hey guys and gals! i am a newb here with a couple quick questions. i am possibly trading my wifes V6 mustang for a 2003 black/black top eclipse spyder 2.4 I4 tommorrow. the one we are getting is in great shape and has 22000 miles on it. how do yall like your eclipses? are there any major issues with them? any big recalls? i know the new f150s are famous for a vibration issue, any big issues with any of yalls? reliability? thanks in advance to anyone that responds, hope i didn't ask too mnay questions. :pokey:

no major problems. i think something that most eclipse owners have problems with is the passenger side window. it becomes loose to where the door wont shut all the way. you kinda have to slam the door. but thats easily fixable. the manual transmission for the v6 is crap but since youre getting the I4, you dont have to worry about that.

thats about all i can think of

i also heard the factory rims were crappy and didn't hold up well on bad roads, true?

I live in "Pot-Hole City" in Ohio and they hold up just fine. We are 10 days from Spring starting, and there is almost 1 inch of snow on the ground and still snowing. They are kinda hard to get clean though.

NO major problems but like everyone has said some minor ones, alignment, sometimes the rims as you said (I live in Jersey and I have had problems), and the most significant is the passenger side window as another member already said. Other than that you should be very happy with your purchase.

with the rims, if you hit a pothole running 60mph, forged rims are the only ones that would hold up. i dont know of one compact car that comes with factory forged rims. so you would have that problem with just about any car

great choice overall :clap: ...hehe black/black top spyder is exactly what I've got...except mine's a 2001 and the V6...

where are you getting that the manual transmission is crap? I haven't had problems with mine - is there something I should be looking out for or is it just a personal preference thing?

and as for rims, I don't remember the website, but I have heard of MANY people having problems with the stock rims (talk of class-action lawsuit because of injuries/damage after tire blowouts). granted, yes, if you hit a pothole at 60 mph you're gonna do some damage, however, I've heard of people destroying a rim at 25-30 mph through this one article I had read. they ran tests and the mitsubishi rims were found to be substantially softer than any other rim tested. when I got my spyder the one rim had a couple of tiny (and I mean small) flattened spots along the edge. I didn't think anything of it except that it gave me an excuse to buy some new rims when I got the money :grin: . about a month later that tire just completely went flat on me while I was driving. well, long story short, I got the new rims. haven't had a single problem since, and believe me, you wanna see potholes, come to Akron, Ohio. half the roads feel like you're driving on railroad tracks.

so, IMHO, plan on putting about $500-700 into some decent aftermarket rims, other than that you should be good :thumbsup:

with you manual transmission, you dont have a hard time getting into second gear at high rpms. its commonly known as the infamous "second gear grind".

about the rims, i think that was a problem with the earlier year eclipses (say the 2000 and 2001) in 2003, they changed the design of the rims so that problem shouldnt be around any more

I wish I knew that before I decided to go driving saturday morning. Was doing 12 - 15 mph around a slight bend with about 2.5 in of snow and bam! right into the curb sideways... lost about 1/4 of my rim and now am not driving it do to the exposed tire bead. But I drive a 01 so I dont know about the 03's

yeah...that would probably do it...by comparison I clipped a curb a few days ago at about the same speed :o :blink: I was afraid to even look at my rim after that one - nothing at all. lucky me. don't know for sure how the factory rim would have held up

just to let you know....that would have bent just about any rim.

sorry to hear about it though