Penumbra

Template:Infobox vehicles

“

High performance compact car for the kind of person who drifts around corners with a baby seat in the back. Recently discontinued, so may be worth waiting a decade or so for it to become ironic cool.

”

— Southernsanandreassuperautos.com description

The Maibatsu Penumbra is a two-door coupé in Grand Theft Auto V.

Design

The design of the car is clearly based on the North American styling of the 2012 Mitsubishi Eclipse

The sides of the car feature the common Japanese geometric styling and the flared front quarter area is where a long, straight body line begins at about half the car's height. The main body line runs parallel to the bottom edge of the side windows of the car. The car features polymer covered B pillars. The car's roof is finished with a black polymer and is outlined by a very smooth curve that runs into the third box section of the body quite smoothly. The lower edge of the rear windscreen is completely curved. At the very top of the car, the roof appears to be finished with a black polymer insert. The car features ten spoke wheels, wrapped in low profile tyres.

The rear face of the car features a sharp curved edge at the top which spans almost the entire width of the car's body. Beneath this, there is a horizontal brake light strip, which is as wide as the license plate. The manufacturer emblem is located centrally, just beneath the strip. Either side of the strip, at the edges of the body there are chrome-backed rear light units. The rear lights feature three straight edges and then a curved edge which makes the unit decrease in height towards the edges of the car's body. The units are split into four main sections, two inset on the chrome area and then two beneath. Below the lights, the central body area is impressed with it's top edge being in line with the lower edge of the rear light units and it's outer edges in line with the rear light's inner edges. License plates are mounted centrally on the impressed area. A sharp line signifies a different facet of the rear bumper. Most of the lower area is covered by a polymer insert with curved outer edges. This area houses twin-rectangle exhaust tips, close to either edge and a central duct. At half the height of the lower bumper insert area there are horizontal lines signifying secondary pieces of the bumper at its base.

Performance

Engine close-up.

The car is powered by a low-revving V6 that sends power to the wheels in a front engine, rear wheel drive layout (contrasting with the FF layout of the Eclipse GT and SE). Despite the car's sporty appearance, performance is only just above average.

The top speed of the Penumbra is satisfactory, as it is comparable to the speed of a Sentinel. After modification, its top speed is close to that of a Fusilade, meaning a large improvement. Acceleration however, is rather unsatisfactory.

The brakes are very weak, as the car takes a while to come to a full stop. The overall feeling of the vehicle is heavy and cumbersome, in spite its sporty looks. Pretty bad choice as a getaway vehicle in a chase as it's easily outmatched by most police vehicles.

The only attribute worth metioning is the handling, as it is good. When given proper modification at Los Santos Customs, the overall performance improves remarkably, with acceleration being the best upgrade it can get.

Overview

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Gallery

Front/side end of the Penumbra

Hao's-penumbra-car-front-gtav.png

Hao's customized Penumbra (Rear quarter view)

PENUMBRA .jpg

The Penumbra first seen early in a screenshot

Hao's unique Penumbra

Hao's orange Penumbra has already many modifications included, such as upgraded bumpers, engine, exhaust, lights, hood, roof, skirts, spoiler, turbo tuning, and modified rims. This is a good opportunity to obtain an almost fully modified vehicle in the early stages of the storyline for free.

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How to obtain it.

1. Steal a Tow truck/Large Tow Truck.
2. Go to the Strangers and Freaks side mission.
3. When you get there don't get out of the tow truck, instead shoot near him to scare him off.
4. Then hook the vehicle up and tow it back to your Safehouse.
5. After your done placing it in your Safehouse garage, save and load the game and the car will be unlocked.

Locations

GTA V

• First seen driven by Hao, waiting for Franklin at the starting point of the Chamberlain Hills street race. Unobtainable by normal means but by the method mentioned above.
• Sometimes it may spawn driven around Alta, Vinewood and Rockford Hills.
• In front of Grove Street Garage, especially when loading the game.
• When switching to Trevor Philips, he might spawn chasing a damaged Penumbra through the Los Santos River while driving his Bodhi (or any vehicle that the player previously acquired before switching to Michael and/or Franklin and back to Trevor without getting Wasted or Busted while playing as either of the former two).

GTA Online 

• Has a higher possibillity of spawning if the car is requested by Simeon Yetarian.
• Can occasionally be requested by Simeon.
• Can be bought from Southernsanandreassuperautos.com as of patch 1.13.

Trivia

• The default radio stations for the Penumbra are:
  • GTA V: Los Santos Rock Radio, Vinewood Boulevard Radio or Radio Mirror Park.

Cultural references

• The Penumbra was described to have been recently discontinued. This is a reference to how the real life Eclipse was discontinued in 2011.
• The Uzer wheels that appeared on this car when it was first revealed, strongly resemble the RAYS CE28N wheels, a well-known wheel design amongst tuners.
• The car's name relates to the Eclipse, as "Penumbra" are elements of a shadow and an Eclipse may involve a solar system element passing into a shadow.
• The low-revving V6 might be inspired from Mitsubishi Eclipse SE's large 3.8L V6 engine, which tops out around 7,000 rpm, which is rather low for a NA engine mounted in a sports car.
• Penumbra´s custom spoiler may be a reference to the Nissan 370z amuse spoiler.