1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse Gst Hatchback 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1986 Dodge Ram 50

After years of selling the Isuzu Faster with Chevrolet LUV badges here, GM replaced it with the S-10 in 1982. Ford sold Mazda Proceeds with Courier badges for even more years, but ditched the Courier once the Ranger became available as a 1983 model. Chrysler was able to put truck beds on Omnirizons at that time, but didn't have the deep pockets to develop its own rear-wheel-drive small pickup; for this reason, Dodge-badged Mitsubishi Forte pickups continued to be available in the United States all the way through the 1994 model year. Here's one of those trucks, found in a Colorado car graveyard. The first Chrysler-imported Mitsubishi Fortes showed up in the United States as 1979 models. The Dodge-badged version was known as the D-50, while Plymouth dealers got theirs with Arrow badges. The Dodge D-50 became the Ram 50 for the 1981 model year, while the final Plymouth Arrow trucks were sold as 1982 models. Just to make things more interesting, Mitsubishi started selling its own vehicles in the United States beginning with the 1983 model year. That meant that the Ram 50 had to compete for sales with a near-identical twin sporting Mitsubishi badges. Things in the Chrysler-Mitsubishi universe got even more exciting a bit later, when there were four marques selling essentially the same car here simultaneously: the Mitsubishi Mirage, Plymouth Colt, Dodge Colt and Eagle Summit. All of the Dodge D-50s and Ram 50s came with Mitsubishi power under their hoods. This one has a 2.0-liter SOHC straight-four rated at 88 horsepower and 108 pound-feet. For a while, a 2.3-liter Mitsubishi diesel was available in the Ram 50. It had been discontinued by 1986, however. This one has the base five-speed manual transmission. It appears that this truck was being used for long-term storage of many, many boxes of random household stuff when it was banished to this place. Much of the stuff was scattered on the ground nearby. Perhaps it was parked at a rent-a-storage facility and got evicted for lack of rent payments. Much of the contents consisted of stacks of newspapers and magazines from the 1960s and 1970s. Here's an Art Buchwald column about then-Vice President Spiro Agnew from February 23, 1971. Here's a Beetle Bailey strip from the same year. There's plenty of history in the junkyard, if you know where to look. There must have been a half-ton of paper in this truck when it arrived here. Sadly, some family's photo albums were here as well.

Mitsubishi Mirage will reportedly get the axe in 2025

The Mitsubishi Mirage, the car that everyone loves to hate, might not be long for the U.S. market. Reports have it exiting stage left by the end of 2025 with no successor in the works. The compact has the ignominy of being the cheapest new car available in the U.S., with an MSRP starting at $17,340 including destination charges. The report comes from an unnamed source who spoke to Automotive News. However, Mitsubishi spokesperson Jeremy Barnes declined to comment on whether the Mirage is getting the axe in two years. "It's a vehicle that we still see as having a role in our portfolio at this time," Barnes told AN. "It fulfills the role of an entry-level vehicle." The Mirage comes in either hatchback or sedan profiles and is powered by a 1.2-liter 3-cylinder making 78 horsepower and 74 lb-ft of torque. While it is often panned for its low power and basic interior, the Mirage does offer a brand spanking new car with a 10-year,100,000-mile powertrain warranty. Also, it comes standard with features like Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, Bluetooth, remote keyless entry, power windows, cruise control, and USB port – none of which are necessary to go from point A to point B but are nice to have. Plus, it's rated at 39 mpg combined and comes in fun colors. While options like the Nissan Versa and Kia Rio still exist, Cox Automotive reported that the only car to actually sell below $20,000 in July was the Mirage. Nevertheless, Mirage sales are down 44% in the first half of 2023. The list of affordable cars grows ever shorter, with options like the Toyota Yaris, Ford Fiesta, and the excellent Honda Fit all having exited the market in recent years. Meanwhile, the average new car price has increased by 47.7% since the pandemic, partially due to supply chain issues. A recent iSeeCars study found that even the pool of late-model used cars below $20,000 has shrunken dramatically, from 49.3% of sales in 2019 to just 12.4% today. All this while the number of more expensive, larger and more luxurious cars continues to expand. Once the Mirage is gone, Mitsubishi will have, like Ford and GM, a zero-sedan lineup. Like many, Mitsubishi is preparing for an all-electric push, with plans to debut nine new BEV models globally by 2030.

2017 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV arrives in the US after a long wait

After years of delays, the 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will finally go on sale in the US this fall, and the plug-in hybrid crossover will make its debut to the US public at the New York Auto Show. The model was originally supposed to arrive here in 2014, but various problems kept pushing back the date. The Outlander PHEV uses a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and an electric motor at each axle. A 12-kWh lithium-ion battery stores the energy. Depending on what the driver demands, the system can operate in three modes: full EV, series hybrid where the combustion engine acts as a generator for the battery, and parallel hybrid where the engine and motors work together. Mitsubishi isn't discussing US output or economy yet. Compared to the version in Europe and Japan, the company plans to tweak the Outlander PHEV for this market. The changes include things like removing support for CHAdeMO charging to due a lack of support here. When Mitsubishi showed the PHEV to journalists earlier this year, the styling was nearly identical to the standard Outlander. The only minor changes were the addition of the charging port and different badges. The Outlander PHEV will also be available with an array of safety and infotainment tech. For example, customers will be able to order a multi-camera system, Forward Collision Mitigation with pedestrian detection capability, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross Traffic Alert, and an infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV MAKES U.S. DEBUT AT THE 2016 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW • 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to go on sale in United States in fall 2016 • Already the top-selling PHEV in Europe, Outlander PHEV is the world's first plug-in hybrid SUV • Outlander PHEV delivers SUV capabilities and EV fuel economy NEW YORK, NY March 24, 2016 – Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) today showed the much-anticipated production model of the all-new 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) at the 2016 New York International Auto Show. The Outlander PHEV is a perfect culmination of Mitsubishi's history of automotive excellence: 50 years of electromobility and decades of four-wheel drive technology honed on the international rally circuit. Featuring a highly efficient 2.0-liter gas engine and two high-performance electric motors, and Mitsubishi's superior Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) system, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is a very capable PHEV.