SEL trim should have had an upgraded engine. (The paddle-shifters on that lone trim level look silly without it.) SE trim should have had that upgraded engine as an option. Too many electronic nanny aides on the upper trims. This is like the current Gen. VW GTI, the base trim is the best option. You lose some comfort features on the ES, but you still get a lot.
But as a daily driver for work and random road trips, it would fit the bill. Some times you just want a reliable vehicle to get you from A to B. And right now, they are offering 10 year/160K bumper to bumper warranty until the end of August 2024. I mean not worrying about major repairs for 10 years, thats a win for many older people, either in retirement, or might be going into retirement the next few years as on eof their last vehicles they would own. The shitty part with this from the RVR, is there is no locking 4WD. The RVR still has 2WD, AWD and 4WD, which is the 50/50 split. Id rather be able to pick what I want. With this, you get AWD, Snow and Gravel as a pick for the awd selection. I would assume the Snow might be 4WD, but I dont think so
They're not that rare anymore. The Kia Seltos & Mazda CX-30 both have a power liftgate while the Hyundai Kona has surround view cameras. Admittedly, not both. But the Kona & Seltos are both also available with ventilated front seats which this does not have. And also the Seltos has a head-up display as well. Surround view cameras are great but the ones on this Eclipse Cross have some of the worst resolution I've seen on a modern day car.
I have a 2022 Eclipse Cross SEL FWD trim level (US), and love it. Is rated for 28 mpg highway and normally achieve 32 to 33 mpg highway with the summer blend of gas. With a mix of highway and local driving, the car averages 28.5 mpg. Have driven 403 highway miles and took 12.2 gallons to fill up, and the Eclipse Cross shows the car can go another 100 miles until empty. Things to adjust to get better mileage include turning off the emergency braking and stability control and turning on eco mode once up to speed on the highway. When I need to pass another vehicle on the highway, will turn off eco mode, and there's enough power to pass other vehicles. And when using the adaptive cruise control, will have to turn the automatic braking back on. When driving on one lane highways (one lane each direction) in some of the backroads in the U.S., the Eclipse Cross EASILY passed other vehicles, including another car that accelerated in an attempt to not let me pass, but the turbo in the Eclipse Cross had enough pep to pass. I was able to negotiate price and did well. Have had the Eclipse Cross for over 3 years and have not had any problems. Am glad I purchased the Eclipse Cross.
If Mitsubishi can lower the price by a couple thousand dollars, I'd consider it. But other cars like the ones you mentioned offer more, including the 10 year powertrain warranty in the USA for the Seltos.
And on top of it, they stole the name from the only fun to drive vehicle they used to sell in North America, and slapped it on this mediocrity. Spoiler alert: that Eclipse had a normally aspirated engine, more power, 5 speed stick, and got better fuel economy. How do you get from there to this?
The older eclipse does NOT get better fuel economy. I have an '09 Eclipse GT that averages 18mpg local driving and 26 mpg highway, on premuim unleaded. My Eclipse Cross averages 28.5mpg local driving and 32 to 32mpg highway and uses regular unleaded. My 2022 Eclipse Cross is a front wheel drive and not the SAWC. Mitsu stopped making the FWD.
