv joints before u mod a gsx. other than that, he never had anything major go wrong with it so far. i know a kid with a 95-96 talon tsi awd with about 90k, and nothins gone wrong with it so far. everything on the drivetrain and engine internals are original, he has mods like bov, intake, boost controller, and exhaust on it. my other friend has a 90 talon tsi awd, it had higher miles, and he had to get another motor since his original motor had too many problems. after he swapped the motor, that new motor had problems too, and needed another motor again, but he decided to sell it and get a 3000gt vr4. i heard that the 90-91 had diff bolt design on the motor and the rear axles, that they re a little weaker. so id recommend getting a 92 and up eclipse with low miles, id especially get 95 up, with the nicer body though.

I know plenty of people who drive a GST or a GSX, and none have had any major problems I know of. One of my friends has a heavily modded '95 Talon TSI AWD with around 470 crank hp and just passed the 100k mile mark. It runs mid-high 11's to this day. His car runs great, keep in mind he takes very good care of it (as any serious car enthusiast should). The turbo Eclipse is a very good car in my opinion, and a lot of folks would agree. It's a versatile tuning platform, which will produce massive HP and 1/4 mi. timecards down to the high 10-second range without a motor swap, and still maintaining full interior and daily driveability. I hear the same talk of poor quality in DSM's, but almost always from biased Honda people.

Unfortunately, I have a '96 Eclipse GS. It's got a different (non-turbo) motor, and is not nearly as fast or capable of being as fast as a GST or GSX. As far as the build quality of my car however, it's got 160k miles and has never had any major repairs. Everything still looks and functions beautifully, inside and out.

Just make sure you get a GST or GSX if you're looking for an Eclipse (and want to go fast).

As for reliability [I need to read slower to take stuff in !] both my Mitsubishis [one was a 1993 1.6 Lancer and my current is a 1990 2.0 Galant AWD, using the same 4G63 engine as the early Eclipses] had 100K+ miles on them with no major problems; had a head gasket on the Lancer, and need a new exhaust on the Galant, but I dont think that's bad reliability on Mitsubishi's part !

I've never heard of any problems with any Mitsubishi motor/engine mounts [altho this doesnt honestly mean they dont occur] the only problem that seems to be common is crankwalk among the later 4G63 engines; for more info look through the past threads on these very pages !

the only problem that seems to be common is crankwalk among the later 4G63 engines;

Common is a rather strong word, its not common to crankwalk, If it was common mitsu would of recalled it
so I prefer Rare

Perhaps you're right, but it IS something to watch out for when buying a later model :)

yeh its true

Okay, well I think i've decided on an Eclipse. What are some upgrades/fixes I could do to unsure reliability and me having the car for a long time? The only upgrades im worrying about right now are keeping the car together, and running in the most perfect conditions possible.

The same as with any car; keep it serviced regularly, use good-quality engine oil, let it warm up/cool down properly before/after 'creative' driving and dont "Drive it like you stole it" !!

lmao im sorry but i have to admit, I DO drive it like i stole it, lol ima driven my rs hard as hell for the last year, and it seems the thing gets stronger everytime i do it, but seriously, mitsubishi made an awesome car, Civic owners are just mad because they had to put in an engine just to keep up with an rs :lol2: just like, an EG civic hatch has 70 hp, but it weighs 2000lbs, you throw a b-16 or b18 in it and it will rip, but you get a gsx and they will need a nsx to beat you lol, truth of the matter is, Fuck Honda MITSUBISHI FOREVER!! lol make sure you buy a sticker with a Mitsubishi Embilem humping a honda one, that says fuck honda :flipa: :owned: oh btw DO NOT GET A 3G ECLIPSE omg i cannont stress this enough they ARE the bastard child of 3000gt :sly: get a Dsm if you wanna GO fast lol