Mitsubishi was featuring its class-leading Rockford Fosgate audio interface in the centre stack of the show car, capable of a mind
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Mitsubishi was featuring its class-leading Rockford Fosgate audio interface in the centre stack of the show car, capable of a mind numbing 650-watts of soul stirring power. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
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numbing 650-watts of soul stirring power. Really, there's nothing like it anywhere. Sure there are some that offer close to the same level of on-paper performance, but the detail that went into co-creating this system is immediately apparent as soon as you turn it on. The OEM mindbender offers the deepest, richest bass I've ever heard, along with sensational sibilance, enhancing any genre of music, plus complete personalization of preprogrammed sound settings, which was said to be an industry first when the coupe was launched last year. The top-line audio system also adds a dash-mounted 6-disc CD changer to the head unit, and audio controls to the steering wheel.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, as I forgot to say that the rest of the cabin is
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| Mitsubishi points out that the Spyder's top is indeed cloth, and that its "advanced multi-layer construction includes a full headliner to provide the quiet, snug interior feeling of a coupe when it is raised." (Photo: Mitsubishi Canada) |
pretty well identical to that in the coupe; again, a good thing. The retractable cloth top is unique, of course, but being that Mitsubishi didn't raise it while I was looking around inside I can't comment on its quality. The previous Spyder's soft-top was well done though, and given that the new coupe's build quality has improved immeasurably over the previous generation car, there's a pretty good chance the new roof has also been upgraded. Mitsubishi points out that the top is indeed cloth, and not vinyl, which is used by some competitors, and that its "advanced multi-layer construction includes a full headliner to provide the quiet, snug interior feeling of a coupe when it is raised." OK, I'll buy that. When the top is up it looks distinctive too, like a classic "chopped" speedster, and the press material also states that it has been designed to resist "ballooning" when traveling at high speeds. It should also be
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| When the top is up it looks distinctive too, like a classic "chopped" speedster. (Photo: Mitsubishi Canada) |
mentioned that the rear window is glass, and therefore includes a defroster, making it a year-round vehicle.
Some will no doubt complain that the Spyder doesn't use a retractable hardtop, all the rage these days, but you won't be hearing complaints from me. While such systems have their advantages, especially to those who live in wet or colder climes, their complexity, trunk-robbing size - although the coupe scales back from a healthy 445 litres (15.7 cu ft) of cargo volume to a measly 147 litres (5.2 cu-ft) - and the weight gain most cars incur in the transformation is too stiff a penalty to pay for something as sporty as the Eclipse Spyder. The weight, by the way, has been
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| The Spyder's bottom line arrives at a rather reachable $25,984 USD in GS trim and $28,864 USD in GT guise, probably between $35,000 and $43,000 in Canada. (Photo: Mitsubishi Canada) |
contained, with the transformation from coupe to Spyder only adding 90 kilos (198 lbs) in GS trim and 67 kg (148 lbs) to a fully-loaded GT, weighing in at 1,575 and 1,705 kg (3,472 and 3,759 lbs) respectively. And the potential weight-gain of a retractable hardtop aside, I haven't even mentioned that the added cost of developing and building such a system would add significantly to the Spyder's bottom line; which incidentally is currently set at a rather reachable $25,984 in GS trim and $28,864 in GT guise (including shipping); those are U.S. dollars unfortunately, being that Canadian prices have yet to be announced. Expect it to remain somewhere near what the outgoing Eclipse Spyder sells for now, ranging between $35,000 and $43,000.
