USED Mitsubishi Colt Hatchback (04 - 13)

My car

It was time for a change. My Toyota Corolla Verso was getting old, my children are now adult and a large MPV was no longer desirable.

The highest priority, (as I hate giving money to the Pirates of Parliment) was economy, It also has to be totally reliable. Reliability to me usually means Japanese.

So, Honda Jazz or Civic, Toyota Yaris and ..... the Mitsubushi Colt.

A genuine Tardis: if you don't believe me, try it and see. Room for rear seaters means a small boot though.

A slightly different looking dash, with a curious design/layout, works acceptably and actually pretty good at night.

Front seats, as hard as sin, but comfortable on long runs, (perhaps a tad more lower back support would be good?)

Economy. Driven with MPG in mind, gentle-ish aceleration to 70mph, on long runs returns 62-64 mpg. Everyday about town and short trips 56-59mpg. Driven hard with pleasurable burning off of other drivers 47-52mpg

Please note, these figures are tank topped to tank topped, and have been so metered since purchase.

Brakes. Excellent. Steering. Sadly, bland. Also slightly heavy.

The Allspeed gearbox is clever and very smooth, very rewarding with both auto and manual much to my taste.

Diesel Engine. It's good .... very good.

Handling. Chassis has a nice stiff character.

Biggest moan. The mirrors are not electric.

Sum up?. A very much more accomplished car than it may at first appear. I really like it!

My car

My wife and I had been looking for a small economical car for some months and stumbled across this great little 2006 blue Colt.

We test drove it and my wife loved it. The good points first: it is not a 'Euro box' and there are not thousands on the road. The interior room is superb and the whole car inside and out has a very funky look about it.

Fuel economy is very good, and the interior is well equipped for such a cheap car. Ours has air-con fitted as an extra. Again for a small car it seems very comfortable with good all-round vision, except for the door pillars that we all seem to talk about. In the car's defence, I think all cars in this mould have the same problem.

From a driving point of view, the little engine runs fine - you would not realise it has only three cylinders!

The only negative thing I would say about the car is the road noise, especially over some of our more dodgy road surfaces.

All in all, we think this car is fantasic value and you cannot have everything you want at a cheap price. If you want a small funky car, buy one of these.

My car

I went for a Jazz based on the JD Power list. There were none in stock so I bought this Illusion Blue Colt.

After getting home I discovered via the web that I had got one with all the extras - electric rear windows, air-conditioning, power steering and removable rear seats, so I was really chuffed as I only paid £5600 from the dealers.

I found it a remarkable performer for a 1.1. I had bought it to drive to Spain, so imagine my pleasure in discovering Mitsubishi gives full European breakdown all over Europe - great.

I love it, will keep it, and if they don't spoil the design, will no doubt get another.

My car

I'm very satisfied with the car. It has good build quality, and is fun to drive and powerful. I have owned the car for eight months and 30,000km. I highly recommend this car!