Family car review: 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV

How big is the boot of the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV?

The boot floor of the Eclipse Cross PHEV has been raised 17mm to accommodate for the battery, which makes the boot capacity 46L smaller than in the other variants. That affects the practicality of the boot for families and it means it will only hold 11 shopping bags, where as the other models will hold 12.

This is comparable to the Kia Niro PHEV, which holds 10 shopping bags and the MG HS PHEV, which holds 13.

In the Eclipse Cross PHEV model, the boot will fit a twin stroller with one bag of shopping whereas the other variants will fit three bags of shopping.

The tandem stroller fits with four shopping bags beside it, whereas the other variants will fit five bags of shopping.

A single pram fits in the boot of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV with four bags of shopping beside it (the other variants will fit six bags of shopping).

A compact stroller fitted in the boot easily with seven shopping bags (non-PHEV variants will fit nine bags of shopping).

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 PHEV is nice and flat and carpeted. That's big enough to carry a medium-sized dog comfortably and perfect for an emergency nappy change!

The charging cables and battery are stored underneath the boot floor.

How good is storage inside the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV?

In the front of the Eclipse Cross PHEV's cabin, there are two cup holders in the central console that will hold a disposable and re-usable coffee cup…

…with a phone charging tray in front of the gear lever and a 12V socket and two USB ports.

The central console box is a good size and has a tray on the top for sunglasses.

In the glove box, there is a shelf at the top that I found handy for storing my wallet or iPad. The bottom section is a practical size too for my wallet with the manual 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 seatback. They are a good size to hold a reusable and disposable coffee cup.

There are map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold but not conceal an iPad.

The door bins at the back will hold a large refillable water bottle and have little storage well handles too.

On the back of the central console box, there are heated seat controls and a plug socket.

How noisy is the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV?

The 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV has the same updated media system as the non-PHEV models. It is not very beepy or noisy and you can adjust the volume of a lot of the beeps and alerts within a page on the media screen, including the volume of the sat nav voice, which is great.

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 media system has a touchscreen that is easy to use and navigate.

It has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which I find makes life much easier and you can access all your messaging and navigation apps as well as music, podcasts and kids' audio books while driving along.

The reversing camera image is quite small, pixellated and milky, which does make visibility a bit tricky when manoeuvring. You can change the bird's eye view to a kerb view with a button on the steering wheel.

Also in the media screen, you can track your energy flow and how much battery you have used or have left. The battery of the PHEV model does around 55km to a charge, which I found to be enough for me to do my daily school runs and commute or to sit with the aircon while my baby is asleep using battery alone, then I just charge it in the evening and it is ready for the next day.

When you are driving, the transition between the battery and engine is pretty smooth and you can see the energy flow on the media screen.

You can also see your battery and petrol distance to empty on the driver display screen, which we found great to know if we ran out of one thing the other would be enough to get us there.

The cruise control buttons are on the right side of the steering wheel and they are easy to use. It was relatively accurate on undulating roads and motorway driving.

Being a plug-in hybrid, the new Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV has a quieter start that I really enjoy.

How many child seats fit in the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV?

The Eclipse Cross PHEV is a five-seater SUV with ISOFix points in the two outer rear seats, they are not within plastic guides but clearly labelled and easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three seatbacks, hidden behind the seat fabric and easy to connect to through the boot.

Installing child seats was nice and simple in the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV and excitingly I found using the Infasecure child seats I could fit three child seats across!! I installed two Infasecure Achieve More and one Infasecure Attain More, I found they fitted forward or rear-facing.

Legroom is very good in the new Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV and a 184cm driver could sit in front of a rear-facing child seat.

The door openings in the Eclipse Cross PHEV make it really easy to post Bub into their seat.

Posting Bub into their child seat from inside the car is fine too 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 front and rear seats in the model I tested have dark leather upholstery, which should wipe clean quite easily with children spills and crumbs!

How comfortable is the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV? And How good is the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV to drive?

The front and rear seats of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV 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!!!

With rear-facing child seats installed, legroom in the cabin is fantastic and we fit a 184cm driver in front of a rear-facing child seat. I found when I sat in the back the seats are comfortable too.

The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.

The model I tested had a lovely big sunroof in the ceiling.

You can press on the front and the rear interior lights to turn them on and off. 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 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV is good, with the big sunroof and side windows it feels really open and airy. You can see well out of the back even with the three Infasecure child seats on board, which makes parking and manoeuvring easy.

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 fingerprints and dust show up easily 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, the heated seat controls are where they would be easily tampered with by curious kids.

There are carpet floor mats throughout this model I tested.

You can control the aircon using the controls below the media screen; I found them easy to use while driving.

How safe is the 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV?

The 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating that it shares with all models from 2017 onwards (although the PHEV version hasn't been independently tested) with an adult occupancy protection score of 97%, and a 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:

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 manual speed limiting.

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!