Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £7,999 to £12,849
Energetic and refined engine, cheap to buy, well equipped.
Obtrusive A-pillars, small boot, fidgety ride, poor attention to detail.
Irritating foibles ruin an otherwise cheap and cheerful alternative to the usual superminis.
The Mitsubishi Colt is reasonably refined: the 1.3-litre is unflustered and smooth. Wind noise is well-suppressed but road noise at motorway speeds is intrusive.
The Colt does not cope well on poor surfaces. It fidgets on anything less than perfectly laid tarmac, failing to filter out bumps and broken asphalt. The Fiesta and Corsa would shrug them off with ease.
The redesigned interior increases the Mitsubishi Colt's loading capacity but it still lags behind its rivals. With the rear seats up you get 186 litres of space, far less than the Fiesta's 295 litres. Put the seats down and the Colt yields 1,032 litres, which is more than the Fiesta but still short of the space offered by the Renault Clio and the Vauxhall Corsa.
You do get enough leg- and headroom everywhere to feel comfortable but the seats are woefully flat, offering little in the way of support when cornering.
On equipment levels alone, the Colt represents really good value for money. It completely outstrips the Fiesta, the Corsa and the Clio.
Entry level three-door models offer electric front windows, 'coming homing' lighting, stereo with CD player and MP3 connection. Move up to the CZ2 three-door manual and you get air con, 16" alloys, remote audio controls, front fog lights, cruise control and heated electric door mirrors - all for the bargain price of £8,799.
A six-speed Allshift AMT (automated manual transmission) that offers a more fuel-efficient alternative to a conventional automatic is available on the 1.3 CZ2 for an additional £500.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mitsubishi Colt
wrote on 18 08 2007
wrote on 21 09 2006
wrote on 10 08 2006
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wrote on 25 06 2006