Used 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2dr Hatchback (3.0L 6cyl 4A) Consumer Reviews
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Great used car over100K
The 3g Man, 05/19/2010
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2dr Hatchback (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
24 of 24 people found this review helpful
2003 Mitsubishi eclipse Gt, v6, Sportronic shifter. Great Exterior look, except the fake vents in the front.v6 engine good power for automatic shifty, not good for turbo boosting.Alloy wheels great touch and clean. Inside, Cheap plastic interior (which is good If you ever need to replace it). I like it. No leg room for people over 5'11. Very small in the back, good for newborns- preteens and adults, no. Seats are very comfortable for long driving. Gas mileage is good, 22 ct/27 Hw. $30 to fill. Slow start@shifting through 1st gear but gets better at 2nd. Expensive 6 cyl tuneup ($550). Timing belt+labor $640. Maintenance regular. Premium gas only. Mits is having a recall, don't get black.
My first officially owned car, totally worth it
Term, Tampa, FL, 04/06/2016
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2dr Hatchback (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
The 2003 GT Eclipse is great! I recently traded it in for a brand new Mazda3 which is also fantastic, but I often find myself missing the Eclipse even though my Mazda3 is fully loaded and is very fun to drive itself! The car drove extremely well but certainly was not meant to be tuned as it wasn't fast and the engine was.... interesting to work on to say the least. That's certainly not saying that it was not fast enough to pass other cars with ease when called upon. She was an absolute head turner, I powder coated the stock rims black and put limo tint on the windows which REALLY made her stand out from the crowd. When I had the sunroof flipped out, she was one of the sportiest cars on the road. I didn't have the leather interior but it was still perfect with how Mitsubishi laid everything out. The sound package that came with her was fantastic and I never needed to touch it as it was spot on. I did, however, swap the head unit with something more modern (bluetooth). Mechanically, this car was partially sound. Downsides were replacing wearing parts such as the timing belt (yes, it has a timing belt in the v6) and maintaining the suspension which became a headache near the end of my ownership. The cruise control solenoid failed near the end too, which left the "Cruise" light on and the actual unit unusable. Another issue that apparently a lot of Mitsu's have is the engine burning and leaking oil, which at 139,000 miles on mine was a serious problem, every gasket on the engine was leaking oil (head gasket, valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, and even the main rear seal which was NOT WORTH IT TO FIX AT ALL). I did a lot of the maintenance work on it myself such as replacing a cracked radiator which resulted from road debris, the front bumper which a truck backing out of a parking spot poked a hole into with their hitch, replacing spark plugs and cleaning the intake. I can't say my knees didn't take a beating from doing this work as a result of the v6, but at the end of the day it was easy and Mitsubishi designed this car to be easy to maintain and allowed me to cut my teeth on car maintenance for the first time. It had very slight rust issues but that's easy to overlook because it only affected specific parts of the car. I love this car and would recommend it to anyone. I enjoyed it and still really miss her, wish that I could have kept her but the dealer gave me a trade-in offer that I couldn't pass up. I hope if anyone ever owns my car in the future, they can fix her up properly and give her a garage that I always wish I could have provided. :)
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2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse for sale near you
Showing 3 of 5 listings
- GT 2dr HatchbackMSRP: $3,495180 mi away
- GS 2dr HatchbackMSRP: $3,499437 mi away
- GS 2dr HatchbackMSRP: $5,9901,933 mi away
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WassuP!
MrX, 08/02/2003
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2dr Hatchback (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
This is one of the most fun and reliable car I ever owned. I didn't think I would have bought the car until I test drove it. Once I test drove the car I knew I had to buy it. What a great investment. Two words... Test Drive!
Close to perfect (for me)
Payback_56, 11/08/2003
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2dr Hatchback (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The car iteself is great, has a great feel to it, good handling, tight on turns. Able to handle speed well Came with side of steering column busted, but they were fast to fix it, excellent service.
Beneathe the Silver Lining
NJJ, 10/01/2003
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2dr Hatchback (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The new eclipse is a cloud of deceit without the silver lining. Coolant system with poor circulation, and very poor quality engine components. Wait until you go through a winter with snowy, salty roads and watch your engine compartment rust out. If you make it to 36,000 miles your transmission is likely to start giving coast down clunks and clicking noises. Poor quality rims dent easily on 2002 models. Intake and exhaust systems are inefficiently designed, negatively effecting performance. Beautiful car from the exterior, after a year looks like a rusty '78 Dodge Dart. Dealerships talk their way around fixing problems and the car still sells.