Mitsubishi Colt

Unlike the Smart Forfour with which it shares its underpinnings, the Mitsubishi Colt seems to have struck a chord with British buyers. It’s solid, affordable and dare we say it, fun.

• Comfort

  It's tricky to get small cars to ride well, but Mitsubishi seems to have managed it with the Colt. Despite all that stability at speed, it's not so firm as to be uncomfortable. The only let down is the constant throb of the three-pot engines.

  

• Performance

  The weedy 1.1-litre is city only stuff, but the turbocharged 1.5-litre in the CZT is a corker, with bags of grunt and enough torque to make even motorway driving a doddle.

  

• Cool

  The basic Colt is cool for its total lack of pretension. It does a simple job and does it very well. The CZT is cooler still, just because it's a proper, old school pocket rocket.

  

• Quality

  It should come as no surprise that the Colt is well built. The Japanese have had a handle on that for some time now. But it's also really imaginatively designed and nicely finished in here too.

  

• Handling

  The Colt has proper hot hatch characteristics, with sharp steering, lots of grip and an agile chassis. It doesn't roll much either, despite that high roof line, meaning it's remarkably composed in a quick corner.

  

• Practicality

  The Colt has an ace up its sleeve on this score. Not only is it just plain big inside, with loads of light and headroom front and rear, the back seats are totally removable, creating a sort of micro van.

  

• Running costs

  Good fuel economy and low tax brackets make the Colt inherently cheap to run, but beware of the CZT's Group 15 insurance. You could end up spending a horribly high percentage of the car's overall value there.