Some people see the Big Picture. They don't want the details. They hire people to manage the little niggling bits. They care about the Vision. (The concept, not the car.)

As a service to those folks, those for whom the bottom line is all, here's our review of the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX:

Fast. Comfortable. Tough. Sticks like a leech. Big, broad-shouldered fun.

Should that not satisfy those of you who crave detail, or should you not believe in untrammeled perfection, read on. The real story about the Eclipse GSX is that despite a number of small -- and mostly very subjective -- shortcomings, the Three Diamonds folks have turned out one heck of a car.

After bringing to this country some really good tuna and even better airplanes, Mitsubishi began importing the cars they already sold elsewhere around the world. America's first-generation Mitsubishis, the Tredia, Cordia, and Starion, were well-engineered, but their unique styling and quirky interiors quickly gave Mitsubishi an offbeat image.

Over the years, Mitsubishi has kept their technical strength while bringing their cars more into the mainstream. That effort culminated in an engineering and production partnership with Chrysler which brought forth the original Mitsubishi Eclipse, sold also as the Plymouth Laser and Eagle Talon. The Diamond-Star triplets quickly gained a reputation for affordable performance, borne out by strong sales and racetrack dominance, particularly in SCCA's Showroom Stock A category.

Last year, Mitsubishi announced a divorce from Chrysler, but not before introducing a new Eclipse, styled in California and still built in Normal, Illinois. The new cars appeared as 1995 models, and it was obvious from the start that Mitsubishi had decided to run with a whole new crowd. The new Eclipse was longer, lower, and wider, with distinctive, much more complex styling than its predecessor. Fuller, more rounded forms gave the car a much tougher look -- one which placed the Eclipse somewhere between the sport coupe crowd and the ponycar herd.

The first thing we noted about our silver GSX was the length of the standard equipment list. Built around the 2.0-liter turbo engine, the GSX comes with almost everything else you'd need. Leather seating is standard, as are CFC-free air conditioning; power driver's seat, windows and locks; the 8-speaker Infinity CD stereo; and, of course, full-time all-wheel drive. While our tested car went out the door for just over $27,000, you can pay far less and still get a lot of Eclipse.

From some angles, it looks like a whole lot of car, too. The Splendid Co-Driver noted the heavy rear quarter view, with lots of metal and not much glass. And a passing urchin summed up the back end: "Mister, your car has a big butt." Well, a lot of us do, Poindexter. Scram.

We don't care for the esthetics of that vast-bumpered rear, but Mitsubishi points out that it helps keep airflow attached to the car, minimizing wake turbulence and contributing to a .29 coefficient of drag. We suspect it also contributes to the Eclipse's quietness at speed, about which more later.

Her Splenditude liked other parts of the Eclipse's shape, while thinking them not too well-integrated. The clean, well-streamlined nose got high marks, particularly the aero headlights. She appreciated the many curves of the body, quite a departure from its predecessor. We disagreed on the concave C-pillar, which she liked along with the surprisingly long backlight. Despite many compound curves, that rear window is free of distortion. And the turbine wheels show lots of brake.

While some may not care for the styling, it's certainly much more aggressive and fuller than the last Diamond-Star cars. And not much else looks like this car. On our Cranial Rotation Factor: Impending Whiplash.

From the inside, that styling is most evident in three places. The first is a noticeably lower cowl compared to the previous Eclipse. That lower cowl gives greater exposure to the second styling point, increasing the prominence of the bulge, located directly in front of the driver, required to fit the 2-liter turbomotor under the low hood. To some, that bulge whispers "power." To others, "unfortunate engineering fix." Is it a bug or a feature? Drive it and decide.

Third, the rear quarter windows, elongated outside to flow into the rear deck, are a tidy triangle from inside the car. The outer glass is much longer than the actual window cutout. We liked the actual shape of the windows; it's almost a shame that the stylists felt the need to elongate them on the outside.

Note to Sunday motorists from the "elbow-up" school: The Eclipse has very high door sills. Coupled with the low greenhouse and the curvature of the roof, you feel as if you're sitting very far back in the car, because you see a lot of car. The relatively low and steeply-raked windshield means that even medium-sized drivers (I'm 5'11") sit close to the roof, although the seat is height adjustable. With the moonroof privacy panel closed, we'd almost feel claustrophobic. (Even this is a big step forward from the previous generation Eclipse.) In truth, though, there's a lot of room here. Some sport coupes cramp you. Not the Eclipse; there's room to move around and stretch out. It just doesn't look that way.

You can see the rear wing in the mirror, but that's the only clue as to where any corner of the car is located. The base of the windshield is very far away, and there's a vast expanse of plain grey vinyl between you and it.

The Eclipse's steering wheel is thick, slightly slick, but you can get a good handful of it. (That's not incredibly necessary, though, as the AWD tracks straight and true even under acceleration.) Power windows feature auto-down. Map lights are integrated into the mirror, and are very directional, lighting the passenger's book without annoying the driver. This is A Good Idea. New for 1996 are three buttons on the driver's sun visor; this is the HomeLink system, which can open your garage door, turn on your house lights, and fire up the popcorn machine before you get out of the car.

The driver-oriented cockpit seems almost to wrap around you. The whole center panel is curved toward the driver, which (the SC-D notes) impinges a bit on passenger footwell space.

Interior fit is pretty good; the folks at Normal screw things together well. Unfortunately, the grey plastic is rather plain. There's plastic that looks like plastic, and plastic that doesn't look like plastic. Most of the Eclipse's interior plastic looks like plastic, although we suspect it would be better in a darker color. The only fit issue we saw came when rinsing half of Pennsylvania off the car; some water came in the rear of the driver's window.

The rear seat isn't huge, and the Eclipse's low roofline makes transport of those much over 5'6" awkward, but manageable. (Rump room's tight, too.) Without folding the rear seat down, the cargo area swallowed a week's luggage for two and Christmas presents for many; there's a lot of room back there should you want it. You run out of ability to close the hatch long before you exhaust the other dimensions of this cargo compartment.

Interior features include small map pockets, about the right size for maps, in both doors; in the center console, an ashtray and a cupholder under a door; and the (microcassette-recorder-sized) center storage compartment hides a second cupholder, with cutouts for mug handles.

White on black gauges detail speed, engine revs, oil pressure, water temperature, fuel level and boost. The two primary instruments are large and legible. The ancillary readouts are grouped in two smaller cutouts, with turbo boost and oil pressure sharing one, and fuel twinned with water temperature. They're a tad busy to read quickly, but on a more niggling point, the pairings seem odd; I'd have preferred to have oil and water together, then fuel and boost, if boost is even necessary. It's fun to watch the gauge go up and down, but it's a lot more fun to feel that boost translated into performance.

Wipers have adjustable delay, as all cars should and too few do. Side mirrors, though, are smaller than we'd like. Her Splendidness applauds Mitsubishi for putting the passenger grab handle on the A-pillar, "where it belongs", rather than over the window. She also wished the passenger seat had the same range of adjustments as the driver's throne; "after all, unhappy passengers distract the driver!"

An engineering oddity: The windshield washer filler is located differently on Turbo Eclipses than on normally-aspirated variants. On the turbo, it's in the channel around the rear hatch. The drawback is that the hole is quite narrow, and you have to pour very carefully. The issue is less spillage than speed; fluid that misses the opening runs down the channel to the rear bumper, but pouring too fast creates bubbles that force all the fluid down the channel. We found that a 25-cent funnel alleviated the problem.

ON THE ROAD

This isn't so much an agile car as one well-glued to the road. Partly it's the width of the car, partly it's the big footprint of 55-series Bridgestone Potenza RE92s, but the Eclipse gives a terrific sense of being connected to the pavement. It's more stable and surefooted than many heavier cars, thanks to lower-profile tires and suspension tuning. Add to that the gather-and-scoot AWD, and the Eclipse inspires great confidence. Going up hills, you don't need to shift this car as much as you think, because the boost responds to overcome any lugging of the engine. But you will shift it, just to keep the motor in the sweet range, and those shifts will be clean and perhaps just a bit of notchiness (probably attributable to our test car's youth.)

Dynamic elements go together better and more smoothly than in the previous generation package we drove in the Eagle Talon. Mechanical bits haven't changed much, but the car's overall refinement is noticeably higher.

When you drive a turbo, you gotta talk about turbo lag. Well, there ain't much. You can hear the whoosh very faintly when it's needed, but the Eclipse makes more than adequate power even down low. The sense of reserve power when needed is very strong in the Eclipse. It's not massive, V-8-like torque, but the four comes on quickly, and with boost from almost the very bottom end. If you need it, it's there.

When it's time to take advantage of an opening in traffic, the Eclipse shines. You have both the wonderful gathering up of all four wheels and, unlike a front-wheel drive car, weight shifts to powered wheels, and the AWD puts the power where the stick is. Also, torque steer and rear-wheel drive oversteer are absent, so maneuvers are smooth and without surprises. The Eclipse is stable and happy doing 80 mph, and asks for more. "It cruises beautifully in 4th," noted the Splendid One, "and then you realize there's a whole other gear to go. It's like finding extra stuff at the bottom of your Christmas stocking."

Even at speed, the Eclipse is rather calm. The lack of wind noise (remember the .29 Cd) and faint tire noise add up to a quiet cabin. Turbos have come a long way in the last fifteen years; the Eclipse's blower is not at all intrusive, and it adds a bit of fun when it goes whoosh! Although the AWD is performance-oriented, it adds a strong sense of confidence when encountering wet or snowy roads, as we did in Pennsylvania. Even on wet surfaces, power application is smooth. In turns, the Eclipse GSX stayed flat, with just a bit of push.

Ride is very good, and well-controlled. Over even bumpy pavement and frost heaves, the car stays stable and tracks smoothly. Despite feeling solid, it's not at all uncomfortable. It'd probably be even smoother in the less aggressively-suspended models, but why on earth would you want to do that?

The heater is more than adequate to keeping things warm, even with the sunroof ajar on a freezing day. The SC-D notes that selecting floor heat also gives you heat from the door vents, which seems a little odd if the goal is to warm lower extremities only.

Cruise control is run by a little paddle sticking out of the steering column. Faithful readers will know that I've groused before about non-standard cruise control arrangements, and this one is that; however, it's actually better than any other cruise control arrangement I've used. RESUME and ACCELERATE are up; COAST and SET are down; flicking the paddle toward you cancels cruise control without braking or forgetting the set speed. It's a cinch to use without looking. Kudos to Mitsubishi on this one.

The EPA says you might get 21 miles from a gallon of gas in the city and 28 on the highway; we saw 21/27 with a low mileage engine and a lot of time in 4th gear on the snowy roads of Pennsylvania, so they seem to be pretty good guessers.

CONCLUSION

The Eclipse, particularly in GSX form, is hard to pin down. Is it a musclecar? Is it a sport coupe? Does it matter?

The Splendid One has one view: "I'm not sure whether this is a guy car or not. It has lots of power, and it's very pleasurable to drive a car that just has so much power. I was very surprised at how it wished to be let off the leash right out of first gear. But I'm not sure this car was meant for me. It was like a large, powerful animal... but a friendly one."

For me, it's closer to Dance 10, Looks 3. But in the end, it doesn't matter what you call the Eclipse GSX -- as long as you call it a lot of fun to drive. Then again, I guess we're Big Picture folks.

POSTSCRIPT

Near the end of our time with the Eclipse GSX, the SC-D and I were involved in a single car accident resulting from untreated black ice on a major highway. We'll post a separate story about that experience, which involved our first air bag deployment, but two points are important to make here. First, the accident was in no way related to the Eclipse or any of its features. Indeed, the ABS and all-wheel drive combined to make the accident less severe than it would otherwise have been. Second, despite an angled barrier impact hard enough to set off the air bags and significantly rearrange the car's nose, the Eclipse remained fully drivable, and was in fact driven from Buffalo to Baltimore under its own power. So add one further accolade to the Eclipse: Is strong like bull.

Go to Mitsubishi

1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX

Base price 23, 910. Price as tested: 27,022

Price as tested includes: Anti-lock brakes, 716; Keyless entry, 334; 10-disc CD changer, 769; floor mats, 49; mudguards, 93; power sunroof, 731; destination, 420.

Copyright 1996, Backyard Aerospace

Hard Drive is a trademark of Backyard Aerospace.