Let’s play a game of word association. Summertime… go. We think of ice cream, beaches, lemonade, and well, convertibles. But sadly, fewer people these days seem to think like we do, or at least that’s what sales of the segment would have you believe. For this reason, affordable open-top motoring is going the way of the manual transmission (and both make us cry).

Mitsubishi is one of the few automakers left that still offers a fun-to-drive al fresco experience that won’t swallow your entire wallet. Sure, there`s a multitude of convertibles on offer from the likes of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, and every other luxury/exotic auto manufacturer, but what if you don’t have $100,000 at your disposal for a summer ride? The Eclipse Spyder is available from a very reasonable $30,498 in base GS trim. Our tester was a 2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT-P finished in Sunset Pearlescent with Terra Cotta premium sport leather interior. Is there a reason the world of affordable convertibles is slowly diminishing?

Hit the jump to see our impressions of living with it for a week.

Competition
The Eclipse is strictly available as a front-wheel drive car, in either coupe or convertible form. Other front-wheel drive convertibles are quite scarce on the market today, and the ones that are there don’t necessarily compete with the Eclipse Spyder. Other current examples of FWD convertibles include the MINI Cooper convertible, Volkswagen Eos, Chrysler Sebring, and Volvo C70, most of which would probably never be cross-shopped with the Eclipse.

In the price range of the Eclipse however, there are a few rear-wheel drive convertibles available that might be more suitable as competition. The 2011 Ford Mustang convertible with the new 3.7L V6 offers 305 horsepower at a base price of $28,965. The Mazda MX-5 which is one of the most agile, fun to drive convertibles available, costs $28,995 for the base model. Lastly, if you want a little premium convertible fun, BMW’s 1 Series starts at $41,200. All this begs the question; is there a great reason to spend $36,158 for the Eclipse Spyder GT-P instead of any of these others?

Exterior Design
Visually, there are very few exterior changes for the 2011 Eclipse Spyder, in fact, our top trim model would be virtually indistinguishable from a 2009 (there is no 2010 MY Spyder) Spyder, except for perhaps the 18” 10-spoke wheels. The lower trim GS model receives upgrades in the form of two-tone front and rear bumper fascias, dual exhaust, and 18” wheels to match the GT-P.

The styling of the Eclipse is very bubbly and organic, a little too rounded for our tastes, and some even went as far as to label it a ‘girl’s car’ but it certainly draws attention to itself, especially in the Sunset Pearlescent paint that was on our tester. We received quite a few compliments on the car and especially the color throughout our week.

From the front, the car has a certain Jaguar XK look to it, especially in the shape of the headlights. Not that anyone would mistake this for a Jaguar, but the cues are there. The front also now features the Evo-style maw that is now somewhat of a Mitsubishi family trait, also recently fitted onto the Outlander. The windshield is quite long and very sharply raked and requires the use of a quarter window in front of the driver which looks a little odd.

Interior Design
One of our favourite things about this car’s interior is the attitude it portrays. Take one look inside and it just screams adolescence, in a good way, of course. Bright orange accents throughout the cabin yell ‘Look at me!’ and the Rockford-Fosgate subwoofer proudly displayed in the middle of the backseat ensures that they’ll not only see you coming, but hear you as well.

Otherwise, the design around the cabin is pretty simple, nothing fancy going on here to make you think this is a sophisticated ride. It’s a throwback to last decade when things were simpler and you didn’t need to have a nav screen and a thousand buttons cluttering up your interior. It has the things you need and want, and they’re laid out in a fashion that you can find them. Same goes for the steering wheel, which doesn’t have a single button on the face. On the back, however, you’ll find a toggle switch on either side that is easily operated and allows you to control basic stereo functions.

Interior Functionality
As mentioned earlier, the interior button layout is extremely basic, for the most part. The stereo does come with an auxiliary jack, but on the face of the stereo, there’s no AUX button to allow you to select this input. After a short period of frustratingly pushing every button multiple times, we actually consulted the owner’s manual and discovered you had to press and hold the CD button for several seconds to activate the AUX mode. This was fine and dandy, but annoyingly, it would revert back to CD mode every time the car was shut off and you’d have to press and hold the CD button each time you started the car. Please, there’s got to be room for one more button on the stereo interface to deal with this problem, it can’t be that hard.

The seats were very comfortable and sporty-looking with the two-tone leather and suede mix, but the front seats don’t recline back very far and actually didn’t allow us to set our optimal driving position. This may or may not be for the sake of the backseat, but the choice should still be there for the driver to make as to how far back to recline the seats. Speaking of the backseat, it’s funny to imagine four full-size adults going anywhere comfortably in this car because that couldn’t happen. With the front seats pulled forward, an adult can manage to fit into the back, but they won’t be comfortable and neither will be the person sitting in front of them.

One worrisome issue was the fact that even though our tester hadn’t even reached 5,000 km on the odometer, there were already signs of squeaks and rattles forming in the interior. Now obviously, life as a press vehicle means that the car will be subject to much harder day-to-day driving than if you bought this car for yourself, but even so, build quality in a modern car should be able to withstand pressure beyond 5,000 km.

Engine/Transmission
Ok then, let’s jump into the best part. The GT-V6 badge on the back means this car packs the 3.8 liter MIVEC V6 that puts out 265 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque, shovelled through a 6-speed manual transmission. That is a lot of grunt to route through the front wheels, and the Eclipse sits at just the right level of unrefined to create a raucous good time. The Eclipse is the equivalent of a high school bully. A defeatable traction control system is included, but even with the system engaged, wheelspin is almost inevitable in first, and easily achieved in second. Turning the traction control off results in laughable wheelspin. Fantastic fun!

Then there’s the sound. The exhaust note that burbles its way out of the dual exhaust tips is sweet enough to almost make you forget about some of the more troublesome bits, which we’ll get to later on. Back to the sound, which is raspy and low, reminiscent of the Infiniti G35, but with a deeper tone. In town with the top down, you can forget the stereo, it’ll just ruin the music that’s already there!

The 6-speed manual gearbox is great as well, very easy to engage with crisp, short throws and the clutch was very easy to become familiar with. The only occasional issue was with the reverse selection, which requires you to pull up on a small ring under the shift knob and throw far left and up. Even with the ring pulled up, it was easy to hit first instead of reverse if you didn’t make a conscious effort to throw it far enough over.

Handling
In a recent episode of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson compares several new convertible cars, which granted, were much more expensive and outrageous than our Eclipse, but nonetheless he made a good point. He said that in a normal car, it’s held together by a floor and a roof, but when you cut off the roof and the front and back are only held together by the floor, it’d be like attaching two cement blocks with a playing card in the middle. Perhaps a bit extreme, but you get the point. And herein lies the Eclipse Spyder’s biggest downfall; flexibility.

Our convertible resume isn’t very long, but it has some notable names on it: Mustang GT, MX-5, and 370Z. These cars all exhibited impressive behaviour as convertibles. The Eclipse Spyder, however, is a bit more of a drama queen. On rough roads, the headliner shakes and shimmies about like it’s at a disco dance party. It’s really not pretty.

Another point of contention is the turning radius, or lack thereof. Honestly, this car needs like a city block to turn around, it’s a little embarrassing. Drive this car for long enough and you’ll become a pro at 3-point turns. Pulling into parking spaces requires a little extra effort as well; at least until you get used to the amount of space you’ll need to get the job done.

Fuel Economy
The Eclipse Spyder GT-V6 is rated at 13.1/8.0 liters per 100 kilometers (city/hwy) using premium fuel. During our time with the car, we averaged 12.5 L/100 km, which leaves us pretty impressed, because by no means were we taking it easy or making any attempt to hit the projected fuel economy targets! This leads us to believe the Eclipse is possibly a glutton for punishment, and with the sound coming out of that V6, we’d be happy to thrash it all day long!

Value
Competition is scarce for the Eclipse Spyder, which may make it more attractive because it stands as a fairly unique product, but the competition that remains is not easy to ignore. With the pure driving pleasure available in the Mazda MX-5, extra power and refined interior from the Mustang, and even the sporty, go-kart nature of the MINI Cooper S challenging the Eclipse for buyer dollars, it’s tough to justify the slightly outdated interior, flexy chassis, and somewhat high price tag on the Eclipse Spyder GT-P.

Click here to see our full, high-res photo gallery of the 2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT-P.

Pros

• Exhaust note is to die for
• Raucous personality makes it a blast to drive
• Attractive exterior design

Cons

• Very flexible chassis make it uncertain for long-term durability
• Interior build quality and design is a little outdated
• High price tag to justify against competition

Base Price
$30,498 (Eclipse Spyder GS 4-cyl)

Price as Tested
$36,158

Options on Tester

• Sunset Pearlescent paint - $160

Be sure to check back next week for our review of the 2010 Honda Civic Si sedan.