Mitsubishi Colt VRX

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
>> Engine, drivetrain and chassis: 4.5/5.0
>> Pricing, Packaging and practicality: 4.0/5.0
>> Safety: 2.5/5.0
>> Behind the wheel: 4.0/5.0
>> X-factor: 3.5/5.0

Mitsubishi’s trying hard to attract new customers -- and putting a sporty face on its smallest car is just one tactic.

The baby Colt comes in five versions, including a $32,990 cabrio and a David-and-Goliath-style turbocharged version. The VRX sits in the middle, but if you want more mumbo, you’ll have to talk the people in the Ralliart jackets -- they do the tasty turbo version, but will extract $29,990 for your pleasure.

Indeed, the $19,990 VRX is more realistic and more useful in the everyday real world.

The styling is challenging -- small wheels at the very extremities of the car maximise interior space, but the result is something akin to a shopping trolley with windows. However, once you’re inside the surprisingly spacious, flat-floored cabin, the odd looks are soon forgotten.

The control layout is tidy and thoughtfully ergonomic; typically Japanese, everything is where you’d expect it to be -- no surprises, no fumbling. Build quality is exemplary and thoughtful design is evident.

It’s no cheapie (and the clever-clogs CVT autobox adds another two grand to the bill) but nor is it a base-line base-ment dweller either -- it’s got a fair list of features, including a startlingly enthusiastic 1500cc engine that delivers 77kW  -- over 100hp in the old money.

While stump-pulling torque is not usually the preserve of skinny multi-valve, twin-cam, fuel-injected, high-compression (10:1) Japanese fours, the Colt manages to make 141Nm available at 4000rpm -- and in a car that weighs under 1050kg at the kerbside, that’s more than adequate.

The entire Colt range gets electrically power-assisted rack and pinion steering, MacPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension and a 45-litre fuel tank -- which would seem to be too small, but for its abstemious 5.4lt/100km appetite. Interestingly, the factory claims a better rate of consumption for its auto VRX, although careful driving in the manual version saw us bettering the stated figures.

Careful, though is boring -- and the manual VRX is so much fun to drive briskly, that “boring” never lasts long.

Big 185/55R15 tyres on smart alloys and a taut but compliant suspension give the car altogether more grip than seems decent, so long as power is constantly applied. It clings tenaciously to the road, as long as the motor is spinning hard -- which isn’t a chore, thanks to the slick manual gearbox.

However, the VRX is very much a tar-baby -- taking it onto a dirt road reveals that the wide tyres float on gravel and steering becomes somewhat lottery-like. More than that, a shortage of under-skin sound-deadening turns the car into a very taut drum -- with you in it.

Drive onto a gravel road and conversation ceases, so deafening is the din of stones on the tin.

ABS-equipped brakes, complete with a brake-force distribution function to boost safety are the sum of the active safety functions onboard. Passive safety extends to twin front crash-bags, an anti-intrusion brake pedal and the basic architecture of the chassis, dubbed RISE by Mitsubishi.

Side and curtain airbags are a $1200 factory-fitted option and may take months to be available in your choice of body colour.

Cited as a five-seater, the Colt’s dimensions will ensure that passengers are either small people or extremely close friends -- and the centre rear spot only gets a lap belt anyway. For that reason alone, we’ll deem it a four-seater.

The rear seat is mounted higher than the front row and even with it in place there is a little luggage space, its volume aided in no small part by the employment of a space-saver spare wheel.

Given that two-metre farmers are unlikely to be shopping for a small car, the driver’s seat is both supportive in the twisties and comfortable on the super-slab for less-generously-built adults.

Some potential owners will be swayed by Mitsubishi’s 5/10 year warranty; the factory and local Mitsu team have huge faith in their products. Justifiably so, in our experience.