| Long Term Test | Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart |
Been anywhere interesting?
In among the daily grind the Ralliart and I had a particularly memorable drive from Ettington to Chipping Norton to visit Mitsubishi's
work-in-progress enhancements that it hopes to offer Colt Ralliart customers soon. My girlfriend and I are currently homeless, so we've been abusing her mum's hospitality; handily the drive to Walkinshaw Performance was only a short blast down some great roads from our free bed and board.
Speaking to Andy from Mitsubishi at the test he said that the Colt will feel even quicker as the engine gets miles on it - the near 5,000 miles on WP58 MPV certainly backing that up. It revs freer and harder, the mid-range punch on offer sometimes still surprising me. That's handy, as around Warwickshire the roads are full of dawdling traffic and the Colt proves to be an excellent overtaking machine.
Anything stand out...?
I've had quite a few people in the Colt and everyone's commented on the performance it offers. The 1.5-litre turbocharged engine is a very strong performer, the prospect of a more powerful version in the pipeline a very exciting one indeed. After a good scrub this month the Colt was shining like new for a while, looking smart in its gleaming white paintwork. At Walkinshaw's it appeared a bit tall against its 35mm lower prototype relatives, the suspension modifications I tried on the test cars bringing into focus that there's more to come from the Colt's chassis.
While benefiting from the generosity of friends and relatives in providing us shelter, the Ralliart has been covering big distances. The run to the office takes nearly two hours and is about 85 miles; though every one of them is fun. It's proved to be a great all-rounder too, mixing cross-country grins with motorway comfort. Fuel economy averaged out over ten fills and 2,557 miles is 32.2mpg, which given the fact it's never spared any mercy nor driven with any consideration to economy at all is pretty decent.
...and for the wrong reasons?
With bags full of gear and the need to constantly shift stuff around day-to-day the Colt's tiny boot has been in the limelight for the wrong reasons. It really is tiny; my laptop bag, a rucksack and general day-to-day junk quickly fill it. That means more often than not the rear seat is pressed into service as additional luggage space, it being the only place I can fit my sticks if I sneak off early for a cheeky round of golf. I've gotten used to the parcel shelf though, which rather than standing up seems to fall off its clip every time I open it.
Unfortunately, the seat squab has started squeaking when getting in and out and there's a buzzing in the door trim. The stereo seems to be getting better with age though - even if it takes a while to find the stations on my usual trawl from Radio 4 to Radio 1 and back again as I mix journeys with current affairs and comedy with mindless tunes. I'm not quite ready to give up on my yoof...
I wish the steering was a bit clearer and better around the dead centre though, and that the fuel tank could take more petrol - especially at the moment with the miles its doing.
Where next?
Having found a place to live down in Brighton, the Ralliart's next report will be from the beach. Well, not quite given the parking restrictions around the seaside town. It'll be blasting through the South Downs soon though and we're currently thinking of sorting out a track day to really see what it can do.
