1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder Gs Convertible 2-door 2.4l: Does Not Run on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mitsubishi Attrage brochure reveals additional looks, info

If you're keen to get a closer look at the upcoming Mitsubishi Attrage global sedan, we've got good news for you. A handful of brochure images have made their way to the web courtesy of IndianAutosBlog.com, complete with driveline details. The compact car looks to have its teeth set on taking a chunk out of the Nissan Versa. The Attrage will launch in Thailand with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine good for 76 horsepower coupled to either a five-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission. The combination should yield a range of around 570 miles with an 11 gallon tank. We'll save you the math: that's over 50 miles per gallon, though we wouldn't be surprised to see a more powerful, less efficient engine show up on the US-spec model. Buyers can also enjoy snazzy 15-inch alloy wheels.
Expect to find a rearview camera, push-button start, Bluetooth audio and automatic climate control indoors. This information gives us a pretty good idea of what we can expect from the car once it touches down here in the US, though final details - including powertrain - remain likely to change somewhat.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV US launch delayed over battery shortage

Mitsubishi resumed full-scale battery production in August after a five-month shutdown due to a safety investigation. Supplier Lithium Energy Japan has been delivering 4,000 battery packs each month since September, but that's apparently still not enough to fill the overseas inventory pipeline for the Outlander PHEV and i subcompact EV while launching the Outlander PHEV here in the US. So instead of the previous tentative launch date of Fall 2014, the plug-in hybrid's Stateside on-sale date has been pushed back until 2015.
That's according to Automotive News, which also notes that Mitsubishi has sold 11,300 plug-in Outlanders this year, though that number reflects the production stoppage over the battery issues. As of April, battery supplier LEJ will be able to supply 5,000 packs per month just for the Outlander, but company president Osamu Masuko has gone on record saying that production will have to rise above that in order to make the US launch.
Every Mitsubishi dealer (and hopefully a fair number of consumers) will be looking forward to a crossover that, for the moment, doesn't really have natural rivals. The Outlander PHEV can drive 32 miles on electricity alone, has a top speed of 75 miles per hour in EV mode and offers all-wheel drive with a towing capacity of over 3,000 pounds. The model should get an impressive MPGe rating from the EPA when it finally arrives and it figures to be a bellwether for the plug-in Outlander Sport and Pajero utility vehicles that are expected to arrive after it. Hopefully 2015 will be its year.

The worst rally driver you've ever seen

Fast cars and excellent driving skills might be the easy answers when asking how to succeed in rally racing, but after watching this video, a good teammate is obviously an important aspect of this sport, too. During the 2013 Rally of Coimbatore in India, driver Samir Thapar and his co-driver, Vivek Ponnusamy, didn't seem to be on the same page as the two attempted to navigate the course in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
We'd probably hear drastically different stories if we talked to Thapar and Ponnusamy about this particular event, but you know things are bad when "stay on road" and "turn the wheel" are commands given by the co-driver (and yes, that's a man running for his life in the screen shot shown above). As it turned out, though, it seems like the Ponnusamy was justified in his concerns to take care of the racecar. Race results show that despite winning three of the seven stages, this team ultimately ended the race with a DNF.
Scroll down to watch the video, and even though it's been edited down from almost 40 minutes to less than four, we get the idea that it wasn't a pleasant experience for driver or co-driver.