Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross hybrid 2024 review: PHEV ES | Long-term test of Toyota Corolla Cross rival
Depending on how old you are and what your interests are the phrase The Best of Both Worlds might make you think of one of two things the first could be the late 2000s sitcom Hannah Montana but if you’re watching this video and you’ve seen the title the chances are it’s more
Likely a plug-in hybrid electric car and since I haven’t been watching Hannah Montana for the last couple of months let’s talk about what I have been doing and it’s driving this it’s the MPC Eclipse cross plug-in hybrid and it’s it’s got some cool drivetrain Tech that the petrol version
Obviously misses out on but to get into it you have to pay a hefty premium over the other version and it is Hefty specifically here we have the es which just like the petrol range means it’s the base model in the plugin range and that means it has pretty much next
To no bells and or whistles here that means despite you’re paying an extra Fair chunk for the drivetrain you’re actually not getting that much in the car for the pedrol base model it’s 31490 before on roads but here it’s 47290 that means you’re paying nearly 16 Grand just for the fact that
It’s a plug-in hybrid yep the Hybrid drivetrain effectively adds 15,800 to the price of the small SUV so the fev costs about 1 and 1/2 times as much that’s a big oof the es comes with as mentioned pretty slim features too aside from lacking some safety features that you get in the
Higher grade Aspire and exceed the es misses out on satnav heated or power adjustable seats and LED headlights it also makes do with a four- speaker sound system which is noticeably short of the audio quality available in even entry-level hatchbacks these days stepping up to the Aspire means twice as
Many speakers and in premium audio setup its 8in touchscreen however is standard across the range and its wide Android auto and apple carplay functionality means being able to get around the fact it’s feeling quite outdated in front of the driver a small 4.2 in TFT color display is flanked by
Two actual physical dials which are quite nice for the Simplicity but mean you don’t get a lot of information in front of you hey do you reckon there might be any kind of way to find out what kind of drivetrain this car has if you find a way let me
Know giant plug-in hybrid EV badges aside I actually think the eclipse cross looks pretty cool especially from the front there’s sort of some of that current Mitsubishi design language that looks a little bit aggressive and has sort of almost a rally sports car touch that at least visually is still there
Within the brand despite not really actually being there underneath many of its cars Eclipse cross in Black badging across the front even here on the Basse model looks kind of cool and fills that kind of big text across the car current Trend that’s going on but here on the es
Base model there are a couple of things that kind of give away the game that this isn’t the top speec version one of them being these giant halogen headlights here that despite being underneath LED drls when you turn them on at night time they don’t exactly light it up like it’s
Daytime the other thing is kind of weird across the range all the wheels are the same which here is great but if you’ve spent the extra to get the tops back it kind of might make you feel a little bit like you’ve been ripped off from here
Back the silhouette has a little bit of a slope towards the rear and then until you get to the back of the car there’s not really much to talk about it’s pretty normal it’s a small SUV and it doesn’t look that interesting from the side down here at the back Eclipse cross
In Chrome lettering again under the badge actually don’t mind the tail lights I think this L-shaped kind of design looks quite cool and then not much else to talk about aside from the fact that on the base es you don’t get an automatic tailgate lift you have to
Do it yourself which takes just a little pull finally on the opposite side of the fuel filler here at the back of the car is the flap for uh both kinds of charges you’ve got the AC and the DC I’m not making the joke this is probably the one
You’ll use most of the time it’s the one that you can use to plug straight into your household plugs uh this one’s a little bit rarer in Australia it’s the DC fast charging plug and you’ll probably be a little bit more hard pressed to find some way to plug it
In let’s jump inside and have a look at what’s actually inside the eclipse cross in here this is where the EA grade being part of the plug-in hybrid range comes in as a little bit of a strange idea if you’d spend just over $30,000 for the base model in the petrol range
You’d probably get in here and think yeah this feels about right but since you’re spending nearly 50 Grand you get into a car and it feels a little bit like a higher car you’re probably going to be kind of disappointed and that’s why I would probably say again that the
Es is not the one to get if you’re looking at the plug-in hybrids spend that little extra to get some features for example there is a set of two USB a plugs here no USB C’s and they’re the only way to use Android auto or apple carplay and charge your phone there’s no
Wireless charging pad the other thing is that the actual multimedia screen itself feels a little bit outdated and so does a lot of the rest the interior of this car underneath it’s basically the same platform as the Lancer from the mid 2000s and some of the things in this car
Kind of given it away the buttons on the steering wheel for example are quite big and plasticky looking feeling and sounding and in front of you you’ve got actual physical dials which is fine because they’re quite clear but in the middle there’s that little TFT driver display that isn’t very communicative
The other thing is if you want to actually know what’s going on with any of the plug-in hybrid stuff in the car it’s all fairly rudimentary in front of you but you can actually go into plug-in hybrid screen on the multimedia screen which has so many different options for
Information and none of them are very clear you also can’t really use them if you’re using an Android auto or Apple carplay down here is probably the most advanced looking part of the interior and that’s the controls for the drivetrain you’ve got buttons down here for the saving and charging battery
Modes the full EV mode and the gear shifter itself isn’t traditional but it’s fairly easy to work out and get used to once you’ve been driving the car for a while the other thing about the interior is that when you realize you could have had some of those extra
Features for a little bit more money you’ll probably miss them that four- speaker audio system that mentioned for example sounds it it’s not very good um it sounds a little bit like the ’90s on the radio uh my 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer that I had for my first car had a better
Audio system than this from memory couple of other things you might miss in the interior are any kind of different trim from cloth on the seats or electric adjustment I kind of don’t mind them I’m a little bit of a set and forget person when it comes to my driving position and
The cloth seats are pretty nice if it’s a sunny day leather would be a bit hot anyway you also don’t get a sunroof and the climate control isn’t actually climate control it’s just air conditioning but there are a lot of things in the interior that make it very
Practical there’s plenty of space in the door cards for quite a large water bottle and a bunch of other items the cup holders in the middle uh two very slightly different sizes and they’re pretty well placed plus there’s plenty of space here in the central bin plus a
Little bit there that you can put smaller items on there’s a little bit of a cubby here that sort of holds your phone in there nicely when you’ve got it plugged in which you probably always will and there’s quite a large glove box here as well one more thing and it
Really bothers me and I don’t know why is that on the visor here you get a little bit of a mirror but no light even though there’s a space for one and when you close it it’s really loud it’s just a really loud thud I don’t know why that kind of bothers
Me for a small SUV the back seat of the eclipse Cross isn’t cramped despite how the sloping roof line Looks in fact i’ probably even go as far to call it relatively spacious for what it is behind my own sitting position here for example I’m 5’11 and I’ve got hpster
Space in front of my knees also got plenty of head room and the only way I’m going to hit my head is if I lean off to the side I’ve got hser shoulder room and I genuinely took a full day trip with three adults in the back seat and got no
Complaints maybe that’s cuz they were getting a free ride but they didn’t seem cramped at all the other thing is that these seats are actually adjustable in terms of the angles so you can lean back a little bit for a longer drive and you actually do get a little armrest with a
Cup holder here in the middle as well there’s also a space for a water bottle in the door which is quite nice and weirdly a USB C port in the back next to the usba a front seat doesn’t even get a USBC Port there’s also a weird
Little seat belt that clips for a three point that you can put away when you’re not using it it’s a little bit odd that you have have to do it in this kind of funny sort of double click way though when you actually do want to use it one slight disadvantage of the
Plug-in model is that because of the extra space taken up by the battery and the drivetrain you lose about 50ish L of space over the petrol model in the boot there’s 359 l in here and you also don’t get a spare tire there’s space in there
For the repair kit and inflator and the charging cables as well I’m also still really not sure what kind of drivetrain this car has again if you find out any kind of way let me know this engine bay is pretty illustrative of a hybrid you’ve got your
Petrol bit and your electric bit which says as much on top and it’s silver for the future aside from the naturally aspirated petrol engine under the Bonnet there’s a pair of electric motors one at each axle which makes this an AAL Drive small SUV that’s pretty rare for the
Segment and maybe even for some worth the extra outlay for the plug-in version the front motor has an output of 60 K and 137 newm while the rear produces 70 KW and 195 new M Mitsubishi doesn’t provide a figure for the entire system’s output but that plus the engine under
The Bonnet means it’s actually got a fair bit of grunt that lithium ion battery gives you your 55 K of driving range or probably more light in the real world just under 50ks depending on how you drive but in terms of driving we’ll talk about that a little bit more from the driver’s
Seat in the eclipse cross plug-in hybrid the EV driving mode is the best driving mode and that’s good cuz you get 55 K of range with it and for most of the time that’s probably going to be just enough if you’re driving to or from work most
People don’t drive more than that every day and it means when you’re home you can plug it into J that means you get to enjoy a relatively smooth and you know not blow your socks off but definitely powerful enough Driving Experience every time you’re commuting in its EV driving mode
Everything’s pretty smooth the acceleration and even the braking which you can adjust how hard the regenerative baking Works through the padd behind the wheel I found myself using it quite a lot and even though it’s not exactly one pedal driving like you get in some EVS
Does a pretty good job of uh ring back a little bit of the battery power as you’re heading down you know long slopes on the highway for example with the all-wheel drive system in the eclipse cross there are a few useful Drive modes for different terrain surfaces there’s
One for tarmac one for snow and one for gravel alongside the normal road driving and Eco modes the steering and the braking and a lot of the feedback from the suspension in this car aren’t particularly communicative and that’s fine because all you need this car to do is drive
Well enough enough and it does it’s capable you’re not going to have too much fun while you’re doing it but it doesn’t feel in any way like it’s not doing exactly what you want it to in terms of the rest of the Driving Experience aside from the EV mode when
The engine actually needs to kick in it does it pretty smoothly and you probably won’t notice unless you’re trying to pay attention or watching one of the little indicators that will tell you how the car is actually running the other thing you can do deliberately is switch the
Car between full EV driving or one of the modes where you can save or charge the battery using the engine while you’re driving if you’re on the highway for example where driving in electric mode is not going to be as efficient as it can be driving around town it’s
Pretty useful it means if you’re coming up to a town you can charge the battery a little bit and then use the electric drive while you’re getting around some slower Urban straights the problem with that is that it takes a little bit of time and uses a
Fair bit of fuel the fuel tank in this car isn’t quite as big as the full petrol version of obviously so you know for example on a 2-hour trip between uh Melbourne and Bendigo I found myself going through about a quarter of a tank maybe a little bit more before I’d even
Gotten to the location by the time I got back to Melbourne I found even though I had left with a full charge and charged along the highway I came back with about half a tank which is fortunately probably not going to be most of the use cases for this car
Since that drive a couple of weeks ago I’ve Barely Used any fuel except for today obviously filming this video the eclipse cross plugin hybrid has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 1.9 L per 100ks but the testing method that they use means most of that is able to be run on
The 55 km of EV driving which obviously doesn’t use any fuel realistically that means fuel consumption is going to be quite variable depending on the average drives you take and how disciplined you are with charging and also your right foot during testing in the first month
Of my time with the eclipse cross I managed 6.4 L per 100ks and that was only with a couple of charges in my second month I was a little bit more disciplined with charging 6.1 L per 100ks but a full day trip with a car full of friends probably did a little
Bit of damage to that figure as well in its last month I wanted to see just how much the eclipse cross would drink with without the benefit of a full battery at all that came to 8.47 L per 100ks of course that’s about the worst you’ll get
Out of the eclipse cross but to hit the Brand’s claimed 1.9 L per 100ks you pretty much need to remain within the confines of the city and keep it plugged in every night to get it fully charged a regular house plug with the cord that comes with the car takes about 7 hours
But you could have a wall box and home manable like solar if this stuff is important to you for me in a share house getting the most out of the plugin has meant hogging the driveway and running a cable to the car across the front deck Sorry Charlie DC fast charging should
Fill the plug-in hybrid from0 to 80% in 25 minutes but that requires you to find a fast charger in public that is free and working the es lacks some safety features like cross traffic alert or blind spot warning available in the Aspire and exceed variants but it does
Get things like AE and a forward Collision warning a reversing camera rear parking sensors and 7s bags are also included as well as the things you’d expect like antiock brakes or ABS there’s not much in terms of high-tech active safety at this end of the range in case of a crash the eclipse
Cross plug-in hybrid scored five stars when ancap tested it back in 2017 but that rating expires in December 2023 wait that’s like now on the plus side Mitsubishi has an excellent 10year or 200,000 km warranty whichever comes first on all of its models the catch for that is you need to
Service it on time and within Mitsubishi’s dealer Network cat price servicing with Mitsubishi costs between 350 and 550 roughly for most Services though later in that 10-year time span there are a couple of $899 services that pops up if you don’t go with that you get a 5-year or 100,000
Km warranty whichever comes first which is still not far from the industry standard of 5 years and unlimited kilm the battery regardless of your servicing is covered for 8 years or 160,000 K I’m still feeling a little bit conflicted about the eclipse cross plugin hybrid especially this base es
Model like I mentioned it really doesn’t have that many features and if you’ve spent nearly $50,000 on a car you’ll probably be a bit disappointed by it if you want this car it might be worth going up the specs a bit because you’ve already put in that extra outlay of
Nearly 16 Grand just for the drivetrain the other thing is though if it doesn’t suit your lifestyle and I don’t know if it does mine I live in a share house where I don’t always have access to a charger having a plug-in hybrid is a little bit of a hassle you really have
To have a garage and a wall box that could charge it relatively quickly and somewhere to keep it charged at all times if you’re ever driving more than 55 K on average for a little while or to it starts to lose that value proposition of saving the fuel as well if you do
Want that Electric Car Driving Experience there are options in fully electric cars like Hondo’s Kona not too different in size from this and fully electric at not too much more money the other thing is if you just want a hybrid car TOA and Honda and plenty of others
Have options for under $50,000 that will probably do the job and you can even get in a RAV fall if you’re willing to wait which is a bigger car unfortunately I have to say it really comes down to your own preferences and needs the eclipse cross is probably a good option for a
Select few
The 2024 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross small SUV is well-established, although it’s not quite the stalwart that it’s similarly sized ASX sibling is – it’s a literal teenager. Either way, the Japanese brand’s newer crossover faces plenty of competition, namely from the Toyota Corolla Cross.
The Eclipse Cross is a particularly interesting small SUV thanks to its availability of a plug-in hybrid powertrain. Several rivals, including the Corolla Cross, offer ‘self-charging’ hybrid systems instead, so this Mitsubishi is a rarity. So, if a crossover buyer is desperate for a PHEV, it’s there.
But is the Eclipse Cross PHEV any good? In this long-term expert review, CarsGuide Journalist Chris Thompson spends three months living with its entry-level ES variant to find out if it has what it takes to handle day-to-day life. More importantly, though, does it improve it?
#Mitsubishi #EclipseCross #Review
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00:00 Intro
00:41 Pricing and features
02:16 Design
07:06 Practicality
09:41 Under the bonnet
10:39 Driving
13:42 Efficiency
15:15 Safety
15:51 Ownership
16:34 Verdict
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Read Chris’ full review: https://bit.ly/4anoFXS
Check out our Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross hub: https://bit.ly/4ajfaJ7
Find more SUVs: https://bit.ly/3QVs1X1
Visit our EVGuide: https://bit.ly/3UHO9GT
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