2nd OR 3rd Generation?

First off, whats up everyone, Im new here.

My question is, which generation of eclipse is better? Im looking to buy either a 2nd or 3rd generation but dont know which. I want some speed, power and handling; and Ive read that the 4 cylinder turbo is about equal to the V6 in the 3rd G?. Aloung with that, which is easier/cheaper to mod? At first I only really liked the look of the 3rd, but the 2nd's are growing on me. The reason I ask this is because it seems everyone on here has 2nds.

Speed=2nd Gen.....IMO if i was choosing, I would go with the 2nd gen turbo.

It really depends. The 2gs are gonna take alot better to mods and get more performance easier, but they are more prone to having problems than the 3g's. Also your gonna pay alittle more for the 3g GT than you will a 2g turbo, but mostly just cuz of the age of the cars.

3G= luxary and doesnt make power on mods they are generally the same as the 2G turbos stock for stock but after that the 2G will be faster with simple mods.
 
3G is more comfy and more of a cruiser car the 2G can be a head ache but be more funin the same breath

Will the 2nd Generation Turbo engine last as long/be as durable, being its only 4 cylinders instead of the 6 on the 3rd Gen GT? Also, on the 2nd Gen do you guys prefer the GS-T with FWD or the GSX with AWD?

Well I have had both a 93 Eagle talon TSI, 2000 Eclipse GT, and now a 2003 Eclipse GS.
By far the TSI was the fastest and the awd kicks ass. The 3G is a good solid car less problems then the 2G plus it is more of a grown mans car. If you want looks get a 3G but, if you care about speed get a 2G awd.

I prefer AWD. Some will argue, but for an AWD the traction is free. FWD cost quite a bit of money to make it hook up if you get any kind of power out of it.
I'd take a 2g turbo over a damn v6 any day too if that were my choices.
any 4g63 from  92.5 on up( 7 bolt ) is prone to crankwalk, do some searching for that and read up. Its not as big as evryone makes it out to be, but it does happen every so often. If you take care of it its very likely it wont happen.
I like my 93 AWD tsi and my GSX. I ran the TSi with a spooled center diff and made it FWD for a while, did nothing but spin to 70 MPH
Ive never drove a 3g so i dont have any input on those, but i wouldnt buy one personally for a performance type of car.

I had the 2000 Eclipse GT with a 5 speed for about 3 years, while it didn't have the overall speed to 60 as the turbo 2G, it was very close.  I never had a problem with the power, it had good low end torque and a quite linear power band.  I saw some road test on the car, ( 0 to 60-7.1 to 7.3, Quarter Mile in about 15.3 at 88mph.  It did handle OK but rode better than most sport cars.  It never broke down, average in the high 20's in gas mileage and the interior looked way better than a car in that price class should look.  It also had a very V-8 like top speed of better than 140mph and sounded really mean (growl) while going threw the gears.  Besides an annoying tick from the left side front, (5- speed only ) there is nothing I have to say negative about the 3G GT's.     

quote:

ORIGINAL: racerx55

I prefer AWD. Some will argue, but for an AWD the traction is free. FWD cost quite a bit of money to make it hook up if you get any kind of power out of it.
 is prone to crankwalk, do some searching for that and read up. Its not as big as evryone makes it out to be, but it does happen every so often. If you take care of it its very likely it wont happen.

dude it happens alot.  there is like 4-5 member here who in the past year have walked I wouldnt call that a every so often problem.
 
reliability get the V6
Speed get the GSX\TSi AWD

Ive had good luck with not getting crankwalk..  But I like the looks of the 2g better so it was easy for me..  Plus I like the idea of making it faster, which suits that better too

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheAdvocate

Ive had good luck with not getting crankwalk..  But I like the looks of the 2g better so it was easy for me..  Plus I like the idea of making it faster, which suits that better too

 
I agree the 2G looks are nice, I also like the 3G looks so I wouldnt deside over that but interior and comfort goes hands down to the 3G then the next thing is power potencail and fun factor hands down 2G AWD

I spent about 5 hours today driving to every dealership within half an hour, probably checked out like 20 dealerships. In all that, I didnt see a single 2g of any kind. I did see a couple 3g's, but thats about it.

ya most likely your not gonna find a 2g at a dealership, your gonna have to go private to get one.. start lookin around on autotrader or something.. just keep your eyes open

quote:

ORIGINAL: EMonz57

quote:

ORIGINAL: racerx55

I prefer AWD. Some will argue, but for an AWD the traction is free. FWD cost quite a bit of money to make it hook up if you get any kind of power out of it.
is prone to crankwalk, do some searching for that and read up. Its not as big as evryone makes it out to be, but it does happen every so often. If you take care of it its very likely it wont happen.

dude it happens alot.  there is like 4-5 member here who in the past year have walked I wouldnt call that a every so often problem.

reliability get the V6
Speed get the GSX\TSi AWD

 
4-5 out of the thousands of people on here and all the people iknow and cars i see isnt a bad number. Its every so often

well you gotta consider that only a handful of them are active members, so how many of those are there? like 100?

to me i dont care the numbers behind it. The problem with the block is ALWAYS there and the potential is ALWAYS there. It still has a pretty good chance that it can happen. Is it something you  should be aware of? yes. It is something that should automatically turn you away from a 2g? i dont really think so. Just be aware that there is such thing as crankwalk and it is not soley based on how well it was taken care of becuase it is a factory defect

I personally prefer the 3G, I would not want a 2G Turbo.  The 6G72 is a fantastic and very reliable motor, and mods are easy to find for it.  Power wise they are almost identical.

Isnt the 6G72 the 3000GT motor?
 
LOL you would say that... you are a 3g owner.
 
Not that im trying to be a d-bag.. but you really cant have that as an advantage of the 3g. The 2gs actually have more aftermarket parts... MUCH MUCH more. Not to mention a lot more potential.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sebba

Isnt the 6G72 the 3000GT motor?

LOL you would say that... you are a 3g owner.

Not that im trying to be a d-bag.. but you really cant have that as an advantage of the 3g. The 2gs actually have more aftermarket parts... MUCH MUCH more. Not to mention a lot more potential.

the 3G V6 uses the 6G72 N\A  and yes it is very reliable.  There us a huge aftermarket for the cars but the potencial is no where near a 2G

peronsally i prefer the 2g AWD Turbo anyday. for the extra money that you will be saving from the price differenc from the 2g and 3g you can do quite a bit to a 2G.  it doesn't take a whole hell of a lot to make them pretty quick.  here's my opinoin.   looks - 2g, fun - 2g, speed - 2g, handeling - toss up, reliability - 3g (unles you swap out the 2g block for a 1g 6 bolt).   also if you plan on moding a 2g i wouldn't go to a dealership, as soon as you put an exahust on there your warranty is gone.  you can pick up a 2g GSX on auto trader, ebay, dsm tuners etc etc for between 6-8k.

well you can probably pick up a 3g v6 for around 10-12 nowadays too so i dont think that the price difference is all that different. Looks and fun are both kinda opinion cuz a 3g can be just as fun and appealing. Potential definetly goes to the 2g, but thats not to say that the 3g cant be fast. Its all on what your really looking for. If you want a somewhat fast car (say that you can beat hondas all day and even beat some v6 stangs) but arnt really looking to compete the 12 sec cars then id say a 3g is better suited. Now if you want something to mod and try and compete with evo's and sti's (mostly stock or mildly modded ones of course ) then the 2g is what you want

3G GT's you can get for under $10k.

they also make supercharger kits for the 3g eclipse to make them pretty quick but i'm not sure about the exact numbers
 

quote:

ORIGINAL: RCJr9186

they also make supercharger kits for the 3g eclipse to make them pretty quick but i'm not sure about the exact numbers

I know the Ripp SDS stage III makes over 400 at the wheels but costs huge $$$$.  the stage II is like 330 and the stage I i think was like 280?  im not possitive on the I or II but I know the III is over 400

what state are you in, what region??? in so-cal. there is a dealer called focus auto sales, they specialize in imports, Eclipse, 240sx, supra, nsx, honda, silvia's, and skylines.
The owner has a built yellow r-34 ive seen it its sick.

they have 3-4 eclipses on there lot right now. gst. gsx. 95-99. i just bought a 96 gst a few months ago. runs excellent. loud revolution exhaust. probly ebay brand but it sounds excellent, not that cheap ricer sound, but a real deep sound.

http://www.autotrader.com/dealers/dda/index.jsp?dealership_view_name=focusautosales&car_id=214064444&dealer_id=41261864