Faults:

Cracked manifold.

Slight rusting underside.

Passenger seat slides.

General Comments:

As far as first cars go, this was pretty good.

Going on the 130000 mile mark, and still no problems since I got it.

Seems to have a mind of its own, as some days it won't overtake a lorry, and others it would floor a Celica.

Absolutely brilliant for reliability, but really let down by fuel efficiency. 34mpg is most I've ever got.

Some new fuel injectors and spark plugs could help here, but I'm still counting the miles until it dies.

Overall fantastic though.

Faults:

Alternator died, but easily replaced with a second hand one.

Heater matrix radiator burst, sending steam into the cab from the air vents, very big job replacing this as the whole dash has to be removed.

General Comments:

This is a pretty quick car for a 1.6, it's the RS lightweight model so has better cams and valve springs than the normal ZR Mivec, and no electrics or air con etc.

Quicker than the equivalent DOHC Vtec Civic, which I also owned. Fuel economy was good too with about 400-450 kms per tank.

The handling was great, I had it sitting on 16" Enkei alloys and lowered 40mm on Cusco springs.

Not much room in the back for adults, but then again, it's only a 3 door hatchback.

Faults:

The front discs tend to heat up very quickly and they have been glowing red on several occasions.

General Comments:

The colt is a superb little car, even though the BHP is only 89, the torque that it pushes is phenomenal.

The interior in the Mirage is far superior to that of the other models.

The body kit is also amazing for a factory standard car.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

The car looks great, but doesn't live up to its looks.

Performance is reasonable, but the gears aren't that great - you need to spend too much time in third to really accelerate. It would be better if it was more even across all the gears.

Handling is good, but you're afraid to push it too hard.

The reliability has been excellent - no problems here, although it would be nice to have a longer service interval than 9000 miles.

The killer is the depreciation, particularly after Mitsubishi dropped the price by 15% not long after I bought. I was being offered trade ins of £4000 on a car I paid £12,000 for just over two years ago. Sell it privately if you can.