Mitsubishi Colt 1.5 CZT

Got this car to replace a damaged Daihatsu YRV we were looking for a car that was not run of the mill, small but with a decent sized motor. We looked at a Toyota Yaris 1.5 sport but was swayed by the looks and more modern feel of the CZT. The CZT to those who dont know is the top of the range sports model of the Colt range only 3 door and has a 4 cylinder 1.5 turbo petrol engine 16" alloys, fog lights and sports interior. Ours is red and looks great it's as standard and been really looked after they tend to be owned by more mature drivers than the obvious pocket rockets like fiesta ST, clio 172 etc. In performance terms it's a perfect compromise 147bhp is good in a small car and has more than enough speed for me the suprising thing is the fuel economy is fantastic for a performance model, 40mpg around town is easy to achieve, on a duel carriage way with little traffic 50+mpg can be maintained as long as you dont have a heavy foot. The handling is good as the car is short and squat with fat tyres, suspension is firm but not overly so and on a smooth road you can relax, on a bumpy road you can feel the bumps but not so much that it bothers you and the car always feels composed and in charge of the physics. Only thing I will say is the steering does'nt have the greatest feel it's an electronic system and tries to emulate feel and in the wet can be a little edgy but rain biased tyres would sort it. The brakes are adequate it has ABS+EBD I have replaced the disks and pads all round and upgraded the disks to grooved/drilled I will replace the hoses with braided steel hoses for a little more feel and power, I say adequate as the calipers are one piston sliding calipers these should be at least two piston calipers on a performance car. There is a built in strut brace under the bonnet and the rear axle is very beefy. There is a lot of equipment ABS, EBD, stability control, electric windows, mirrors, AC, front/side air bags, side impact bars, fog lights, trip computer. The driving position is great with well adjustable seats that are very supportive and the interior style is great for a Japanese car. The down sides are as with a lot of modern cars are the visibility. The mirrors are huge and well positions the problem is approaching a junction or island the windscreen posts are huge and you can lose a car behind them easily. You need to relearn to approach the island and move your head side to side, it's a common problem on modern cars and to do with NCAP safety. Other problem is some of the cars suffer a stiff gear stick action you do get used to it but it does'nt flow too well. The boot is not great in size or shape the seats fold forward but get in the way and the parcel shelf is the most annoying piece of cack ever devised it and should be a roller type Chuck it. The car is great other than those little things and you would be happy. Comparing performance to other hot hatches the engine is very tunable 200bhp is easily found with a K+N filter, DEcat and chip, traction control can't be turned off and if used on the track can blunt the performance.

I bought a Mitsubishi Colt 1.1 more than 1 month ago and for what I need is very comfortable, easy to drive and modern equipped. I haven't read the booklet yet but I noticed that more it rains and faster the screen wipes go so I assume there's a sensor on the screen that I would have never imagined in a small car like the Colt.

Since when I bought it I went for petrol 3 times, averagely I can drive 200miles with £20 petrol (which makes more than half tank).

Side door mirrors are just phenomenal, they are huge and they allow to see behind very comfortably.

When you drive it you can feel that you are actually in control of it, not like many other modern cars that as soon as you push the clutch it slips forward.

What else...ah yes as specified above, my steering wheel is wonky so I was wondering if anyone else has the same problem. With this I mean that when I drive straight the steering wheel is not horizontal but it's wonky on the left side, so when I bend right it goes straight :o?. Maybe it needs to be seen by someone.

Indicators sometimes get messy, if I mistakenly touch the indicator lightly it would flash three times before going back to normal so it happened to me that I couldn't help it if it accidentally started to flash when I actually didn't need to turn (I actually get rather frustrated with this).

Anyway, overall I'm really happy with my purchase.

Wolf in sheeps clothing - only the beefy tyres give away the game - Many a German car with far more power has been put to shame thanks to the power to weight ratio!

Quite efficient at low revs and a beast when you change gear at 4.5k revs so that the next gear starts at peak torque.

Pretty good handling for such a high car thanks to the strut brace. Will fit tall people in the front and back seats (at the same time) in comfort because the car is bigger than it looks.

Rear seat slides backwards and forwards and reclines as well as folding up to provide a much bigger boot.

Rear seat is wider than in most cars which gives better support to the back of the leg for taller people.

ISOfix anchor points for baby seats.

Passenger airbag can be turned off to allow child seats to be fitted in the front seat.

one touch indicators.

Good stereo

Good engine - no problems in 3 years

Nice interior - better than the cheap interior in the colt ralliart The Mitsubishi ' s I've owned always have really good lights - you can see clearly plenty far enough ahead no matter what speed you're driving on either main beam or dipped lights.

Comfortable sporty front seats.

Interior light comes on when key removed until the door is locked.

Traction control is great I've only had it come on when I've really needed it (it once saved me from slipping over the edge of a hilly junction into faster traffic even though I was doing only about 10-15mph. A plethora of damp leaves had made the junction treacherous).

Steering wheel mounted radio/CD controls - pure genius!

Great electric sunroof - it's a shame they are stopping this pricey option.

Only get the power at high revs - driven a Saab 9-5 Aero and because of the 2.3 litre High output turbo it is always ready to overtake at any revs, the colt requires you to rev high to do the same but this is a common problem for petrol turbos.

Bad vision caused by the airbags in the A pillars - nearly hit cars at roundabouts and junctions several times because of this. The airbags should have been fitted above the doors instead of the A-pillars.

Alloy wheels are too chunky some more sporty ones like on the nighthawk would have been better.

Needs sportier suspension.

Car is bigger than it appears to be , so be careful when parking as you think it's a small car but remember it has quite a big plan form.

Drivers seat could be a bit sturdier. Brakes are used loads if you drive a turbo car properly and the silver alloys get dirty very quickly - Mitsubishi have addressed this by creating the new colt ralliart which has dark grey alloy wheels which should hide the excess dust quite well.

Alarm glitch which alarm goes off when you open the door in cold weather but easily resolved by unlocking - locking and then unlocking the car again before opening the door.

Only one fog light and reversing light - I prefer symmetry plus I think any safety related lights should be at all corners of the car. Rear seats should have some form of bucketing like the front seats to hold the rear passengers in, they are too flat at the moment and rear passengers get thrown around a bit on speedy corners.

It needs an evo vent on the bonnet to differentiate it that little bit more from the cheaper models.

If I buy a sporty car I want more choice of colour because none of the colours were the one I would really like.

Leather seats would have been nice.

Mitsi dealers have been poor and money grabbing and are steadily getting worse as they get bought up by Colt Car Company!

I've owned my CZT for three years now and I still enjoy it, it is sporty enough to make me feel like a boy racer again but is pretty practical as a family car for my two kids as well. If you have kids I would recommend that you buy your buggy wisely as the boot space when the rear seats are right back is quite small, a quinny zapp fits perfectly with room to spare though.

One criticism Mistsi - Sort the colouration of the car out blue plastic trim on the console but green lights? And then red trim in the seats to top it off, why?

Pick a theme of two colours for the interior and stick with them.

The Mitsubishi Colt is a fantastic little car which actually has quite alot of features for a budget car. The 1.5 3 cylinder engine offers very good performance and the car is very versatile. We used it to go camping and managed to fit all our equipment in the boot. It has ABS, Electric Power Steering, Traction Control, CD-Radio, Air Conditioning & lots more. The car's fuel economy is outstanding usually hovering around the 45 - 50 MPG mark. The ride is sometimes a little harsh especially on motorways, you feel every bump in the road. The engine can be noisy at speed. Plenty of space inside allowing 5 people to travel in reasonable comfort. The car has some very clever technology, such as an alarm which sounds if the passenger hasn't got the seatbelt on. It has automatic windscreen wipers which will speed up or slow down depending on the rain. Being a Mitsubishi it will probrably last for many years to come. If your after a cheapish 5 seat mini MPV - This is worth a look! Also cheap insurance being group 4 - I'm in my early 20's and I am paying £750 a year for Third Party Fire & Theft.