Faults:

The air-con died last summer and the auto mechanic says will take between $200 - $1500 to fix it, depending on when leak springs up next.

Engine guzzles oil, takes approx 0.5 liters a month.

Fan has occasion problems (turns itself off when on setting three).

Some hoses have had to be replaced recently due to perishing, namely heater hose into the cabin, and carburettor coolant hose.

Needs often self maintenance (oil, filters etc) or else power, economy and performance drop.

General Comments:

Fuel economy is fantastic - doing the run to and from University I can get by with filling it up twice a month, however when run in "Economy mode" (different gear ratios) it barely has the power to get itself moving. Better to use "Economy" as an overdrive on the highways.

Power leaves a lot to be desired (even in "power mode"), however being a teenager I tend to drive like one. The colt won't be out dragging anyone. (but it sounds like it could).

No serious rust as yet, but I have seen it as a big problem in other Colts.

Great handling, and easy to park. Great fun to drive.

Best thing of all, it's cheap as - picked it up for $1000.

Faults:

The car always smoked! And badly too. I tried keeping the oil level low, and using 'splitfire' spark plugs to minimize the visibilty of the smoke, but to no avail... our car used a litre of oil every month or so.

We once had a mechanic do a service on our Colt and he put too much oil in the motor -and that spelt the end of the car next time we drove it.

The car had fairly bad rust on the bottom edges of the side doors.

Our air conditioning pump would squeal badly, this was certainly annoying as the air-con on this car was otherwise superb!

General Comments:

Mitsubishi would make excellent cars if they didn't all have the 'smoking' problem. I heard that they use 'softer rings' in their engines -this is why I probably won't buy another Mitsubishi (though I do hear the post-1994 Mitsi's have fixed this problem).

Good economy. Great automatic transmission.