My primary concern with the previous Eclipse is that it could have been better with a rear-wheel drive package. Or knowing Mitsubishi's rally heritage, 4WD would have also been good. The car (to me) looked like its own sports car. FWD doesn't usually spell "sports car." Now that I've seen the front and back pictures... I'm sorry, people... I just don't really like the "mustache" under the grill making it look taller than it really is. I'd paint over that with the color of the car instantly. I don't usually go crazy over black-colored cars like most other people. However, I do think the car looks more aggressive. The previous Eclipse had a lip spoiler while this newer one has a taller spoiler. This is a VERY sporty car lookswise. I still think it needs at the most, 4WD to really shine since I don't think Mitsu would go for RWD here.
As far as the "could they have blatanly ripped off the GT-R?" comments go, maybe this GT-R influenced the latest "fashion trend" in car design. The current trend has been taller grills on cars. If not taller grills, then mostly tall grills broken up by some sort of crossbar. It isn't exactly one very tall grill, just a grill broken up by a very dark gray or light black crossbar. I don't necessarily like that design with these recent cars, but it does provide that illusion of a front grill that's taller than it actually is. Black, in this case, provides an illusion. It's kind of like how black tights make a woman's legs seem slimmer. I like to think of these trends in car design as fashion trends because if one designer comes up with something hot, there are sure to be plenty of knockoffs across the board from different designers. I actually follow women's fashion trends outside of talking cars and sports, so I know what I'm talking about here.
I know the criticism about yellow-colored cars. UV Blue was a beautiful blue color for the Eclipse. I would have prefered UV Blue or that red pearl color for this prototype. Otherwise, I like this car to the tune of an approval rating of 95%. Just remove the "mustache" below the grill and think about maybe a RWD or 4WD drivetrain, and I'll go 100%. By the way, I have no problem with black on the rear bumper because it doesn't look very bad from the rear. I'd love to see the Ralliart Eclipse be sold in America. May happen either later this year or in a few years. This would be the ultimate Eclipse.
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