Originally I was thinking of putting the V6 Eclipse against the V6 Mustang, but the V6 Eclipse is priced about the same as the Mustang GT. So even with a picture of a pink Mustang and the sportier Eclipse, the V6 Mustang still dominated this week’s showroom showdown by a 2 to 1 margin (and for those of you who think you can stuff the ballot, we can see when someone votes more than once). I thought that "John" summed this one up nicely:

I am definitely an import fan but in this case I would go with the Mustang. The V6 mustang has really good bang for the buck, and just because these are the lower end models of sports cars doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be sporty. The eclipse doesn’t even really represent the import community very well. It is huge and fat. When an import weighs as much as a mustang you are doing something wrong. Mustang for the win…

Stay tuned for another epic battle next week!

This week’s Showroom Showdown is the battle of the base models. The base Mustang is RWD, has a 210 hp V6 and weighs 3,300 pounds. The Eclipse GS is FWD, has a 168 hp four banger and weighs 3,263 pounds. Both are available with manual trannies, have useless back seats and come in right around $20k. (Note: as some of you have pointed out, that is the Eclipse GT in the pic, NOT the GS). Which would you choose?

One of my good friends and fellow NASA driver instructor Dave Brown and I have raced together with NASA for years. Lately Dave has been having a little fun helping Mitsubishi with a program called "Epiphany Project." Customers who have recently purchased a Mitsubishi Eclipse get to take the car for a drive around a "test track" with Dave riding in the passenger’s seat, and the new owners are led to believe that Dave is simply a Mitsubishi rep. After their little ride around a closed course, Dave asks them if they would like to swap seats and let him show them a few of the car’s features they might not be aware of. What they don’t know is that Dave has been racing since the beginning of time, not to mention that he is a two time U.S. Touring Champ. Thanks to the in-car camera, we get to witness some of the unforgettable reactions on their faces while Dave calmly flogs the car around the track. Great job Dave!

A couple of idiotic teenagers were attempting to catch some air at an intersection and get some glory on YouTube when they wrecked their 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Authorities said the car did go airborne, but the 16-year-old driver lost control of his car, drove off the road and hit several trees before rolling the vehicle. The driver was ejected and is in critical condition. His 17-year-old female passenger was pulled from the car by friends who witnessed the incident. She was treated at a hospital and released. Police said the driver’s friends were too scared to record the video with their cell phone camera due to high speeds, estimated at 70 to 85 miles-per-hour.

Hmmm, sounds like the driver wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Well, we know CarDomain members would never do anything this stupid for CarDomain video. kstar.com via VWVortex.

I spent the weekend down in Daytona Beach covering the Spring Break Nationals Car Audio Competition. Were you there? Man… Tons of hot cars, cool products, a bright warm sun, girls in bikinis…. This job is really rough sometimes. I don’t know how we do it. You know what keeps me going? Cool stuff like this:

• The guys at EyeCandy in Orlando Florida brought an absolutely INSANE Hummer limo to SBN. Stretched, third axle, six 30" chrome wheels, full Pioneer A/V DJ system, marble floors, suede and leather interior, and… a throne. Seriously. Check it.
• Scosche has a new dash kit available for all you 2007+ Mitsu Eclipse owners. You can finally dump the factory radio and upgrade. For real.
• The guys at Al & Ed’s Autosound checked out the new Pioneer AVIC-D3x in a smart FourTwo. We’ve got the video, and it’s dope.
• Orca design just developed a new marine audio grille that’ll keep Focal speakers dry in your boat. It uses a mesh backing like that used on an Injen cold air intake. The stuff is called "hydro-phobic polyester". No you can make your owns waves in audiophile style.
• Infinity just released the deets on the new Kappa speakers, and we’ve got all the specs and lots of pics! THey look like a million bucks, but come in under $250!
• If you’re an audiophile who likes to spend ridiculous amounts of cash on your car (like me), then these new Morel Elate Limited speakers are right up your alley! Carbon fiber cones, bad-ass crossovers, and they ship in a big metal suitcase. Morel calls it a "gift box", but it looks like a case the Transporter would carry.

We’re making kind of a big exception with the Showoff pick this week, because generally, we like to see big, glossy pics of the nominee. But even though Justin seems camera-phobic, his page is extremely compelling. Head over to his page to see what we mean. Congrats Justin!

The Mitsubishi Eclipse received a minor refresh for 2009, and is being officially unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show. In addition to a few visual tweaks to bring it more into line with the new Lancer, the 3.8 liter V6 has been bumped up to 265 hp. Left Lane News has tons of high-res pics of the coupe and spyder.

Many think that the current Mitsubishi Eclipse does a rather lackluster job of upholding the performance legacy established by the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive, highly moddable Eclipses of decades past. But the Concept-RA that Mitsubishi unwrapped at the Detroit auto show may send enthusiasts’ hearts a-fluttering yet, even if it doesn’t end up replacing the Eclipse in the brand’s model line. The big news about the Concept-RA is that it’s a diesel. The 2.2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder makes 204 hp, which doesn’t seem like that much until you consider that 310 pound-feet of twisting action is on tap. That’s enough to make you glad that you got caught at a red light, since taking off again will be so much fun. Although no fuel economy figures have been released, the Concept-RA is one of those "clean diesels" you may have heard about, which means it can run on ultra-low-sulfur fuel and its bumper isn’t going to turn black from soot. Best of all, the Concept-RA will emphasize high-performance driving dynamics thanks to a low curb weight (there’s a great future in plastics) and Super All Wheel Control. The latter is like combining all-wheel drive with an advanced traction control and then putting the whole system on steroids. The results just might be spectacular.

That’s right folks… I’m heading to Vegas this weekend. I’ll be there all week bringing you the latest and greatest in the car and portable audio world. Of course, CarDomain will feature some the hottest cars at CES right here in the blog, but for complete coverage make sure to keep your browser peeled to our recently redesigned sister site SoundDomain.com. DVD players? Yep. Navigation? You-betcha. Bluetooth? Count on it. iPod adapters? Satellite radio? In-car computers? LCD’s? Alarms and remote starts? Yes, uh-huh, yes, yeah, and you know it! We’ll be meeting with Directed Electronics, Alpine, Clarion, Pioneer, JBL, Infinity, Rockford Fosgate, MTX, Kicker, Eclipse, and Maxxsonics, just to name a few, and we’re going to have the most comprehensive coverage on the net for all things car. But in case you think we might miss something, speak up and let us know what you want to see!

By John

Community Editor

The Eclipse is one of the most mod-friendly cars out there, and Daniel has certainly taken advantage of that fact. What a sick ride! Check out all the photos on his page! Congrats man—we can’t wait to see what you do next!