Photo courtesy of Productioncars.com
(first posted 2/24/2014) The late ’80s and very early ’90s saw a real burst of creativity from Japanese manufacturers, bolstered by a very strong home market, currency which was rapidly appreciating but still weak enough to support healthy exports and, in the US, dated competition. For a brief couple of years, it really seemed that Mitsubishi finally had what it would take for success in the US market: an expanding, diverse product line-up with clean styling and up-to-date technology. It was in this context that Americans were offered one of the best hot hatches of the era, the Colt GT and Mirage Turbo.
I must confess that we didn’t have an actual curbside shot of our own to use for this latest installment on the Colt, but since the chronicles must be completed, a rare exception was granted. A further note: because the Colt story otherwise becomes quite bleak, I will focus mainly on the turbo model.
For the Colt’s sixth generation (Mirage’s third generation), the car was also sold as the Eagle Summit; enthusiasts therefore call these cars CSMs, conveniently complementing the DSM moniker used to describe the Plymouth Laser, Eagle Talon and Mitsubishi Eclipse, released in the US around the same time, along with the sixth generation of the Galant, making 1989 a very big year for Mitsubishi.
This of course benefited Chrysler as well, who by this time was living off of minivans and otherwise selling a rather embarrassing bunch of cars, making Colt worth holding onto for a few more years.
While turbo power underlined the performance image of both companies, Chrysler sold no cars with twin-cam heads or multivalve engines of any sort, outside of the very unhip TC by Maserati. With the Colt GT, Dodge and Plymouth suddenly had a car which combined both of the hottest technologies of the day and at a price few could match.
While most obviously weren’t sold this way, models equipped with the 4G61t twincam turbo benefited from an engine which was simultaneously torquey and willing to rev. With 12.1 psi of boost on top of a very oversquare design with a low 8.0 to 1 compression ratio, the engine made 135 horsepower at a smooth 6,000 rpm. That’s 84 horsepower per liter, but the real treat was 141 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm in an engine with a 7,000 rpm redline.
As this engine shares exterior dimensions with the 4G63 (Mitsubishi’s most famous engine, various forms of which powered the Galant VR4, the DSM turbos and the Evo I-IX), swaps are not that difficult. Some enthusiasts have even cobbled together turbo/AWD combos, which involve a certain degree of fabrication, although as with most Japanese cars, four-wheel drive variants were available in the home market. The main point, of course, is that this generation of Colt/Mirage shared a good deal in terms of engineering principles with both the Galant and the Eclipse, unlike the prior two versions. This may explain why the twin-cam turbo only lasted one model year, with only about 1000 cars imported, since the car also attracted its more expensive stablemates’ audiences. If anyone is lucky enough to find a clean example for a good price, there’s every reason to pull the trigger and buy it.
Reading reviews of this car (seen here in Car and Driver and here in Automobile Magazine) is somewhat ironic, as both seem to predict massive success for Mitsubishi’s latest effort. Car and Driver in particular raved,
“Despite having introduced such stunning new products as the Mirage Turbo, the Galant GS sedan and the Eclipse GS Turbo sports coupe, Mitsubishi is far from being a household name in the U.S., even among enthusiasts… soon the word will spread. And soon the demand for this exceptional automobile will grow. And soon the price will rise.”
Of course none of this come to pass, as the car was soon unceremoniously discontinued. Lest you think turbo power was the only appealing aspect of these sixth generation cars, reviews were positive for models equipped with naturally aspirated version of the same engine, which continued to be sold in the US until 1992. Producing 123 horsepower and 101 lb-ft of torque in most forms, this engine was also shared (in de-tuned, locally built form) with the first Hyundai Elantra. A Colt so equipped went on to finish first in a Car and Driver comparison against the 8-valve GTI, and Civic and CRX Si, despite being slower than the latter two. With its high-winding 1.6 and solid rear axle, it was very much an inexpensive rehash of the outgoing Integra.
None of which seemed to matter to the buying public, who overwhelmingly bought the car with the 1.5 8-valve engine, usually in Colt or Eagle Summit form, often lashed to a three-speed automatic. One inescapable fact about Mitsubishi Motors in those days was its very stratified approach to developing and selling cars, with high-end models often laden with gadgets and very bland, unexceptional basic models. This began changing in the mid ’90s, when it was too late, but the basic CSMs of this generation, which were incapable of hitting 100 miles per hour, are an excellent demonstration of this initial approach. Other than mentioning the addition of a 12-valve head in 1991, there’s no need to cover the more basic models.
In the US, it would appear that both Mitsubishi and Chrysler both forgot the Colt by this point, the former resenting its shared name with Dodge and Plymouth and the latter treating the car as a placeholder before the introduction of the brilliant (and shoddy) Neon. In any case, the decision was made to direct enthusiastic customers toward the new DSM coupes, sealing both the Colt’s and Mirage’s fate as a cut-price alternative to more established compacts. Luckily the car fared better overseas.
What exactly what could have been done to salvage the Colt and Mirage nameplates in the US is difficult to determine, but it’s safe to say that the very large numbers of the cars sold to indifferent customers did nothing for the company’s fortunes in North America. Making matters much worse for Mitsubishi was their generous arrangement with Hyundai, which saw the Elantra (arguably that company’s first competitive model) brought over right as this generation of cars was being phased out. Built on virtually the same chassis as the outgoing CSMs, but with generous equipment and new styling, many chose one of these over its Japanese counterpart during the successor car’s production run. There were a total of four compact Mitsubishi derivatives (Dodge/Plymouth Colt, Eagle Summit and Hyundai Elantra) competing for customers’ attention, obscuring and diluting Mitsubishi’s and the Mirage’s potential for brand equity in North America. Stay tuned for the final depressing chapters in the continuing Colt chronicles.
Yes I agree… it could be said the creativity even started with the late ’70’s Colt (introduced in late ’78) with the first ‘super shift’ overdrive gearbox set-up giving essentially EIGHT different ratios to play with..
Also the ’78/’79 Colt (or ‘Mirage’ in New Zealand) lead the swing way away from the sixties trend established by the small English Ford engines with large bore and short stroke design (great for revving but hopeless for lugging) ..the 1244cc Colt engine was a long stroke design!
It was very nice to drive.. and the turbocharged 1410cc version that arrived around ’83 was an absolute little blast machine (no fuel injection but very very quick for the day (the time of 7.7secs zero to 50 rings a bell)
I had a 4 door Mirage VIE X with all the fruit but no power or roadholding a pure JDM shitbox 1500cc Automatic but comfortable. The turbo models go great but the pedestrian versions not so much and they also came with 1300cc engines, a scary thought.
I had one of these too – one of the basic models which the author sees no need to address.
Mine was an ’89 Colt hatch – mid line model. It was quite basic and that is exactly what I wanted. Mine was a manual and it did not have air. The cloth seating surfaces were plebeian and I would have preferred a nice leather but this was a basic commuter car. I used it, like I did my previous ’84 Colt, as a winter driver so that I did not have to use my nicer summer cars. It was a great winter car. Those skinny tires sliced through snow. The car was really a mini two door wagon or a shooting break. It was very useful and had very ample capacity with the rear seat down. As with my first Colt, this one was reliable and durable if a bit slower than my summer cars.
I only owned it about three years until I got a bigger wagon in the same FWD format – a ’92 Taurus wagon. I loved the two door, hatchback body style of this Colt and would buy something similar from Ford today – the superior Focus is close but a five door (and I don’t trust Volkswagen & their Golf).
I remember the Dodge dealer where I bought the Colt. I felt smug because I knew I was buying the only worthwhile offering in that showroom. I knew that I was getting a real good deal – a lot of car for the (little) money I paid. I also felt that all the other American designed and built cars in the showroom were absolute crap. I was smart for getting the cheaper and (I thought) better Colt rather than some more expensive Honda. I remember the Colt fondly.
I had a buddy in college with this version of the Colt hatch. The main things I remember about it are the aqua blue color with cheesy graphics, and how me and 3 other guys once picked up the back end of it and turned it sideways, trapping him in his parking spot.
It was otherwise unremarkable.
I posted in the previous Colt story about the Summit.
AMC dealers, rebranded as Jeep-Eagle, in Midwest pushed strippo Summits in 1989-91 as a replacement for dropped Alliances. Not quite the ‘upscale’ image that Lee Iacocca wanted. By mid 90’s, SUV mania took hold, and Eagle died off, in favor of selling more Jeeps.
By the time the ’89 Colt hatches were on sale, hatchbacks were on the way out. To an average young semi-enthusiast car buyer, they looked like little boxes, almost too robotic. The DSM coupes were more stylish and near same price.
This is the car I automatically think of when you say “Dodge Colt” to me. Very attractive, drove nice for what it was, and an incredibly good value for the money. As my first wife and I were going through our (very peaceful and friendly) divorce, I worked together a deal for her with the local Dodge dealer on, I believe, a red one. Basic. Automatic, air, and not a whole lot else.
Of course, once I was out of the picture Sally decided she had to have a blue one. Which the dealer was happy to trade for with another dealer. And in the process got back every penny I’d negotiated for her. She wasn’t perturbed, she got her blue car. And I decided that’s the last time I ever help a woman buy a car.
One of those turbo models was foxy as hell.
Here’s one I shot
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8546/8747598405_e1bceaafb2_b.jpg
I ran into one of these during an auto auction some years back, dressed up in red but with a ton of rust on the lower rockers and an engine that smelled thoroughly of old gasoline. It was as though someone had simply dragged it out of the back forty and pushed it through the block.
The sheer amount of rust and overtly craptastic aura made me lose interest immediately, so I never knew how much it went for. A while later, I saw this same exact car tooling around the city streets. Maybe there was something to this car.
I bought a base ’91 Plymouth Colt new for $5995 in Oct. of ’91. That car was a real runner, would cruise all day long at 85-90 mph. Between me and the son I handed it down to, we put 225k miles on it before I donated the car to a charity. No problems to speak of, truly a bulletproof little car.
My sister had a blue Colt hatchback from this generation for a few years in the late ’90s. Boring-ass car with the base engine and auto, but it seemed to be a respectable effort for what it was. It had the typical Mitsubishi appetite for 10w40 and second- or third-tier Japanese dependability. The locking gas filler door was very much a product of its time.
It ended up sitting around unused for a while, was mildly flooded in a hurricane, and eventually my dad gave it to a guy who asked about it one day.
Purchased an 88 hback Colt 5-speed to replace the pickup one of my employees stole to joyride—found three days later –south side of Chicago…burnt up.
Anywho…..The Colt had fewer than 70k miles. I liked the car. With the 5-speed decent power. I found interior materials to be be on the low end–fabric on seats was quite thin..and visors were clearly vinyl covered cardboard. I liked the engine save the timing belt–I HATE TIMING BELTS!!! No matter how many miles may be on a belt, I always change them right away….and even do so for friends who were unlucky enough to acquire a car so equipped.
I miss my 1989 Colt Turbo VTS 16V. Mario Andretti once lapped it around Watkins Glen in the summer of 1989, proclaiming it as one of the best (road) cars he has ever driven. Little known fact: Mitsubishi had running prototypes of a new suspension, similar to Ford’s RevoKnuckle in the Focus, running in 1986. However, Kazue Naganuma axed the project as “non-cost effective”. In reality, this was at the request of Lee Iacocca, who pushed for “simplification” of the Colt line. Naganuma actually despised Iacocca, as he once stated that Iacocca “hasn’t driven a modern car in 30 years, and conducts his business as such”. Iacocca actually tried to dump the Colt name several times since heading Chrysler, once attempting to use the Duster name in 1983 (later used for a Plymouth Sundance model), then again in 1987 with the Dart nameplate. I’ll admit, I wish my car was a 1989 Dodge Dart Turbo VTS 16V!
This is a lot of juicy information on such an obscure car!
As I mentioned in my COAL (https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1989-dodge-colt-e-somewhere-over-the-mitsubishi-bridge/), I loved my 1989 Dodge Colt E. It was a thoughtfully designed, smooth, quick car. A much better car than the current Mirage, although I would give one a look if my finances were that tight.
Does the latest iteration of the Mitsubishi Mirage count?
There is a 1990 one in yellow paint running around Valley Cottage, NY. The man who bought it bought is (classically) from an old lady last year. It had 41,000 miles on it. It’s a pisser all right!