Why all the Big NA Engines?

[AG4]

Interesting. I thought the 1G Eclipse (including my Plymouth Laser) was jointly developed by Mitsubishi and Chrysler. I guess it must've been under license then.

Its a joint venture with Chrysler(it had chrysler badged versions) but it was really more of a shortened Galant platform wrapped in a sleek coupe body.

But, I certainly know about the weight......My FWD turbo Laser barely weighed 2800lbs with a full tank of gas vs the AWD Talon/Eclipse which was almost 300 lbs heavier. Even for a front-driver, it was a great-handling car with good hp to weight ratio.

Being light, thats what many miss about the Eclipse.
The 1st gen Eclipse GSX(AWD Turbo) has a curb weight of 3108 lbs for the manual and 3186 lbs for the automatic.
The FWD GS Turbo had a curb weight of 2745 lbs

The current FWD Eclipse GT with a 3.8 liter V6 has a curb weight of 3472 lbs for the manual and 3538 lbs for the automatic.
For comparison, the larger RWD V8 Mustang GT has a curb weight of 3483 lbs.

The new gen Eclipse is actually closer to the 3000GT(aka GTO in Japan) in terms of weight and size.

early 90's 3000GT

2007 Eclipse GT


The 3000GT was powered by NA V6 and V6 Turbo engines and was available with AWD.
Like its small brother, it also had Chrysler badged versions.

[OTEP]

It was called the Dodge Stealth IIRC. :D