The 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a neat five-seater SUV and would well suit a family of four. Mitsubishi has ditched the twin back window and made the car 14cm longer! That's a substantial increase, so lets see how that affects things as a BabyDrive…
The obvious upside is the increased legroom, we found a 184cm passenger could sit in front of a rear facing child seat in either front position.
Two child seats fit nicely in the back of the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, it is spacious so it feels like it should fit three! Perhaps with three of the slimmest child seats on the market then you might get them to fit but I could only install two. Although it's longer than before the new Eclipse Cross is no wider.
There are ISOFix points in the two outer rear seats, which were easy to connect to.
There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three rear seats that are easily accessible through the boot. They are not within plastic guides, you have to find them within the seat back fabric and I found them relatively easy to connect to.
Boot space was also slightly increased in the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and it fits two more shopping bags than the previous model.
Tandem, single and double prams and strollers all fit in the boot of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. I found that a twin pram fits nicely in the boot with three shopping bags beside it.
A medium sized dog will travel comfortably in the boot of the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross.
Storage throughout the rest of the vehicle is good, there are two cup holders in the front and rear and good sized door bins throughout that will hold large refillable water bottles.
There is only a single map pocket in the back of the front passenger seat.
But the glove box has a handy little shelf in the top of it which is perfect for your purse and keys.
The media system and screen is a much welcome improvement. There is a new 8 inch screen and the track pad controls of the previous model have gone.
The media system has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and you can adjust the volume of a lot of the sounds and beeps the Eclipse Cross makes from within the media screen, which is FANTASTIC for parents so they don't disturb our little passengers!
There are no rear aircon vents in the back of the central console box, which meant our rear passengers did find it hot at the back in the Australian climate.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a smooth and quiet car to drive. I found it fuss free and the kind of car you can just get in and go which is what you want for a family car so you can keep your attention on the road. Although it has been made bigger I found it agile around town and easy to park in super market and school carparks.
There is a good seatbelt visual on the front dash so you can clearly see if any rear passengers take their seatbelts off.
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
How big is the boot of the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross?
I could get 12 shopping bags in the boot of the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, which two more than the previous model. The same amount as in the Hyundai Tucson and one less than the boot of the Kia Sportage which holds thirteen.
In the previous model the boot was a tight squeeze to fit a twin stroller but it fits really nicely now in the 2021 model with room for three bags of shopping.
The tandem stroller fits with five shopping bags beside it.
A single pram fits in the boot of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross with six shopping bags beside it.
A compact stroller fitted in the boot easily with nine shopping bags.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as my daughter's lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
The boot floor of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is nice and flat and carpeted big enough to carry a medium sized dog comfortably and perfect for an emergency nappy change!
The retractable roller blind stores in the edge of the boot floor which makes a bit of an obstacle in the floor. The cargo blind is nice and light but I always find them hard to remove without damaging the sides of the car and the Eclipse Cross is no exception!
There is a light and a bag hook on the side of the boot walls too.
How good is storage inside the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross?
In the front of the Eclipse Cross cabin, there are two cup holders in the central console that will hold a disposable and re-usable coffee cup and a large refillable water bottle fits in them too.
The central console box is the same as the previous model (shown in the picture) it's a good size with a tray in the top for sunglasses.
In the glove box there is a shelf at the top that I found handy for storing my wallet and keys when I pop out with the kids and the bottom section is a practical size but not large enough for an iPad.
The door bins in the front will hold a large refillable water bottle and an iPad.
In the back there are two cup holders in a fold down armrest in the central seat back. They are a good size to hold a re-usable and disposable coffee cup and a large refillable water bottle fits in them too.
There is a single map pocket in the back of the front passenger seats that will hold but not conceal an iPad.
Door bins at the back will hold a large refillable water bottle and the little storage well handles too.
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
How noisy is the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross?
The 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross was not as beepy as it's predecessor thankfully and you can adjust the volume of a lot of the beeps and alerts within a page on the media screen.
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
The seatbelt removal beep is very high pitched, you get that along with a dashboard light flashing up to let you know whether the front or rear passengers have their seatbelt fastened, which I think was a good BabyDrive feature.
I found you can come to a stop in the Eclipse Cross and open your door to get out and take your seatbelt off with the engine still running without any alarms going off!
Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car I am not a bad mother!!)
The media system has been modernised to now have a good 8 inch screen which is no longer controlled by a track pad in the central console.
It has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which I find makes life much easier and you can access all your podcasts, Spotify etc while driving along.
The reversing camera image is nice and large, filling the whole screen, but the image is a bit milky.
The cruise control buttons are on the right side on the steering wheel and they are easy to use. It was relatively accurate on undulating roads and motorway driving.
I was pleasantly surprised that the new 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is much quieter and smoother to drive than the previous model with much less road and wind noise.
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
How many child seats fit in the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross?
The Eclipse Cross is a five seater SUV. In the back there are ISOFix points in the two outer seats, they are not within plastic guides but are still easy to connect to.
There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three seat backs, hidden behind the seat fabric and easy to connect to through the boot.
I found installing the child seats was quite simple. I could only fit two child seats in the back and it is nice and spacious.
We found legroom is very good in the new 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and a 182cm passenger could sit in front of a rear-facing child seat in both the driver and front passenger positions.
Posting Bub into their seat from outside is much improved in the new 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. It seems the door openings come further back behind the seats so you have room to post bub in to their child seats (especially rear facing child seats).
Posting Bub into their child seat from inside the car is fine as the interior feels spacious.
Australia being a country of weather extremes – blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!
With one child seat installed there is plenty of room to feed Bub in the back.
The seats in the base model ES version I tested were woven upholstery, which perhaps would not wipe clean very easily with children spills and crumbs!
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
How comfortable is the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross? And How good is the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross to drive?
The front seats of the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross are nice and comfortable but the front seat headrest does allow for a ponytail!
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get it just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The second row of seats is split 60:40 and they slide independently for legroom so you could have a bit of extra boot space on one side and extra legroom on the other for example.
With rear facing child seats installed the legroom in the cabin is good and I found sitting in the back the rear seats are comfortable too.
The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.
There is a lit vanity mirror in both front visors but no sunglasses case in the ceiling.
You can press on the front and the rear interior lights. The rear ones are in the ceiling and can be reached from the driver's seat, which is fantastic!
I often will reach back to turn on the interior light if I am driving at night time, I find my little girl gets less distressed traveling at night that way. It helps if I can reach the interior light from the drivers seat so I can turn it on and off whilst driving. I often find my daughter will need it on as we start our journey in the dark but once she falls asleep I can turn it off.
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
Rear visibility in the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is good, the split rear window has gone but I didn't find I missed it and the side mirrors help when manoeuvring and parking.
There are handles above the rear doors to hold a child's toy and a baby mirror fits well on the headrests.
There are lots of panels of black shiny plastic in the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross which I'm not a huge fan of personally as they get smudgy finger prints and dust show up on it. There are four aircon vents across the front dashboard. Two in the centre below the media screen and one at either end. There are no air vents in the back unfortunately, not even on the more expensive models.
You can control the aircon using the controls below the media screen, I found them easy to use while driving.
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
How safe is the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross?
The 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating that it shares with all models from 2017 onwards, with an adult occupancy protection score of 97%, and rating of 36.9 out of 38 points.
It scored 7.96 out of 8 for the frontal offset test, and 8/8 for both the side impact test and the pole test.
For child occupancy protection the Eclipse Cross scored 78% (38.2 out of 49.)
The crash test performance for a 6-year-old scored 10.95 and the crash test performance for a 10-year-old scored 10.04.
In the testing they found in the frontal offset test, dummy readings from the 10-year-old dummy indicated weak protection of the neck. The protection of all other critical body areas was good or acceptable for both the 6-year-old and 10-year-old dummies. In the side impact test, protection of both dummies was good and maximum points were scored.
For child safety features and child seat installation the Eclipse Cross scored 6 points for safety features and 11.25 points for installation check.
Of the testing ANCAP said:
In the frontal offset test, dummy readings from the 10 year dummy indicated weak protection of the neck. The protection of all other critical body areas was good or acceptable for both the 6 year and 10 year dummies. In the side impact test, protection of both dummies was good and maximum points were scored.
For pedestrian protection, the Eclipse Cross was scored 80% (33.8 out of 42) and for safety assist it was scored 71% (8.6 out of 12).
The Eclipse Cross does have seven airbags as standard, dual frontal and side airbags in the front, drivers knee airbag and curtain airbags for the second-row side passengers.
The Eclipse Cross comes with antilock braking system (ABS), autonomous emergency braking (AEB) city, interurban and vulnerable road user, automatic headlights, automatic high beam, electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), daytime running lights (DRL), hill launch assist, reversing collision avoidance and speed assistance – manual speed limiting all as standard.
Adaptive cruise control (ACC), Blind spot monitoring (BSM), Lane departure warning (LDW) are not available on base variant but standard or optional on higher variants.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub’s asleep!
Be the first to comment