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Nostalgia Alert: Watch MotorWeek’s Review of the Turbo Eclipse from 1990

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Motorweek Eclipse

Diamond-Star Motors fans, rejoice. We’ve found this MotorWeek gem from 1990 that reviews the first generation all-wheel drive Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, their pick for “Best Sports Coupe” at the time. Watch the legendary John Davis do what he’s known best for.

The Mitsubishi Eclipse, assembled in Normal, Illinois, was the result of a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Chrysler called Diamond-Star Motors, or DSM. The Eclipse and its sister cars (Plymouth Laser and Eagle Talon) were launched in 1990 and could be had with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and all-wheel drive, which is the model that MotorWeek tests in the video. The turbocharged engine put down 195 horsepower in the little coupe, which gave it respectable speed for its price. You’ve got to love those pop-up headlights, too. Those were only available in 1990 and 1991.

As expected, however, they found that the Eclipse suffered from some pretty serious understeer in the corners and the overboosted power steering made it hard to feel what the front wheels were doing. Thankfully, most people who bought these probably weren’t beating them upĀ  at the track.

The Eclipse ended up running for four generations with production ending in 2012. In the end, a total of 906,876 Eclipses were produced.