Our long-term '06 Eclipse will be leaving the fleet this week, having completed its year-long test. I spent one last weekend with the car, and my feelings toward this front-drive coupe are as conflicted as ever. On the one hand, I like the driving position (which feels natural and familiar every time I get in), the low-end torque of the 3.8L V6 (and the deep exhaust note), the gearing and precision of the six-speed manual transmission, the generally comfortable highway ride, and the accurate steering. On the other, I'm annoyed by the car's huge turning radius, nose-heavy feel, lousy rear visibility and surprising amount of road noise (prompting me to crank the Rockford-Fosgate's volume and equalizer settings to deafness-inducing levels)...
Although I'm fond of the car, I know that I couldn't buy an Eclipse GT in its current form and be happy with it. For this kind of money ($27,694 as tested), there are too many other good cars, namely the Mustang, the Mazda RX-8, even the Civic Si.
We'll be publishing a formal wrap-up on the Eclipse, but for now its final odometer reading is 19,973 miles. Average fuel economy for the last year is 20.2 mpg. Best tank was 28.1 mpg. Worst tank was 11.8 mpg.
Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor
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