Colt Ahead By A Nose?

Here's the car Mitsubishi hopes will out-Smart its German rival and stamp its mark on the supermini sector. Based on the same platform as the forthcoming Smart ForFour, the new Colt has been revealed for the first time in UK trim, ahead of its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Chris Thorp

03rd February 2004

The Colt is the first vehicle to come from the Mitsubishi/DaimlerChrysler alliance. Both the Colt and Smart will be built at the NedCar plant in Holland, but it's clear the Japanese firm's designers have taken a very different approach to shaping the ideal supermini. For European markets, the Colt has a redesigned front end, which gives the sharp-edged, upright car a purposeful look.

The interior has also been tailored for our tastes, with a simple dashboard and versatile folding/sliding rear seats which rival those found in the similarly shaped Honda Jazz.

Buyers will be able to choose from 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5-litre petrol units, plus a 1.5-litre diesel. Both manual and automatic gearboxes will be available and, thanks to electric power-steering and suspension tuned specifically for use on British roads, company insiders are promising the Colt will deliver a driving experience to match that of the current class leaders.

Joining this five-door model on the Geneva show stand will be the CZ3 concept, a three-door coup΃© version which will go into production towards the end of the year. The car seen here will hit showrooms across Europe in May, but UK buyers will have to wait until 1 September.