Mitsubishi speaks of "the attainable exotic" in reference to the company's new Eclipse Spyder, and although that might sound like marketing hyperbole when the car in question starts at about 26 grand, you need to hear the rest of the justification.
Company spokesmen cite the car's zoomy styling and equipment, but we think it's mostly about the roof. Fabricated by the American Sunroof Company to Mitsubishi's specifications, the new ragtop is powered by a hydraulic mechanism that stows or erects it in about 19 seconds. All you do is manhandle two windshield-frame clasps and push a button.
When stowed, a power hard-tonneau panel that integrates the appearance of the rear deck covers the whole deal, tidily avoiding the so-called baby-buggy look you see with high roof stacks. The design makes no effort to mimic the coupe's roofline, and the spyder flaunts its own unique profile.
The material used is acrylic cloth, dyed black or gray before the threads are spun into fabric to avoid the uneven discoloration typically found at high-wear areas on cheaper tops. Acrylic itself is a step up from the vinyl used on some cars in the same price segment.
There's a cotton headliner, with a natural rubber layer between it and the acrylic outer fabric. Natural rubber is preferable to the more commonly used butyl rubber, says Mitsubishi, because it holds its shape better and resists stretching and shrinking during exposure to extreme temperatures. That ballooning effect you see on old convertibles is mostly due to the use of butyl rubber.
But the natural-rubber process is quite complicated. In this case, molten rubber is applied to the inner and outer roof layers using a technique known as "knife-over-roll coating" and then fused together and cured for six weeks. To ensure good sealing, Mitsubishi adopted the short-stroke mechanism we've seen on more-expensive cars with sashless windows, where the glass drops down a tad when the door is opened and closed to engage special door seals. The idea is to reduce wind noise and improve atmospheric sealing for better heater and air-conditioner performance.
The result is a pretty sturdy top, and reasonably quiet motoring, even on noisy concrete freeways in California. Mitsubishi will offer a lightweight wind deflector sometime soon that pops into place in the rear-passenger well, but we found the car relatively draft-free during our test even without it, particularly when the side windows were up. (Each window switch operates both side panes simultaneously.)
To make the driving experience as civilized as possible-top up or down-Mitsubishi retuned the exhaust system for a more subdued growl. In the process, the Spyder GT lost three horsepower and a couple of pound-feet of torque. But you won't miss them. The 3.8-liter MIVEC V-6 is so strong at low to medium revs that there isn't enough grip available anywhere-not even on a mil-spec runway rough enough to plane wood-to stop it from lighting up the front tires during a vigorous launch. Leaving on the traction control seems advisable.
As a result of the various body reinforcements (dash crossmember, floor crossmember, toughened sills and side stampings among them), our spyder carried some extra weight over that of the coupe-about 200 pounds according to Mitsubishi, but just 120 pounds according to the truck scales we weighed both models on.
One would therefore expect the spyder to run a little slower than the coupe, and it did. The dash to 60 mph took 0.6 second longer at 6.7 seconds, but that result probably had more to do with how good a launch we got, because the quarter-mile run was just 0.3 second and 1 mph slower-14.8 seconds at 99 mph.
Clearly, then, thrust is more than adequate in the 260-hp GT model. But we also tried the four-cylinder GS versions in five-speed manual and automatic guises and found them to be acceptable, if not overendowed, in the speed department.
The thing is, convertibles don't really encourage huge velocities, particularly when the top's down and the scenery is flashing past a few feet away. And especially not when you're pondering the fact that the Eclipse Spyder has none of the elaborate rollover protection systems you find on the Volvo C70 and other premium brands. As in all convertibles at this price point, you want to avoid flipping the car.
Helping out on that score is a low-slung chassis, a notably wide track, and pretty generous tires on the 18-inch wheels supplied as part of the Premium Sport package on our test car. (Standard wheels are 17-inchers.) The spyder is much less likely to tip than your average SUV. In fact, its handling is more in the sports-car league than anything else, and the car pulled 0.83 g on the skidpad with its all-season OE rubber shuddering in protest.
Out on the road, the spyder turns in responsively and hangs on well, pushing progressively into squealing understeer at cornering speeds most ragtop clients will never attain. There was some cowl shake evident in all models on poor surfaces, but it's not pronounced enough to annoy anyone, and the GT's firmer springing actually seemed to lower the frequency and improve the perceived quality of these vibrations.
The lusty 3.8-liter V-6 also produces some fight in the wheel when you floor the accelerator, but it's not the erratic, unpredictable torque steer such as you'd find in an old Saab 900 Turbo--more of a slight weaving pressure against your hands. Since the V-6's broad torque spread (assisted by electronic valve-timing control) encourages low-rev operation and short-shifting, most of the time the wheel feels calm and isolated.
As its appellation suggests, the Spyder GT is more of a grand tourer than a back-canyon scratcher, and its roomy accommodations--in front, at least--and interesting interior design make it a relaxing place to be. Spyders get Mitsubishi's 650-watt Rockford Fosgate nine-speaker stereo system (it has a forward-firing subwoofer mounted in the rear-passenger compartment) with a six-CD changer and MP3 capability as standard equipment. This is an extra-cost option in Eclipse coupes, and it rocks strong and clear, easily loud enough to drown the wind rushing past the radically raked windshield.
But all it takes is 19 seconds spent putting the top up and you'll have an acoustic environment better suited to an in-car hi-fi experience. Either way, the stereo system recognizes whether the top is up or down and provides frequency equalization accordingly.
There are three interior treatments available: Techno-Sport (dark charcoal), Hi-Q Sport (medium gray), and Avante Garde (terracotta). We like the terracotta best, where a two-tone design emphasizes the wave-shaped dash-panel pad. Mitsubishi says the instrumentation was based on that of high-performance motorcycles, but they're clearly thinking about touring models on that one, because the latest sport bikes typically feature a single gauge integrating an analog tach and digital speedometer.
Nonetheless, the floating twin gauges have an interesting look to them, even if they do have too-small-for-bifocaled-geezers LCD displays for the odometers and the toggling trip-computer functions.
Okay, maybe the Eclipse models are aimed at the younger set with their excellent eyesight and improbable hairstyles, but the fact remains that convertibles are largely destined to land in the hands of retirees and aging bluebeards, if not literally in rental fleets in Hawaii, so perhaps larger displays might be in order. Particularly since the Eclipse itself has spread in size and mass along with the aforementioned mature clientele.
With a promise of competent handling, wind-in-the-hair speed, and Japanese durability all in one extroverted package, the Eclipse Spyder GT ought to appeal to both child-free and empty-nest drivers, even if there is just about enough space in the rear seat for kids. As an argument for attainable exotic status, that isn't too bad.
