Mitsubishi are back with a solid contender

By Declan Colley

I was once lucky enough to visit Japan as a guest of the Mitsubishi Motor Corp. A fantastic trip hosted jointly by the legendary Paddy Murphy who ran the Mitsubishi show in Ireland and the great Frank Keane, who owned the show in Ireland (and still does, as far as I know).

Consummate hosts both, they ensured our trip to the Land of the Rising Sun was both informative and enjoyable. Being Japan, of course, the business end of things involved many laborious lectures and formal dinners. After hours was a different kettle of sushi, it has to be said.

The Mitsu guys were brave though, letting a bunch of Irish amateurs loose on their banked testing track in the just released GT3000 (or GTO to some) three-litre twin-turbo coupe.

With about three hundred brake on tap, it also came with four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering and a bunch of aerodynamic tricks. Back then it was up against a whole host of local rivals — Toyota Supra, Honda NSX, Nissan 300 ZX and even the ill-considered Subaru SVX.

There were not so much nervous twitters among the gathered mechanics, glad-handers and Top Brass on hand, but mild hilarity that the dumb ‘Gaijin’ could possibly manage.

It was a wow, I can assure you, but never having experienced a banked track before, it took a few laps to get into the groove.

Or so I thought. Having fed considerable amounts of courage into the speeding–up process I then made the unconscionable error of feeding my terror by taking my foot off the gas at the height of the banking.

Frank Keane, in the passenger seat, must have felt a severe sphincter-tightening moment — as indeed I did myself — but a very swift opposite lock input, followed by swift re-application of the loud pedal, got us back on track. “Well held,” a very sanguine Mr Keane muttered, no doubt thankless I had not planked us both into oblivion.

Those were good days for the then great Mitsubishi Motor Corp (MMC). Many times down the years since, the company seemed destined for a fall as sure as I was headed for the Armco that distant day on the banking in Hokkaido.

But much as I ‘held on,’ so too has the aforementioned MMC. The company had endured many scandals and clung to the wreckage of many failed corporate buy-outs.

Finally, it would appear, Mitsubishi has been sucked into the corporate maw of Groupe Renault. Along with former Japanese giants Nissan, it is now under the thumb of the Carlos Ghosn-led French empire.

They are still making their own cars, though. Even if saddled with the sort of synergies which have diminished the great engineering culture which existed in MMC and which brought us cars like the Starion (so-called allegedly because the Japanese could not properly pronounce ‘stallion’), the Galant, the Lancer (and its rallying offspring), the Colt and a slew of off-roaders.

The latter included, of course, the Pajero, which is a legendarily accomplished 4x4. I recently drove the latest bit of kit to come from Mitsubishi, the Eclipse Cross — another medium sized SUV coming into an increasingly crowded market.

What is it like? Is it going to sell in large numbers? Is it going to be as tenacious as a Japanese soldier living on a rocky Pacific outcrop not knowing the Second World War was over?

Good. No. And probably not. Those are the answers to the above questions. Nice car and all as this might be — good 1.5 turbocharged engine, of the petrol variety — very comfortable, spacious, practical and as connected as an old goof like me could ascertain, this Mitsu simply lacked character.

It is a very nit-picky world when you come down to this sort of stuff, but the car lacked appeal.

I could also be really sad and point to the nonsensical ergonomics — control buttons placed so far away from eye or touch line that you could be under a truck before you get your lane-changing warning activation activated.

The Mitsu was largely the complete article insomuch as it delivered pretty much any suburban person might ask of it. It handled the often tricky and frighteningly tight multi-storey car park situations easily — assisted greatly by the battery of camera and sensor additions.

It drove reasonably well too even if its obvious preference was for smoother roads. The suspensions are supple enough to cope with Irish conditions, although I wouldn’t necessarily fancy taking the banking at Haikkido test track with it.

Even so, I suspect the on-site mechanics get fits of laughter sending foreign hacks out there in them.

Japanese jollity aside — ‘Gaijin, ha, ha, ha…’ — it is good to see Mitsubishi back in the mainstream with a very saleable car which is not terribly expensive, is well built, offers gilt-edged (generally) reliability, decent tech and variable seating practicality.

The engine too was a pleasant surprise and a lot more sprightly than I had expected from a 1.5 petrol, even if it is turbocharged. With some 163bhp available, a sub-10 second 0-100km/h time and a top speed on the 200km/h mark, it is very liveable with.

You will have a choice of six speed manual or CVT auto transmission, depending on preference.

A few things worth noting, however, it is not the most economic car (expect a return of around 6.8 l/100km (41.1mpg), it is heavier to tax than most (€390 per annum) and only comes with two wheel drive, but even so it has a lot to offer.

All told this is a very noble car — one not without things you could quibble about, but isn’t that the same with any car you’d like to mention — and one which is priced to sell, even if trying to maintain an element of badge snobbery or upmarket-ness.

Of course, the Eclipse Cross is in there fighting tooth and nail with the likes of local rivals like the Qashqai, RAV 4 and a bunch of Europeans, including its new siblings at Renault.

Whether it is good enough or not to take on these cars is something I would question, but for a company coming out of a fairly long period in the doldrums, this is not a bad effort at all and one which indicates plenty of potential to come from what was once a Japanese manufacturing behemoth.

The Eclipse Cross may not sell in huge volumes, but those that do buy one will feel pretty satisfied about their choice.