2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross GLS 1.5T from the Caribbean

T&T has its challenges (like many nations) but because we’re the most southern country of the eastern Caribbean island chain or Lesser Antilles (comprising Windward and Leeward Islands), most North American and European tourists would prefer to visit St. Lucia or Barbados. Those other Caribbean islands have a heavy focus on Tourism.

For T&T, we relied heavily on our energy sector to generate wealth which is the majority of our GDP. Having said that, although we do have nice resorts and beautiful beaches, we apparently became the “little America” of the Caribbean due to a lot of foreign investment promoted by a thriving democracy and a free market economy. So we got more business tourism as opposed to recreational/adventure related tourism. Now when I say, ”we” I mean the island of Trinidad. On the other hand, our sister isle of Tobago is where the recreational tourism is found.

If you do not want to be reminded of a first world state then Tobago is where you need to be. It’s aura is pure tropical island life. If you want to enjoy an island flavor to parties, restaurants, night life, street food, trade and investment etc then Trinidad is where you need to be. We are very influenced by the US and as such, the westernized culture is very prominent here. You will see a decent mix of American vehicles and fast food restaurant chains as well as a few American corporations with offices here.

There is an American chamber of commerce and a pretty sizable American community living here. So if you want to go to an island but not meet a fellow American then Trinidad is not your place lol.

As in any developing country based in Central America, crime as a result of drugs, trafficking, illegal immigration and gang related violence are going to be issues. If you think your southern border concerns with Mexico and their cartels seems to be a recurring problem then it’s something similar here with us. Having said that, our island is surrounded by 4 bodies of water. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean, to the west is the Gulf of Paria, to the north is the Caribbean Sea and to the south is the Columbus Channel. Where beaches are concerned, you may prefer the #1 coast line, which is the North Coast. Our eastern sea line is nice too but I would not advise venturing off to the western or southern coast lines. The only part of the western coast line you would like is based in the North Western tip of the island where the sheltered waters can be beautiful for diving, fishing, jet skiing and kayaking etc (Tobago doesn’t have this issue, all around the islands sits pockets of pure salt water and sand glory).

So, maybe you should come. If you’re into motor sports, we have that here (rally and drag), if you’re into cricket or even fast boat racing known as Great Race, we’ve got that too. If you like Carnival and all the associated parties then you will love that too. If you like your belly like I do then our food has to be the best. We have Indian, African, Creole, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Korean, American and a mixture of all available here. Our exchange rate is currently approx. $7. TTD to $1. USD. If you do come, you will party like royalty here. Only 4 direct flights from the US to here though (George Bush Houston, Miami International, Newark Liberty and JFK-New York). Flight times are as low as 3.5 hrs to as high as 5 hrs.

Now where automobiles are concerned, Mitsubishi in my opinion has seen better days in the past. Right now, our local dealership has the ASX (you would know this as the Outlander Sport), the Eclipse Cross, the L200 Sportero (known as Triton in other markets) and the commercial line of vehicles such as heavy duty trucks and buses etc. We don’t get the Outlander anymore as well as the Pajero (aka Montero or Shogun) because of heavy import duty taxes, motor vehicle tax and value added taxes imposed on vehicles. The Duty and MVT is charged based on cc rating. So the higher the cc, the bigger the tax rate.

In addition, T&T (like many nations in the Caribbean) as well as south Asian countries such as India and Pakistan etc..import used vehicles from Japan used lots and import them via “roll on-roll off”. Locally, we refer to them as “foreign used“ vehicles. Quite a lot of Mitsubishi’s are imported via this route. The Lancer is currently enjoying very decent sales as in addition to Japan, we also import used vehicles from Singapore. Right now we have a lot of used Singapore Lancers in T&T. Used Lancers from Japan are easily recognized since they’re badged as “Galant Fortis”.

Whilst America got the Eclipse sports coupe, we got the FTO sports car. We also have some genuine Galant VR4’s here and a pretty large EVO community. There are even a few Lancer CK4’s here with the 4G92 DOHC 16V MIVEC engine. It was Mitsubishi’s answer to Honda’s Civic Si and EK4 SiR.

So Mitsubishi is well represented here since there are a few clubs created and they usually have meets almost every weekend. In fact, when I was at the beach recently, I parked our EC within a group of Lancer enthusiasts enjoying a meet and greet. So much more to talk about but if you made it this far, thanks for reading. Cheers.

I've always been more of a rally guy, even though I had a national drag race track as a client for years. (I'm a graphic artist) Those years are well behind me. Now I just prefer to find a quiet chair and enjoy a drink and a cigar while the younger folk tear up the track. Place I have been to in your neck of the woods have been Aruba, Grenada, Curacao and Dominica. We've also visited most of the V.I. and Bahamas. Of those I prefer St. Kitts or St. Maartin. I will say that I found Aruba a bit dull for my taste.

As for crime, gangs, etc. I grew up in Philadelphia and spent plenty of time in New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago (and Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna). I've always found that as long as you exercise reasonable caution, you'll be okay most places. Personally, I don't see the Mexican border as a criminal problem, but a political one. If the U.S. would take it's head out of it's ... um ... dark place and legalize and regulate recreational drugs, it would put most of the cartels out of business, or at least inspect product for danger and collect tariffs from the stuff they are already selling here.

I fell in love with the Mitsubishi brand 20+ years ago when I was looking for a light duty truck and came across the Montero (Pajero) Sport. That was a great vehicle. I had it for 11 years and put 170k miles on it before i traded it in for an Outlander. The Outlander was a compromise because fuel costs were creeping up and my daily commute was longer. The Montero was not economical. The Outlander did come with what was called the "sun and sound" package. That was the Rockford-Fosgate 710W sound system and a sun roof. Those features are what convinced me to go with the SEL model of the Eclipse Cross with the Touring package. It's got pretty much every upgrade option, except for those ugly stock wheels.

Lancers are pretty popular here as are the Outlander Sport (ASX) but that's mainly because they are lower cost vehicles. Alsthough, my wife had a Lancer Sportback for 7 years and that thing was fun to drive. Unfortunately they weren't good in snow and winter is a big deal in central PA, so we traded it in on a Jeep for her. She's much happier. "Happy wife, happy life" as they say. Honda's Toyota's and Subaru's make up the lion's share of Japanese cars here, but the Toyota's and Honda's are just so generic looking. While the RAV4 did upgrade it's styling last year, I test drove one and I wasn't impressed. My mother drove Subaru's. 'nuf said about that.

As Voltaire said, "I'm sorry I wrote you such a long letter, but I didn't have the time to write a short one."

Sorry for the late response bud. I really enjoyed your write-up. Within my family/relatives, I believe this is our 7th or 8th Mitsubishi. The latest being the EC, remaining as one of only two in our fleet.

In a world impacted severely by the pandemic, right now all sectors and its representative organizations/businesses are coming up with creative and innovative ways to stay relevant. Where the automotive sector is concerned, take a look at the niche Subaru has cornered. Take a look at that strategic partnership between Toyota and Mazda. Just look at what Mazda is today. For such a tiny manufacturer with less than a quarter of the R&D budget of some of the larger players in the market, they sure do churn out some pretty exciting products.

Mitsubishi should become independent once again. They really need to break away from Nissan who is in itself a troubled company looking for some form of strategic fit in the market place. As long as bean counters at Nissan has control, we would just see a lackluster product based on similar platforms. Take the new Rogue and Outlander as an example.

In the Caribbean, and as another member pointed out, as a former colony to the UK, we are RHD biased. Logistically, our line-up and brand choices would not be as extensive as that available in the North American market, so the Mitsubishi brand itself did well over here. American vehicles aren't all that popular and we no longer import vehicles from France. The Japanese built Mitsubishi's seem to have very good reliability ratings and the Thailand sourced 2021 L200 Sportero is now available here as of a few months ago, something, that I am also considering seriously.

It would be my pleasure to give any member of this forum, a tour of our "car scene" from a Caribbean and RHD perspective especially with the Mitsubishi brand. There's groups that I can introduce you all to and you can see some really exciting stuff down here. A vacation filled with beach, sand, sun and cars sounds like fun. Unlike other islands, our cost of living here (for an American) is pretty low. You all should consider it, if given an opportunity.

For a sneak peak on our local car culture, simply search for the YT video with Dennis Gage, the host for "My Classic Car" which was once featured on the SPEED channel. He and his team flew to T&T and let's just say, they had a lot of fun. Cheers!

Some recent shots of our EC. Got some ownership updates to share soon.

These are current pics that was taken minutes ago.
Location: Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Trinidad, W.I. (Caribbean).

For the observant amongst us, we've replaced the factory supplied 225/55/18 Toyo Proxes R44 to 235/55/18 Goodyear EfficientGrip SUV tyres.

The ride quality has vastly improved. Couldn't wait to throw away those Toyo's. It had extremely poor traction on wet road surfaces and it was not a proper match for our poor third world roads we have in my country. So far this new set of Goodyears is highly endorsed. The new specs gave a slight increase in ride height as well.

In terms of vehicular ownership experience. I would rate the EC 6.5/10. We have our final 23months with this car and most probably our replacement crossover will be from Mazda or Subaru.

Yes, according to 1010tires.com, at 100kmph / 62mph as displayed on the speedometer, the new actual speed would be 98.46kmph / 61.18mph on a speed/lidar gun. The upgrade thus makes the vehicle 1.54% slower.

However, revs per mile has reduced from 750 to 738 and ride height was increased by almost a quarter of an inch.

The tradeoff to me is worth it. Those OEM Made in Japan Toyos were really disappointing. Interestingly, the Goodyears I've got were made in Brazil.

The vehicle rides smoother with less impact harshness passing through the struts. Our spines are jubilant! Steering response has improved and wet traction has vastly improved. Where I used to hydroplane before, I now have proper grip.

Handling has slightly improved I would say but the car now has an extra 'jiggle' if making an abrupt emergency lane change maneuver. Nothing to warrant stability control intervention but just a little observation I have on the new set.

Lastly in terms of visual appeal, the tyres (tires for you), does squat nicely on the rims. The vehicle itself in my opinion looks better and now has a more European stance to it. I'm hoping this set will last us for the next 23months cause I certainly don't want to spend another dime on tyres whilst we have this car.

I used to have Falken* in a previous car I owned which was the Ziex if I remember correctly and those had low treadwear ratings and did not last long on our very gruesome third world roads. The Wildpeak is for a completely different type of requirement and I suspect it will do you well for the 60k miles (should you choose it of course).

Apart from driving style, road quality plays a role in determining its life. Unfortunately for us, our roads here are more demanding on our tyres and as such its life is reduced significantly. The tropical heat also has a part to play.

Fuel economy for us this past week seems like it was reduced but we did get some unexpected hot weather and our commutes were in peak hours so gridlock traffic would have sucked petrol at an alarming rate. The air-conditioner being on full power didn't help either. Perhaps it's subjective but 1 week is not enough to form an opinion just yet.

I'd say go with the 235's. The ride height with resulting increase in ground clearance is always a plus. Ingress and egress are also improved as I'm sliding into and out of the car easier. I just hate to bend and crouch just to enter a car as this is hard on my lower spine.

I forgot to mention that we mounted the 235's onto the front wheels and turned the steering lock to lock whilst lifted and on the ground and there were absolutely no touching or rubbing.

Good luck on your decision/s, I'm sure you would make the right one for your car and yourself.

* FYI here in my country, our supply of Falken and Dunlop are made by Sumitomo but not necessarily made in Japan.