2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
Economical choice. It’s hard to find anything that the Eclipse Cross is “best in class” at. Its proposition is that it does a lot of things reasonably well, and competes well on price.
Driving experience. The Eclipse Cross is easy to drive, and not unpleasant. Power is adequate, from a 152 hp 1.5L four cylinder engine. It’s tuned to provide good torque at low speeds, so it does very well around town, but strains a bit on hills or hard acceleration. The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) does its job, but is noisier and more noticeable than others we’ve driven. The ride is comfortable most of the time, particularly on decent roads.
Access. The Eclipse Cross is particularly easy to get in and out of. Ride height and door access are great. The driver gets a good view of the road from a nice medium-high seating position and low dashboard.
Rear seating. The Eclipse Cross has notably good rear seat room for its size. Back seat passengers had nothing to bitch about but our choice of music. What, you don’t like Sleepy LaBeef?
Interior. The front seats are comfortable, if a little short on thigh support. The interior has everything it needs. There’s a combination of nicer materials (like a leather wrapped wheel) with cheaper parts (hard plastic on the dash and doors). The infotainment is basically easy to use and feels up to date. The screen is modest in size, but it gets the job done.
Safety. Credit Mitsubishi with providing even the lower trim models with the most desirable safety equipment. Forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and lane departure warning are all standard.

Cons
Cornering. We experienced a lot of body lean on cornering in Eclipse Cross. It’s not something that bothered us a great deal in city traffic, but out on some curvy roads, it made driving the Eclipse fatiguing.
Tough time with rougher roads. The Eclipse Cross ride is pretty soft, and that works well under lots of conditions. But if you find a road that’s uneven or full of potholes, the Cross can get unsettled, and bounce around.
Milage. Despite the small engine, mileage was only mediocre. We saw about 23 mpg in mixed driving, which is not as good as much of the competition.
Looking back. Visibility out front is notably good. But like many vehicles these days, visibility out the back and rear sides is challenging to non-existent. The sloped rear styling makes it worse than many, and incidentally, limits rear cargo room. The rear view camera and parking sensors will be life (and metal) savers.
Budget cues. There are signs that Mitsubishi is trying to spruce up a low priced car. One example is the head up display, a highly desirable feature these days that projects driving information at the end of the hood, where the driver can see if without taking her eyes off the road. Well, the Eclipse Cross has a cheesy, pop-up head up projector, with a plastic lens rises from the top of the binnacle when engaged, and it projects nothing but the speed limit for the driver. We would have skipped it. It’s like wanting an iPhone for Christmas and getting a Radio Shack flip phone instead.
Front styling. Mitsubishi is trying to gives its cars a “look.” Looks are subjective. But in our opinion, it’s not a great one. It looks over-styled to us. It has cartoony wheel wells and fender bulges. The Eclipse Cross includes Mitsubishi’s unusual two-part headlight design up front. If you happen to like it, we’re sure your Mitsubishi dealer would love to meet you.