DAVID says: Mitsubishi has always been a difficult car company to pigeon hole, with products ranging from the monstrous to the mad.

Best known for its mighty Shogun mud-plugger and outrageously styled and ridiculously powerful, rally-inspired Lancer Evolution, there is a more modest, down-to-earth side to this Japanese firm. Nothing demonstrates the more rational, realistic side to its character than the sixth-generation Colt. This five-door supermini is the first full product of a joint project between Mitsubishi Motors and DaimlerChrysler, using Mitsubishi's NedCar plant to build both the Colt and the Smart ForFour, which is built on the Colt platform.

Pitched against models like the Peugeot 206, Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris, the sleek and sporty, 1.5 Sport test model, complete with red interior trim, 16-inch alloy wheels and low-profile tyres, positively bustled with energy.

That verve and vivacity sparks into life on the road thanks to a 107 horsepower engine, which fairly whips the little car along. Most noticeable is the car's wide and tall profile which gives a light, airy feel and plenty of room for passengers.

The interior is as practical as it is stylish, with split rear seats that individually slide, recline, fold, tumble and can also be removed all together.

Interior styling is modern, with large, circular dials grouped on the centre console, mirrored by round air vents and circular back-lit dials, which are housed beneath a hooded binnacle ahead of the three-spoke steering wheel. I had a couple gripes with the car, the A-pillars, either side of the windscreen, are substantial and can hide other road users, especially cyclists, and the rear wiper did not clear as much of the rear glass as I would have liked.

Mitsubishi standard equipment is always pretty good and all Colt models have everything from anti-lock brakes, deadlocks and four-speaker radio and single-slot CD player, to one-touch electric front windows and power steering. Niggles aside, the Colt is a well-made, good-looking little car with that all-too-rare sense of fun at the wheel.

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MARIE says: Car makers appear to mounting a Mary Poppins-like campaign to charm buyers of compact hatchbacks. First they squash an amazing amount of interior space into a neat, easily manageable exterior, and then they go for an ingenious idea. Recently, those clever wheezes have firmly focused on the rear seats. The Honda Jazz arrived with the amazing, flip-up, rear bench that allows you to carry pot palms in the rear footwells and the Renault Modus pitched in with its sliding two- or three-person rear seat.

Not to be outdone, the new Colt has a rear seat that will split, slide and recline, or tumble forward completely, to open up van-like carrying space.

The Sport test model came with a two-tone black and red interior, spiced up with blue plastic dials surrounding some of the controls on the centre console, below the soft-feel, grey dashboard, which illuminate at night.

Pedals, steering and handbrake were all light and easy to manage and there are plenty of nooks and crannies dotted around the car, including the obligatory cupholders.

The glovebox was large enough to have held a small handbag, except that it was almost filled by a rather chunky handbook.

The car sits low on the ground, making access easy and the large amount of glass, which gives good all-round visibility, makes parking and reversing easy.

So there are plenty of good points, but that is not to say the Colt is perfect. Perhaps the most irritating thing were the extremely chunky, steeply-raked pillars either side of the windscreen.

They give great style and a racy look, but at the cost of blocking your view as you wait to turn out of a junction. Quarterlights were fitted either side of the windscreen but they didn't do much to help and more than once, I caught myself peering around either side of the pillars for a better view.

With three in the rear, the outer passengers also complained headroom in the rear was a at a premium.

Once on the move, though the car rides and handles well and the larger engine fitted in the Sport model fairly zips along on dual carriageways.

Standard equipment on the car included an alarm, two airbags, anti-lock brakes and a CD player, all of which are standard on all models, and air conditioning, electrically-operated windows and door mirrors and a height-adjustable seat for the driver, which are available on posher versions.

So there it is. The Colt 1.5 Sport. If it was supplied with a large umbrella hidden in a door pocket, like the Skoda Superb, it could be practically perfect in every way.

David and Marie Duffy

AUTO FACTS

MODEL Colt 1.5 Sport

PRICE £10,999

INSURANCE GROUP Six

FUEL CONSUMPTION (COMBINED) 45.6mpg

COMFORT Excellent

TOP SPEED 118mph

LENGTH 387cm/152.3in

WIDTH 169.5cm/66.7in

LUGGAGE CAPACITY 7.7 cu ft

FUEL TANK CAPACITY 47 litres/10.3 gallons

CO2 EMISSIONS 148 g/km