To my eyes, 1st and 2nd generation eclipse are better looking. 3000gt are one of prettiest looking car ever made.

The absolute beginning of the end for the eclipse and might I say Mitsubishi as a whole.

do you guys remember when Mitsubishi actually used to make cars? Good times.

I still VASTLY prefer the previous two generations, and I remember hating this one when it was introduced, but I think this one aged reasonably well (in the sense that it doesn't look more than 20 years old). If it were introduced in a bubble (or by a different brand), it would have been remembered as a fine car.

I can't see one of these third generation Eclipses without hearing 'Days go By' in my head. I still bump that song.

I refuse to believe this is old enough for a Retro Review.

I bought my 2000 Eclipse GS brand new the day after I saw the television commercial ad and it is still my daily driver with 200K miles on it! It has been a great car and very reliable. Besides routine maintenance, the only issue that I had was the clutch slave cylinder started leaking at 90K miles, but was easy and inexpensive to replace...it still has the original clutch and alternator in it!

A friend of mine had one in the early 2000s. We rode around in it quite a bit. it was nice because it was new, but that was about it. The previous versions of the eclipse were more engaging. Smaller, better styled IMO, and more fun to drive. This was the attempt at keeping the eclipse customer who had gotten older.

*The fate of the Eclipse is the most tragic in automotive history.*

They should've kept the 2.0 turbo.

I know most people hate it but this is my favorite Eclipse in terms of looks.

I remember not liking the styling of this car at the time they were a current generation, but it's grown on me and I like it quite a bit now.

love the body design of this car, loved the ads for it too, especially the "Days Go By" commercial

I remember when this car came out fell in love with the styling now they are nowhere in sight to be seen anymore.

...and now it's yet another mini SUV. How far the legend has fallen...

I remember this car coming out... It was the beginning of the end of Eclipses. It no longer had the amazing 4G63 motor, no GSX awd model, and the looks both exterior and interior were horrible.... No one liked these cars, or the 4th gens either. Only the first two generations of Eclipses were phenomenal cars in their categories.

Unpopular opinion: this is my favourite gen. Design has aged incredibly well.

I was around 15 when this car came out and wanted it so badly because of the commercial with the Days Go By song from Dirty Vegas. At the time I thought it was the coolest car... Ahh the memories

Lot of hate for the 3G.. I absolutely loved my silver ‘00 GT, though! Was just fast enough, black leather interior held up nicely for an (at the time 14 year old car) and the handling was fun! What a pain it was, trying to smog it, however.

Still better than the new Eclipse crossover thing they have now

I had a 2005 GT. I liked how they looked and the v6 sounded good. It was reasonably quick, handled well and was amazing in snow, plus you could carry quite a bit with the seats folded down. Overall it was a pretty good car.

This is when Mitsubishi began losing focus and began losing their appeal. It's been down hill ever since. I remember the 3000GT, Montero Sport, Diamante, Eclipse (GS-T and GS-X beating a lot of V8's at the time), and overseas their was this monster called the Evo (which hadn't come to the states yet). Now, unfortunately, they have some of the worse rated cars on the market. I had the 1997 GS-T. When the 3rd generation Eclipse was released, I left the brand permanently.

1G and 2G are hands down the best eclipses made.

This car is one of those rare cars where the automatic feels VERY sluggish. And the manual pulls SUPER hard. Wtf happened there Mitsubishi? Lol

My first car was 2000 Eclipse GT with the 4 speed automatic. At the time I loved it and even to this day I still have a thing for it. Wish I bought the 5 speed though. Even slapped some Evo 8 wheels on it. Still in the Mitsubishi family with my Evo though!

I was a big mitsu guy in my youth, I had all 3 generations of this car. 1G and 2G were awd and the third was the v6 GT. It gave me the least trouble of them all that is for sure but it slow compared to my Talon TSI.

I'm always a fan of Mitsubishi cars, most likely the first second and fourth gen Mitsubishi Eclipse. This third gen is unappealing because it lacks the turbocharged 2.0 L AWD, but I like the convertibles even more on the third gen. And interior layout looks exactly like the Dodge Stratus and the Chrysler Sebring Coupe.

All these people hating on this generation due to the “lack of the AWD 2.0L Turbo”, but come one. I am pretty sure that only a fraction of you guys actually owned a GSX model. You seem to have forgotten that all the other, more common model were are N/A FWD cars. Although, I would not say the exterior was an upgrade (2nd Gen preferred over this), but performance and handling wise compared to the older gen FWD models is way better. Yes, it didn’t come with a “GSX” model, but there’s a reason why they were discontinued, and all of their performance cars in general. They just simply didn’t sell as well. I just think all this hatred towards the 3rd Gen is not really reasonable.

I want to see a segment MotorWeek with the 1995-1997 Eagle Talon turbocharged all-wheel drive. One of my favorite cars before it was discontinued along with the Eagle Brand.

This was the sign of the beginning of the end for Mitsubishi in the US.

Could you imagine if they made a VR4 version of this eclipse anything to make the eclipse enthusiast feel like they didn't get robbed by the last three generation eclipses that's the SUV the bubbly thing and the carp.

This was the beginning of the end for Mitsubishi.

I remember seeing commercials for these when I was little and I’ve always wanted one. I eventually bought one in 2019 right out of highschool. Instantly fell in love with it. It’s a perfect car for someone going to college. Reliable, good on gas, enough cargo room to go on trips and other run around activities. And it’s a super fun car and (albeit subjectively) a good looking car. I’ve gotten compliments on my car a decent amount of times surprisingly. And after I sold my first 3g. I just had to buy another one. They get a bad reputation but they’re good cars. And even better looking when you modify them just a bit

True performance was not Eclipse anyway, good point A to B car. The lick was the VR-4's and EVO's.

So weird seeing one of these with clear coat intact on the horizontal panels and headlights that aren't hazed over.

That's a nice sporty car sure hope it's not replaced by an SUV/crossover later in life

My pops bought one brand new back in 2000. Same colour as this one in the GT variant. It certainly turned heads when it was brand new, but I also prefer the previous generation. That said, he STILL has his and it's given him very little trouble in the 22 years he's had it.

Second gen by far the best most futuristic looking, even today.

The beginning of the end for the Mitsubishi Eclipse.

They should’ve kept All Wheel Drive and the Turbo 4 cylinder either 2.0 or higher.

The design that killed a brand.

94 Galant please! Also, I really like this gen. Yes, it isn’t as cool as the first two, but it was a proper sports coupe! You don’t find anything sporty from Mitsubishi nowadays

Looked great, wish they kept the prior models drivetrains

Remember the whole 0 down , 0% interest and 0 payments for one year on these cars? Why did Mitsubishi do that?

2:14 the launch with both tires spinning makes me happy!

This car has aged surprisingly well.

I wanted one of these in high school but preferred the previous gen. My poor ass couldn't afford either and now it's hard to find any.

As much as I'd love to have a gen earlier, I'm happy with my 03.

This car does remind me of 2 Fast 2 Furious driven by Tyrese.

Still one of the most popular Eclipses.

Own an early Spyder 3g in the UK. Attracts so much love, especially from the 6g72 owners over here! It's good that there's plenty of parts cars out there 👀 there is much to some people's beliefs; a community where many mods have been done to this gen. I can imagine I'll end up like Clint Eastwood looking after my car lol

Interesting how in the 90s a lot of cars went from 4cyl, or 4cyl turbo , to V6's. Nowadays it's the other way around.

Hey I got an idea, let's take our best selling sports coupe and make it softer, slower and number! That's what performance drivers want! --Mitsubishi It's a shame they didn't have the budget on the 4th gen to fix all of the problems in the 3rd. That car was pretty competitive as a larger sports coupe for about a year then everyone added 100HP to their drivetrains and Mitusbishi responded by adding dual exhaust and dropping the ride height.

Much preferred the earlier versions over this one.

It looked nice but I owned a brand new 2004 GT model. It was a slow poor handling POS that quickly had issues.

It needed a GSX trim. Turbo and AWD.

Days go by and still I think of you.

This wasn't an Eclipse. It was just a restyled Gallant.

*they should made this car RWD or AWD*

my 1st car was a 2000 eclipse GT and i loved that car it was such a cool high schooler car! it got me into cars and into the eclipse in general currently i have 1990 eclipse GSX that’s MINT!

This is when Mitsubishi began to take a dump and was almost the end for them. The Eclipse before this was so sexy and still is, this was the car that made you throw up in your mouth a bit when you saw it on the road. How they screwed it up so bad I will never know....then again Acura thinks their new Integra is something amazing, Acura is almost dead.

A girl in high school got one of these for her Sweet 16. Brand new 2000 Eclipse. I parked near her in my 1990 Plymouth Acclaim 😒

I remember the factory paint job being really bad on these.

The interior of this gen is actually nice

I feel like this was the beginning of the end for Mitsubishi. The 2 previous versions were better looking IMO. Their cars just got plain ugly and now they’re using Nissan tech so a CVT in their vehicles which is a huge nope for me.

People are going to hate me for this, but I personally prefer the 3G over all the others including the 1st two gens. Most notably I don't like the 2G the most. Just seems to try to hard for my taste. Plus, I love how much more strong the Manual transmission is compared to the earlier models and feels much nicer to sit in and drive than the older models. Plus, thankfully, not having a turbo wasn't a problem since it was able to push the same 200/205hp stock and was still just as quick as the GS-T of the day. I own one and I'm buying one with a 3.5L swap in a couple weeks from a buddy of mine. And lastly, we never got the 420A in these so we have the good choice of Mitsubishi only engines and transmissions thanks to not being a DSM. Not to mention the lower end 4 banger models are just a Evo 8 head swap away from being a 2.4L DOHC car. And like the guy said in the video, the 3G V6 is basically an affordable newer 3000GT with a better stock ECU you can actually tune from factory (the engine blocks are literally the same between each other so internals carry over and even the 4 bolt blocks can be interchangeable to fit as long as it's mated to the SOHC heads so you don't have to revert the ECU setup to the 3000GT style ECU's because it's much more primitive and requires it if you go DOHC.) It's really the best of both worlds.

Lack of ABS? Woah... Did the 2003+ Eclipses have ABS standard?

This generation is built on the Gallant Platform? No wonder the 3rd Gen went to hell. 🤔🤔🤔

Weird ass question did y’all make one for 03 bonneville ssei 🤔

God, I was in a high school when these came out and my friend's dad bought a V6 Eclipse. It was talked about as if he had just purchased some rip roaring Corvette eater. While, even at the time I knew these claims where a tad off the mark, I'm truly shocked to see how lethargic of a performer this thing truly was. Really help explain why mitsubishi is where is is right now

Mitsubishi dropped the ball by getting rid of the 4g63 and putting in a v6 that made less power and added weight.

This car signaled the decline of Mitsubishi.

I love this car's design, bit it'll be cooler if it has a full Evo drivetrain swap!

Wow! That dash is really something 😳

These are pretty fun cars for what they are, I miss mine.

I don't understand the hate surrounding this 3rd gen. Seems like a perfectly fine car to me.

Im restoring a 2001 Spyder GT 5 speed with the sun and sound package. Engine work done, some underbody welds and rust restoration almost done. Up next a metallic purple paint job. Love the body and interior. More interested in it as a corner carver than straight line performance. As a sport bike guy i get my 0 to 60 in 3 seconds kicks there. I look around at all these privey new German drop tops and to me theye boring looking. This thing looks fast just sitting. Im stoked.

I have a 2005 eclipse GTS and the real notable thing about it is that the 6g72 in it is bulletproof

Crazy it didn't come with abs standard. Also can't remember the last one I've seen on the road.

Co worker bought a copper colored 2nd gen, that was a sexy little car. 3rd gens……not so much

I had an 04 GTS, but automatic. Dark blue. Looked nice but was slow as all hell. Women liked my car though. Was very reliable too

3:32 terrible brakes! ABS on a sporty coupe should have been mandatory on higher trims if not all models!!

That color looks so good

ahhh the year they ruined the eclipse and made it goofy lookin yet now its grown on me lol

i have a 2000 eclipse gt i do prefer the second gens but i have a love for the third gen cause its so rare to see a built one cause of how much they were hated

I personally think the Mitsu Diamonte of this same time was a MUCH better looking car and more powerful too. Just a shame there are no parts for it around and they aren't the most reliable vehicles. This gen of Eclipse didn't age horribly, but it was never that refined to begin with. Really nothing special.

When they stopped making the 4 cylinder turbo. I stopped caring.

I remember the seeing the first prototype images of this eclipse in Super Street Magazine i think ... It looked cool, but it didn't move me like the previous generations

When you see a really nice condition one in blue or silver, the looks hold up well. Still lame what they did to this and the Celica, dropping the AWD turbo models

Can y’all post the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Convertible Spyder test drive review or more old Convertible reviews.

They looked good but after I wrecked my gst I got the gts v6. Wasn’t as sporty or quick as my old one. Traded it for a 2001 cougar xr7

Anyone remember the "remix" edition that came out for this generation?

One of the rich kids in my high school had a new at the time V6 Eclipse by our junior year he decided it wasn't fast enough and his parents bought him a Roush Mustang to replace it with.

Not only I used to see this car on the road before (or rarely still driven around) this car is also were in Better Call Saul and you all know what happens.

I have an 03 eclipse Spyder gts. I do love my car but I do also wish it was a turbo'd AWD beast like the previous generation was... I've always preferred the looks of the 3rd gen but the performance of the 2nd gen is unbeatable really... Imo anyway.

Bring it back Mitsubishi!

Been waiting for the 2000 Celica for 6 years now.... Anytime?

Very interesting that motorweek would say the 3G eclipse was the successor to the 3000GT

Can't believe it was legal to sell cars with no anti lock brakes in the richest country on earth in Y2K. Or that people bought them.

I think this generation is a good looking car, the V6 is a great motor too