Ive always wanted to buy a Mitsubishi Eclipse when the time came when I turned 17. I get my liscence in about 4 months, and was wondering is this a good first car? I was looking a the second generation Eclipses, and they seemed way to fast for me to be able to afford insurance. The third generation ones look good too, but I would prefer to drive a manual. The only manuals are apparently the GT's (from what i have seen). It does have a V-6, but will it kill me on insurance?

 

first off, the insurance isn't nearly as bad as you may think, i have a 99 GS. the liability only is only 80/month and full covereage is 120/month. and i'm only 20. when i had my GSX the insurance wasn't very high either, i think like 10-15 more per month. so go with what you want. as for "good first car" if you get a 2g non turbo (RS or GS), from what i know there really aren't many problems with them, the most common problems are blowing head gaskets and timing belts. neither will cost you an arm and a leg especially if you can do the work yourself or know somebody. if you go with the 2g turbo (GS-T or GSX) the only big problem i know of is Crankwalk, you an research that on yahoo or whatever because the regulars on here get tired of explaining it all the time, basically it's big trouble IF you run your car really really really hard or if the person that had it before you did.

 

when looking for one just be patient. Dont go for the first one you find. Make sure its in good shape and well maintained. Im not sure what you mean by:

first off the non-turbo versions are not fast at all, and the turbo cars arnt extremely quick either, then can be. And for insurance, remeber your basically looking at a 8 year old+ car so it really isnt gonna be all that bad compared to some other cars. And the 3g's did come manual in all models you probably just havnt found one yet because emonz had a 2000 GS that was manual.

 

Thanks for the replies. The reason Im asking is because my parents thing I need a huge car thats extremely slow, and thats not what I want. Do the third generation eclipses have a decent crash rating? I heard the back seat is extremely uncomfortable. Is it really that small? Alot of 3g Eclipses I see go for about 6k, which is around what I have to spend.

 

i bought my 1g awd right when i got to see it without even taking it for a testdrive, i knew the kid who previously owned the car before me and i knew he beat on it, but i got to look closly at the whole car top to bottom and it was excellent. he said he had the motor rebuilt but didt have any recietps to back it up, but at least the block was painted blue. but my first car was a 90 gs 5-speed, i drove that around for about a year and really liked it, then finding out that i could buy a 93 gsx 5-speed got my hopes up so to me, they are good cars and 1g's are the only car's that i have owned. ( my dodge POS doesnt count because it's not in my name).

 

so far with my 2g the only thing that i had big trouble with is the speedo, but then again it didn't have the sensor in it, other than that it's been good to me. and getting extra power out of it isn't that expensive for the minor things too.

 

the back seat definetly is very uncomfortable. Your gonna kinda have the same thing with the 2g though. But im pretty sure the 2g was a bit better. As far as the crash test rating, i havnt been able to find anything for the 3g

 

ok i was able to find this
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/1873.html

 

my bro loves his eclipse(2002 eclipse gs) its his first car.

 

if its your first car, and youre not good at fixing stuff, do not get a fixer upper or your life will be hell for a long long time