The dash is a cabin-spanning, single piece of pleasantly finished plastic that invites optimism about reduced buzzes, squeaks and rattles as the car puts on miles and years. The dash visually moves away from the front passenger as it nears the door, adding a perception of roominess. Yet the lower portion of the right side of the dash subtly incorporates an anti-submarining knee bolster. The frontal airbag supplemental restraint is masked by a seamless surface.

Stereo and climate control knobs are all refreshingly un-PDA-like and finger friendly. Atop the dash above the center stack is Mitsubishi's trademark hooded panel with digital readouts for audio, time and compass. A matching, but larger hood shades the instruments, positioned directly in front of the driver and comprising simple, easily scanned, analog speedometer, tachometer, fuel level and engine coolant temperature gauges. The Eclipse employs a unique approach to providing both miles per hour and kilometers per hour data, with mph on the speedometer's face and kph digitally in a window along with the odometer and trip meter. Night-time instrument and dash lighting is tinted blue, which clashes with the dash-top LCD panel's opaque beige.

The center console differs between the manual transmissions and the Sportronic automatics. The manual setup sports a traditional look, with a leather-like boot around the shifter capped with a leather-wrapped knob rising out of a flush, bright-metallic surround.

The Sportronic goes techno, with a shift lever that appears to slide along and pivot on a shaft deep within a less-traditional, raised, tubular-like base. From the Drive position, pushing the lever to the right puts it into the Sportronic gate. From there, semi-manual shifting is intuitive: pushing it forward selects a higher gear, pulling it back, a lower gear. In terms of function, the arrangement works, but in form, it's less than satisfying.

The handbrake, though, is correctly positioned, on the driver's side of the center console next to the shift lever. To its right is a pair of cup holders with a cover that folds down into the console to the passenger side of the console. Aft of this is a covered, reasonably deep storage bin, with an auxiliary power outlet and slots for toll change.

Front seats are comfortable, sufficiently bolstered for mildly spirited driving and adequately cushioned for a day-long, interstate drive from California's southern-most region up through its lush Central Valley to the state capital without numbing occupants' posteriors. The '06 provides more room, too, than the '05 for those occupants.

Rear-seat comfort appears to have been sacrificed in favor of more front-seat comfort, however. The rear seats are less commodious than those in the '05 model. There are also no head restraints. Suffice to say, the back seats are better used occasionally and for short drives.

Interior door panels are swoopy, but mostly functional, with a good-sized handle and convenient, child-safe power window buttons. If only the latch lever were more ergonomic. The glove box is adequate, but the door-mounted map pockets are too small to be of much use.

Cargo space drops more than a full cubic foot from the '05. The liftover height, while not much higher than that of the average trunk, presents a fairly thick rear bulkhead, requiring a back-straining lean to heft items up, over and into the cargo area. And we regretted not having the optional cargo net in our car; during several hundred miles of travel and a week's time around town, our suitcases and grocery bags tended to roam freely therein. Rear seats split 50/50 and fold as necessary for longer objects.