Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross Review

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is the car for you if you want an SUV that’s easy to drive every day, doesn’t cost a fortune to run, yet can roll up its sleeves and deal with serious off-roading if it has to.

That said, it’s far less utilitarian than Mitsubishi Shogun Sport. Inside, the cabin looks reasonably stylish, a sensibly specified infotainment system comes as standard and your passengers get a reasonable amount of space. Only the small boot lets the side down.

It’s not so much that the Eclipse Cross isn’t a good car, but it’s weaknesses are readily exposed by the quality of the competition it is up against. 

The Mitsubishi’s Dynamic trim level is the one we’d go for. It’s front and rear parking sensors make it even easier to park than the standard car, its wing mirrors fold away when it’s parked and you also get luxuries such as dual-zone climate control and keyless entry. 

Choosing an engine is easy – there’s only one, a 163hp 1.5-litre petrol that is reasonably smooth and quiet but, relatively speaking, not that great on fuel. If you’re only going to drive on-road, we’d stick with a manual model with two-wheel drive. Need extra grip? Then you’ll want the four-wheel-drive version that comes with an automatic gearbox as standard. 

There are many. One of the Mitubishi’s biggest problems is that it’s up against numerous rivals. 

The Skoda Karoq feels better built inside and has noticeably more interior space. On the other hand, the Peugeot 3008 is truly desirable with smart looks and a space-age interior. Want a sporty drive? Then you’ll be best served by the SEAT Ateca. Need excellent in-town fuel economy? Then have a look at the hybrid version of Toyota’s C-HR. 

Amongst this almost never-ending list of competitors, the Mitsubishi carves a niche for itself as an off-roader worthy of the name.

There’s been a similar improvement in the quality of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross’ interior. 

Many of the hard plastics found in the Shogun Sport make way for soft and spongy materials that feel expensive, although cheap plastics are still to be found on the tops of the doors and the instrument binnacle. 

Metal-look plastics frame the instruments behind the steering wheel, flowing from the centre console to your passenger’s side of the dashboard, breaking up the vast swathe of plastic that sits in front of them. 

Despite this, though, the Eclipse still feels a bit dark and dingy and even moving up the model range doesn’t allow you to inject some colour into the cabin plastics – that might put you off if you’re the kind of young vibrant type who’s looking to buy a trendy small SUV.

That’s not to say there’s no reason to upgrade from the basic Verve model. Go for a Dynamic version of the Eclipse Cross and you get Mitsubishi’s ‘high grade’ fabric seats with silver stitching and chrome interior door handles, while its LED interior lighting gives a bright white light rather than the dull yellow emitted by the old-school filament bulbs.

Take another leap to the top-of-the-range Exceed trim and you get a full leather interior with orange stitching and twin glass sunroofs that shine some welcome light into the darkness of the Cross’ cabin. 

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross’ infotainment system gets the job done rather than wowing you with its technical excellence. 

Its seven-inch display is smaller than you’ll find in rivals – even a basic Skoda Karoq has an 8-inch screen that can be upgraded to a 9.2-inch system. 

In the Mitsubishi you can, unfortunately, also forget about getting a digital instrument binnacle like the one fitted as standard to the Peugeot 3008. It’s pretty high-definition graphics and cool animations mark a stark contrast to the low-def, unimaginative display in the Eclipse Cross.

That said, it does get the fundamentals right. The screen’s location right on top of the dash means it’s easy to glance at when driving and, instead of having to operate a touchscreen as your index finger is bounced around the screen, you get a touchpad located between the front seats. 

Okay, so the menus aren’t the most logically laid out and no model gets factory-fit sat-nav but that’s unlikely to matter to you. Why? Because Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are fitted as standard so you can skip the misery of the Eclipse’s menus by using the more intuitive layout from your mirrored smartphone. 

Doing this means you also get the live services offered by other manufacturer’s high-end sat-nav systems – so you can route around congested traffic and find a parking space near your destination. 

It also means it’s easy to play iTunes or Spotify on the car’s six-speaker stereo. Want more punch? Then you might want to upgrade to the Exceed model which comes with a nine-speaker Rockford Fosgate system.

As you’d expect of an SUV this size, there’s no shortage of room in the Eclipse Cross for two adults sitting up front. The large transmission tunnel running between the front seats means you won’t be banging elbows with your front passenger and, even with the glass sunroofs, there’s loads of headroom.

The back seat is more of a mixed bag. The Cross’ sloping rear end eats into headroom so your tall rear-seat passengers might find their hair skimming the roof lining. That said, the floor is flat meaning there’s plenty of space for three peoples’ feet. 

As well as reclining, the Mitsubishi’s back seat also slides back on runners so your passengers can sit back and stretch out on longer journeys.

Do this, however, and the Mitsubishi’s relatively small boot gets even tinier – shrinking from 448 to 341 litres, less than you get in a family hatchback such as the Volkswagen Golf. It’s also miles off the 520 litres a Skoda Karoq offers while leaving plenty of room for adult rear-seat passengers.

It’s not all bad for the Mitsubishi, though, the boot lid leaves a big opening to aim your luggage through, there’s only a small lip to lift it over and, with the rear seats folded away, you get a flat, if slightly sloping boot floor. 

There’s more good news when you look at fitting a child seat. With the back seats slid back as far as they go there’s plenty of room to get a child seat in, the Isofix points are marked and don’t have the losable plastic covers fitted to other cars.

Interior storage is excellent with the Mitsubishi offering a large glovebox and front door bins, as well as a huge storage bin under the front centre armrest. Want a rear-centre armrest? Then you’ll need to go for a high-end Dynamic or Exceed version. 

With only one engine available – a 163PS 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol – engine ranges don’t get simpler than the Mitsubishi Eclipse’s.

It’s a decent engine getting you from 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds and sounding quiet and smooth so long as you don’t work it too hard. It has enough pace to keep up with town traffic and there’s no issue getting up to faster speeds when you join the motorway.

The six-speed manual gearbox isn’t so good. It can feel resistant as you move through the gears and the snatchy action of the clutch pedal makes it tricky to drive smoothly at slower speeds. 

There is an automatic option – a CVT that’s available on all but Verve models – but with it fitted the car’s half a second slower to 62mph and, if anything, performance feels duller than that. Go for an overtake and it’ll hold the engine at a constant speed, leading to a monotonous drone that you could do without. 

Unfortunately, if you want four-wheel drive, you can only have it in combination with the automatic gearbox.

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross travels quietly on the motorway once you’re up to speed, with limited road noise or wind whistle. The latter is particularly well suppressed in Dynamic versions and above which have an acoustic windscreen. 

Cruise control, meanwhile, comes as standard so you don’t have to modulate your foot on the accelerator for hours on end on long journeys.

At those sorts of speeds, the Mitsubishi’s engine noise fades into the background but when accelerating to a cruise, it’s purposeful tone turns to harshness if you give it the beans. 

Accelerate hard to make an A-road overtake and you’ll miss the effortlessness grunt offered by a diesel engine, something you can have in almost all the Mitsubishi's rivals. 

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross got a five-star crash rating when it was evaluated by safety body Euro NCAP in 2017.

A whole host of safety kit comes as standard. All models get seven airbags, automatic emergency brakes that work up to speeds of 50mph, a lane departure warning system and a warning buzzer that sounds if you get a flat tyre. 

All models also get Active Yaw control on the front wheels, so the car remains easy to control even if you steam into a corner carrying too much speed.

If you want more safety kit then you’ll have to go for the Exceed model, unfortunately, you can’t add safety packs without spending big on the top-of-the-range car. Exceed trim adds active cruise control, which as well as holding you at a set cruising speed like the standard system, can also accelerate and brake, keeping a safe distance from the traffic in front. 

You also get Lane Change Assist, so if you try to pull out in front of traffic hidden in your blind spot on the motorway, it will sound a buzzer as well as flashing up a warning on the corresponding wing mirror. 

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross won’t cost a fortune to insure. Basic Verve cars sit in insurance group 18 out of 50, while top-of-the-range Exceed cars are only placed one group higher. 

That said a top-spec Skoda Karoq with a similar power output will be a little cheaper to insure. It qualifies for group 16 insurance owing to it having an autonomous driving aid that can steer the car in lane on the motorway, and automatic emergency brakes that detect people as well as cars.

The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross was launched in 2018, so all models qualify for the new tax regime.

Basic Verve models – with small wheels, two-wheel drive and a manual gearbox – produce 177g/km of CO2, which translates into first-year road tax of £870 with a more palatable £150 bill every year thereafter. Exceed version’s cost the same after year one, but you’ll pay a hefty £1,305 when you buy the car. 

That said, a top-of-the-range Skoda Karoq diesel cost the same, although two-wheel-drive petrol Karoqs can be taxed for as little as £215 in the first year. 

Even basic Verve versions of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross get all the equipment you need. 

You get climate control so the car will keep the cabin at the temperature you set, auto lights and wipers, cruise control and tinted rear windows. Also included is the car’s seven-inch infotainment screen which has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a rearview camera.

Design SE cars represent more of a styling pack than a standalone model. They get 18-inch wheels which don’t look as lost in their arches as the 16-inch versions fitted to the basic car. Design SEs are limited to three colour choices – solid Frost White, metallic Atlantic Grey or pearlescent Lightning Blue – all of which are available on the rest of the range. 

Level up to Dynamic and you get a noticeable hike in kit. You get an auto-dimming rearview mirror that cuts out dazzle, dual-zone climate control, wing mirrors that fold away when you park, front and rear parking sensors, a head-up display that projects information such as speed onto the windscreen, heated front seats and keyless entry. 

Dynamic models also get extra flashes of chrome – on the grille and below the doors – which makes them look a little more premium.

Finally, at the top of the range, you get the Exceed. Inside, its twin glass sunroofs shine some welcome light on the Mitsubishi’s dark interior though it’s a shame you don’t get a single, uninterrupted pane of glass as in rivals. You also get an uprated stereo, a leather interior and active cruise control.