If you don't have time/don't want to read all of this, please skip to the bold part at the end. Thanks!

Basically I'm asking you guys how you feel about the car. I'm going to try and ask some specific questions but feel free to elaborate and tell me whatever you want.

I'm a young guy, and I'm going to eventually buy my first car. Not for at least 6 months, but I like to become an expert on stuff BEFORE I get around buying it so that I can make the best decision. Right now I drive a Jeep Cherokee and I've been looking into bigger vehicles like Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier because I felt that it's safer to be bigger on the road. But I've also seen a lot of video clips where people have survived without a scratch in small cars too.

Anyway, so I've test driven Toyota Camry, Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, Ford F-150 FX4, Saturn Aura. At work I've driven Ford Expedition and vans.

I hate the Expedition, I liked how the Tacoma handled. Feels similar to my Jeep. When I drove the Camry for a few hours at work, I enjoyed the tighter handling (remember, I'm coming from a 1987 Jeep Cherokee here) and "closeness" to the road.

Then, today, I test drove my first "sports car": The Mitsubishi Eclipse.

And I gotta say, I LOVED it. Now, I'm no sports car expert but hell, that was FUN. Loved the handling, loved the acceleration, loved the way it looks, love the foot room. Air conditioning was great (mine now doesn't even work!), and LOOOOVED the audio system (HUGE for me cuz I LOVE music).

Before I test drove, I read some review online and a lot of people said it had bad blind spots. But I noticed when I drove, I could deal with it. I could see enough so it wasn't dangerous. And FYI, the one I test drove was fully-loaded GT automatic transmission. I know I won't buy this version because I don't really mind not having leather seats and not having a sun-roof. But I did like the alloy gas tank cover

Is it possible to get that killer audio system without the leather/sunroof? In general, how do you like your eclipse? I read some bad stuff about reliability, but it comes with a decent warranty. But I don't want to get something that will be a piece of junk the second the warranty expires either. Can anyone compare how they like this vehicle vs. a higher-up SUV or pickup? Thanks!

 

 

Mitsubishi calls it Sun & Sound Package which I'm pretty sure means if you want RF Sound system you have to have the Moonroof. Although I have the Cloth seats not leather.