Bigger is Better

Size Matters The new Eclipse – which is built on the same underpinnings as the midsize Galant sedan and Endeavor sport-utility vehicle – has grown yet again with a body that’s nearly three inches longer, two inches taller, and more than three inches wider than the car it replaces.

With a somewhat schizophrenic marketing strategy behind the 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse, it’s not surprising that the first television commercials to feature the car start, not with the vehicle itself, but with images of a group of young women beating out a hypnotic rhythm on traditional Japanese taiko drums. The fact that this drumming group was recruited from a homegrown taiko club on the all-American campus of UCLA somehow seems incredibly fitting.

The use of the taiko group also seems appropriate in a metaphorical sense, as this fourth-generation Eclipse will need all the banging of drums the automaker’s marketing budget can muster. Replacing a six-year-old model that had all but faded into obscurity despite a starring role in the Hollywood sequel 2 Fast, 2 Furious, the new Eclipse should go a long way toward filling the vacuum left by its predecessor. From its more aggressive styling to its improved sport-tuned suspension, Mitsubishi’s engineers and designers have given the car back a bit of the edginess lacking in the previous generation.

One thing the new Eclipse design doesn’t do is return to the more compact dimensions of the first- and second-generation models. In fact, the new Eclipse – which is built on the same underpinnings as the midsize Galant sedan and Endeavor sport-utility vehicle – has grown yet again with a body that’s nearly three inches longer, two inches taller, and more than three inches wider than the car it replaces.