Japanese cars of this era always blew everything else out the water.

The gearbox noises are amazing. Such a fun, caharacterful and instantly loveable car. It and cars of its era had CHARACTER. Something 99.8% of new cars do not have at all

If there was a Hubnut car of the year award, this would definately get my vote. That little induction roar and transmission whine would never get old. Lovely little car full of character. Bring back 70s cars. They're just better.

My grandfather had one and he was very proud of the duel range gear box. But you're right 5 speed boxes came out soon afterwards and quickly replaced them.

When I was a student in the late 80's, I had a classmate who owned a superb black Mitsubishi Colt 1400 TURBO (105 hp) : it also had the dual-range 8-speed transmission. It was a bomb! He once let me drive it for a few minutes. Under a tunnel where there was no traffic, I went full power from 60 to 140 km/h in almost no time. I loved this car!

My father had this car from 1980 to 2008 600k km and drive fine only with consumable until the end. Was just swaped for a new one . I take my licence in 2007 and i drive it for one year :)

That is in phenomenal condition for a 39 year old car! Looks mostly original. Where has it been hiding all these years?

Hey. Recent subscriber from the U.S.( Staunton VA) I absolutely love your enthusiasm for the everyday, everyman's car. Please keep doing what you do, I'll be looking forward to your videos...

Attention to detail !! I love the fact the Power mode has an orange bulb and Eco mode has a green bulb, it's the little things

That is a beautiful car. I love the colour, the chrome, the lines, and more importantly that dashboard and interior. Glorious

Ah...another blast from the past from the "John Peel" of cars, (no controversy intended). Yes I had one of these and what nostalgia to go along with you on this test drive. no top ten, no abba and no back handers. Brilliant.

I loved watching this! I just bought a 1981 4-door mitsubishi colt that is rust free in Gotland, Sweden. The previous owner got the car in 1984 and he has kept it in perfect condition. Super happy to see someone other than me being so excited about this car.

You look at the interior in this and then compare it to what we was churning out at the some time and you can see where we went wrong, even the more modern Metro looks dated compared to this.

Mitsubishis never lack mystique. The wipers sound like the last dance at a rubber fetishists' disco.

My father sold Colt cars their very first computer when they started selling cars in the UK and was given a fantastic Colt car.

The great thing about the "twin sticker" Mitsi's (Mirage in NZ) was you could split shift from 1st thru 8th gears as each gear was sequential. Lot's of fun!

I always liked the look of these, remind me of an AMC Gremlin. I find myself smiling when watching the parts of the vids when the camera is focused on yourself, the look on your face when you changed between high an low ratios was priceless!! Who would have thought that an old 'bishi hatchback could bring so much joy to a grown man. Brilliant!

The family in NZ had one from new for approx. 23 years of driving. Called a Mirage and a Turquoise green colour. Was still mechanically sound but underbody was rusting. Very rare to see one still driving. A real gem of a car for it's time.

Lovin the Colt, my mates mum had one exactly the same, gearbox and all... Such a clean design even now it looks good. Shame that most dissolved.....

i might be one year late but just watched this video because i own one myself! it had been sittign around for 10 years so the clearcoat has fallen off. but the amazing part is that everything works, even the washer fluid worked. i just put some gas in it and it drove! after 10 years! i absolutely adore this little wonderful thing and the 8 speed gearbox is a fun conversation starter. it is pretty hard finding parts for it though. it would need a new grille and front bumper but other than that it is practically bomb proof! love the video!

A mechanic once lent me his Mitsubishi Colt while he repaired my car, I remember it being a lovely car to drive. So smooth and solid for a small car.

The transmission wasn't pointless. There are times when you need a lower or higher ratio than the one you have but the next ratio up or down is too low or too tall. The best way to drive these is in power mode then economy 4th which is a similar ratio to a regular 5th. Keeping it in economy you will find 1st gear is too tall with folks in the back or a hill start and 4th will be too tall around town. In Australia these won a Car of the Year award in 1980 but the first front drive Mazda 323 was generally considered better and scooped more awards. In 1980 2 Australian motoring journalists drove a Colt non stop from Sydney to Perth (4000 kms) in 29hrs and 52 minutes. Across the Nullabor Plain they sat on 150 - 160 km/hr. Impressive really.

My heart is melting... A few years ago I had a 1983 Toyota Tercel (not the 4WD) in golden brown metalic; inside the same symphony in brown and beige. I used this very reliable car as my daily driver until a grandma crashed in me... with a Corolla. This Type of Mitsubishi Colt I do really love. They remind me a little bit of a small copy of the AMC Pacer. Very nice report - Thank you!

Top video! Love the car! What the hell is missing from cars of today!!!! You drive them and they feel dead!!! I have a rover 216 convertable that im restoring, havent driven it in 3 years but once its painted, and the new roof is fitted i cant wait to get that older car feel that i miss! By the looks of it that mitsubishi has got it by the bucketload! I drive an insignia for every day use, which feels like a car that was desighned for people who are really not interested in cars!! Welcome to 21st century mortoring!

I bought one new in 1983, a TURBO (a big deal back then) I never bothered much with the power/econo lever, didn't really achieve anything - I sometimes used to reverse up a friend's long drive and change gear on the way. Not many cars have 2 reverse gears. I don't remember a transmission whine with mine, I suspect it's just that particular (old) car and wasn't true for all of them. When I first laid eyes on the Mitsubishi Mirage (what it was called here in New Zealand) I thought they were particularly stylish, and I was impressed by the way the doors continued up into the roof and that it didn't have gutters along the edge of the roof (normal today)

Absolutely stunning car, you can really see its shape and interior in the Mk1 Micra

Nice car that looks okay. The Interior I find is beautiful. Better than all the grey of later models. This is a classic you will not see more. Most are very rusty I saw there a Colt for sale on a market place on the internet. Very rare with few kilometers. The price was pretty firmly but affordable.. It had a cream color paint and wasn t a very pretty color for this car. In the late 1980s I got driving lesson in a Colt. I did my exam in a Lancer After European cars I drive now in a Mitsubishi Space Star from 2003.

Funnily enough I was watching a retro review from the American Motorweek channel recently, it featured an early 80s Dodge Colt with this dual range 'box. Then a HubNut video comes along and shows it in all its glory, thank you!

my dad had one of those back in the day in that exact same colour, and he absolutely loved it

So ahead of its time. My Dad's Cortina of the time, was four seats and a steering wheel, rust and Freddie Flintestone engineering. Love thst car Ian.

Been looking forward to this video, I didn't get as close a look as I wanted when I was there. Video does not disappoint! That dashboard could easily have been in something ten years newer, it's incredible, especially that clever warning symbol strip below the instruments.

Thanks Ian brings back very happy memories as an old mate of mine had one complete with POWER mode it even worked in reverse I wanted that car so much but he sold it before I was 16 I was gutted never did find another oh yeah his was met gold complete with fold back sunroof and rusty back arches great fun you've just made my year Ian cheered me right up not long ago had mums funeral worst day ever thank you mate more like this please love the channel 🙂👌🏻👍🏻❤️

If they sold this today with injection and a 5-speed, i'd have it over any modern hatchback.. why can't hatchbacks be stylish and simple anymore? don't we all agree this interior looks better than a modern Fiesta's? Barely any electronics.

The polar opposite road test to the Baleno 😂 love the Colt

What a fab little car. 10 years ahead of its time with all that tech!

Watched this before but thought id give it another view. What a cracking little gem. Love the styling.

This brings back memories! I had a loan of one of these for a couple of days once while my car was having warranty repairs done. That one was also a GLX (in NZ the obvious identifier apart from the badge was head restraints on the front seats) and yep had the super shifter. I remember taking a mate for a drive in it and driving it like an 8-speed; 1st power, 1st economy, 2nd power, 2nd economy etc - bit like driving a truck with a split shifter on the gear lever. The daft things one did when one was young. Once again a wonderful find Ian, many thanks for sharing - and the memories 😀😀😀😀😀😀

You've Made Me A Very Happy Man Ian! Absolutely Love This Road Test For The Mitsubishi Colt 1400 GLX! As A Self Confessed Obsessive For Small Japanese Cars Of The 1970s, Early 80s! This Colt Blew Me Away! What Precision Engineering! For 1979, A Triumph Of Car Design, In All Respects. Japanese Cars Of The Period Left Our British Counterparts For Dead. The All Round Package Of That Mitsubishi Is Astounding!! And What A Beautifully Preserved Example!!!

We were at a breakers today and saw a 1979 convertible version. Fascinating!

My first car which I learnt to drive in (in 2002) was a Silver GL Colt. I still have it storage. It's till one of the best front-wheel-drive hatch backs I've ever driven to date!

I'm sure one of our neighbours had one of these back in the 80's. Is it me or is there an ever so slight AMC Pacer-esque style about this Mitsubishi Colt, and will beige, brown and caramel interiors ever make a return?

Loved these as a kid, was nice to see the video, thx Ian..

Nice styling, looks very distinctive, from a time when you didn't have to look at the badge to see which make it is! The dash is way ahead of it's time, compared to British made cars of that era, even a digital clock! This was though when Japan were leading the world in electronics.

Damn, what a lovely car. So honest, so simple and so reliable. I grew up thinking Japanese cars were the choice for the shrewdy, because at that time they represented reliability and practicality at a price point that no other nation could match. They were the ultimate purchase for the person who puts pragmatism above prestige. I suppose times have changed somewhat, modern Japanese super minis are no longer markedly cheaper than the competition, but (of course) they are still great cars. If you fancy one just let someone else take the hit on the new car price. Second hand Japanese is the neo-shrewdy choice!

I wouldn’t hesitate to use that for daily duties. Great video once again

My mum had a brand new one!Hers was badged Mirage (mileage) and exactly the same colour too. 1979 my god was it really that long ago? Some are still running about here in OZ and much loved by their owners. Hyundai used them as a base for their first cars to come to Australia too.

I had around 10 of these buying one and making one out of another..1200cc and 1410cc I had both brilliant cars..I’d have one in a heartbeat again...thank you for sharing this you’ve brought many happy memories back.

Reminds me of my old beige Nissan Micra K10 so much, that was beige with a beige and brown interior!

I loved these! They were branded Dodge Colt and Plymouth Champ in the US. The successor was sold both as a Dodge Colt and a Mitsubishi Mirage, which was weird. My friend had an 82 when we were in high school and I don’t think he ever used the Economy mode. So Mitsubishi and Chrysler formed a manufacturing partnership in the US and the best thing to come out of it was the 1989-94 Mitsubishi Eclipse / Plymouth Laser / Eagle Talon. If you can get your hands on one of those it’ll be the most fun you can have with your pants on.

HubNut you have the best job in the world driving all these classic cars 👍🏼

And it wasn't half quick!! I still have the badges, centre of steering wheel and both gear knobs. Loved it!!

From what I've read, the designers realized they had some extra space in the drive system between the engine and gearbox, so they threw in the overdrive gear. I went to college with an older lady who had one of these. She knew nothing about cars and would always brag about the gearbox because she thought this was the coolest thing ever put in a vehicle. I didn't have the heart to tell her that a regular 5 speed does about the same thing.

Thanks for sharing! Ah the memories. My first new car. Mine was a black 1982 5 door model with the 1.6L engine, the dual range box, and same color interior. 8 forward and 2 reverse! I always got chuckles shifting gears in reverse with my friends on board. :-) The car was quite quick for the times and handled surprisingly well.

More character than many modern Japanese cars. What a treat.

This brought back memories. Here in Canada, these cars were sold as both the Plymouth Colt and the Dodge Colt. For a while in the 80s we had 4 in the family: my wife had an '82 4-speed base model Plymouth-badged version which we bought new for $6k, I had an '86 3-door Dodge-badged Turbo with the weird 5-speed (basically the 4 low range gears from the dual-range version: when you shifted into top, the gearbox stayed in 4th, but the auxiliary went into high-range), my brother-in-law had the '87 4-door Turbo sedan(or saloon, if your prefer), also badged as a Dodge, and his wife had an '87 base-model 3-door, badged as a Plymouth. To complete our rebadged-Mitsubishi family, my wife's dad had a Plymouth Sapporo, which was a rebadged Galant.

This was the first Car I drove in ‘88 and I still love it. I Remember the manual said you should drive in economy. Power was for “The Mountains or when The car had to do exceptional performances”😅. I always drove in power mode 🤣. With all wheels at the corners of the frame, it was exceptionally stable to drive…

Many years ago, I shared a house with someone who had one of these (in white) and sometimes I'd be asked to drive it on various errands. It too had the 4-speed dual-range box and being a truck driver by trade I did play around with the box a lot. It's going back some time but IIRC you could treat it as either a range-change (high or low in 3rd or 4th) or as an unwieldy splitter box (1H-2H-3L-3H-4L-4H) - in either case, you had to be quick and handy with the auxiliary lever. Messing about like this did bugger-all for economy, but it was a lot of fun.

Excellent video I enjoyed that, I knew nothing of the strange gear arrangement. Amazing looking under the bonnet where just about everything appears accessible, unlike my modern Honda Jazz where the engine bay is filled with plastic keeping all the workings hidden.

Simon here... Great video. From the side it looks like a Pacer. Inside looks so simple yet elegant at the same time,anyone could just get in and drive it as it’s so simply laid out and you can see where everything is. A Real Credit to his owner 😉

recently discovered your channel on youtube and i love it . so many cars i have never heard of and never thought i would see or let alone anyone drive and i just love how you do the avg joe type of tests keep it up its wonderful

Great Video, I just picked up a silver 1981 Dodge Colt 79,000 original miles. A nice little club to be apart of. Cheers.

Re comment on 5 speed versus 8 speed, there was a version of the Mitsubishi twin stick transmission used in the Hyundai Excel version where it was a 5 speed single stick shift but the 4 to 5 shift activated a solenoid that did the range shift in top gear. I remember it was a really comfortable car to drive. Lovely brown interior too. You noticed the solenoid clunk in the 4 to 5 shift.

I used to have a 1984 Plymouth Colt sedan, which is like your car but with 4 doors, my car even had the 1400 cc four and the twin stick. I usually used the twin stick as an overdrive switch and only used it when I was in 4th gear and wanted to lower the revs. I purchased the car in December of 1984, after my 1976 VW Rabbit died to rust, and I needed an affordable new car quickly. Kept it until 1990 when I had started my first engineering job and had sorted my finances to the point where I could afford a new job. The one thing I hated about my Colt was the lack of space. I'm fairly tall (probably was 6ft 4in when I owned the car) and found both the legroom and hedroom lacking. As far as the latter, I had the choice of either leaning my head to the side or reclining the seat a bit. I was happy to replace it with my 1990 Honda Civic Wagon. It was nice to be able to stretch out.

I was always fascinated by the two levers in the Colt when I was growing, but never fully understood it! Great that you have explained it so well!

Brilliant video...car is full of character..seems very advanced for it's age..the dashboard layout is fantastic.!!

I had one as my first car nearly 30 years ago! Absolutely loved it.

50 mpg. That is why the 8 speed gearbox. At the time nothing else did the same mpg apart from maybe a scooter. I worked with the son of the guy who made lots of money importing these 'Colt' cars into the UK, I don't think people couldn't pronounce 'Mitsubishi' (as in zero), I think it was more the importer chap wanting to have a 'Colt' brand. Shame 'Colt' drove him to drink to leave such a messed up son but that is the rich pageantry of life for you.

When I was a kid in the early 90s there were a ton of this generation Colt about. Sadly, they're nearly all gone but it's good to see one so well preserved.

A mate of mine had one in the mid-80s, albeit in gold, but with the same colour interior. We all thought it was a pretty nice car at the time & have to admit I was a little jealous ...but then I did own a Morris Marina 1.3 at the time lol. That gear whine brings memories flooding back & I do remember that the dual range gearbox was a novelty at first but after a week my mate just left it in economy.

Dual range worked in reverse too, sounded like changing gear while going backwards.

Unexpected flashback to 79. Great to see this Ian. Many thanks 😀

What a cool little car, and in such fantastic shape too! When you consider how well-designed, well-made and well-optioned 70s and 80s Japanese cars were, it's amazing that the British and American car industries lasted as long as they did. We should have learned but instead carried on churning out the same dated designs with poor quality control. And that's why everyone now drives Nissans, Toyotas, and German stuff (though even their reputation for reliability is not what it once was. That said, I'd still like to see more of that big Princess. Can't be many of those left now! It's funny though, all that Japanese tech, including a digital clock, but still only an AM radio! (Though my Mk1 Fiesta didn't even have a radio, just a blanking plate - we had to source and fit a period head unit. It also had no rev counter, only one door mirror, a foot pump for the washers, no glove box and the heated rear window was one of those stick-on foil things from Halfords! Spartan was not the word.)

I hadn't been aware of the dual range in these, so I looked up Wikipedia - 'As the transmission was mounted beneath the engine, the gearbox needed to take power down from the clutch. It was not possible to do this directly as this would have meant that the gearbox rotated in the opposite direction to that required, and therefore the use of an extra 'idle' shaft was required. It was subsequently realised that this shaft could be modified as a separate 2-speed gearbox.' You're right that the 5 speed gearbox had to be invented. The geometry of constant mesh boxes is such that 3 or 4 speeds can easily be achieved, but 5 can't be achieved by 'more of the same' - something additional is required. Hence came all the cars over the years with an overdrive on the back of the gearbox, or a 2 speed diff. I too am fond of late 70's and 80's Japanese cars. The engineering was exceptional, there was no undue electronics to make working on them impossible, and the big blob of grey plastic which thesedays passes as a dashboard was still some years away. You could at a stretch call this transmission a 10 speed, as there are 2 reverse gears!

Chrysler sold tens of thousands of these Colt's in the USA and I know about 4 people who had them. One of those was identical to the one you drove in this video. One was beige on the outside as well. Very good cars.

My sister had one for her first car in about 1994, a 1982 5 door in a similar colour (Neptune blue) but instead of the supershift it had a 3 stage Torquewinder automatic. Performed quite well for a small automatic of that era

That steering wheel is gorgeous 😍

Brings back great memories, I had a silver w plate , my first car, great wee car

Three random things about that car, which I drove last time in the late eighties. 1) The ventilation system, which was standard for Japanese cars, but science fiction for europe, with the possibility of recirculating the cabin air to speed up the heating and avoid the smell from the vehicles you were following. 2) The dual range gearbox, indeed ridicolous on flat roads, but in mountain roads was fantastic. 3) The smooth operation and direct gear of the side windows mechanism: one turn of the handle with no effort was enough to slide all down the window. At that time I used to own a Lancia Beta HPE, 10 turns were necessary with a lot of torque (I broke several handle pins...)

Love the door open light!

First car I ever drove! It was my grandmothers and she let me drive it around Leeds. I was 16 and yes it was totally illegal, but she was a cool grandmother. It was just a Colt, as you said, it was thought Mitsubishi was too hard to pronounce.

I guess on the hills of Wales, the power gearing would make it more sporty, and then for the motorways of everywhere else, the economy gearing would make it a fuel-sipper... :D

My first car. I purchased it June 1979 for $5000 plus tax & tags. It really had 10 speeds if you count the 2 reverse gears . My interior and exterior were Eighties Beige. Great car. I put 150K miles on it with no major expenses. Only Winter salt on the roads destroyed it…along with every other Japanese car of the late 70’s early 80’s.

I had one of these, it was a regular gearbox without the dual range. The thing I remember about mine was that the cooling system had a pipe that ran through or next to the washer water pipe to heat the washer water on it's way to the nozzle. This was such a sweet little car, ran like a dream and was so comfortable. I sold it and bought a 3 litre Supra, as one does. Years later I bought a Mitsubishi Gallant and in that the air conditioning kept the glove box cool (which the Mercedes W204 C Class also does) , it's funny what you remember about a car. I drove the Gallant from Singapore to the border with China in Burma, a town called Mong La.. could not bribe my way into China with it and sold it for the equivalent of 1000 pounds, in the UK it would have been worth about 150 quid.

Takes me back! I learnt to drive in one of these, scared my instructor daily..happy days.

That interior is amazing. That is what the future looked like in the 1970's.

Well hubnut new subscriber have to say I’m addicted, previously your vids were a guilty pleasure, don’t quite get the obsession with twc but each to his own, this colt was so much better than the metro or indeed fiesta of the time and yet they never really sold. What really grabbed me was you were in North Shields ! You even drove over the zebra crossing I failed my first test on cause I failed to slow down even though it was clear ah 30 years ago, in a mk1 fiesta = awful. Great videos keep them coming.

I had one of these and I loved it. I had it new and it was in gold.

Shades of the 1st gen. Mazda 323 here.

The old Celeste was gorgeous and the Galant acceptable. This one in its time I considered utterly uuuugly. But now I see it was actually quite well equipped and engineered.

I worked at a Colt dealership in 79/80. We hardly kept any spares because they just didn't go wrong! During the time I was there we had two come back for repair, (yes....two!). One was a van that was driven foot to the floor all over the country with half a ton of equipment in the back. The other was the Lancer turbo which, when thrashed mercilessly, would melt the head and pistons. Try and source a Sapporo, lovely car. One of the models used the boot lid as a radio aerial or had one built into the lid and if you put your hand on the lid the volume would go up. Oh how we laughed.

It is essentially a 4 speed with od on all 4 gears because the difference is only about 20% for performace vs economy. Tbh I think it was an easier way to add the 5th gear before putting it into the same gear knob as the other 4 gears. Plus it got the company attention whilst they sorted out creating a proper 5 speed ☺

Awesome car. My 8 year old lad now wants me to get a classic 👍

looks much better than modern cars all looking similar.

Love early Japanese cars, so ahead of any one else at the time. And they continued to be for a long time.

Holy cow, you read my mind! I was *just * about to suggest to do more "point-of-view" camera angle. Us gear heads love to see the driver's view

What a lovely car, the attention to detail, and so ahead of its time!

I thought that would be as bland as the baleno but it has so many nice design features. That looks like a real survivor , not tarted up but looks like it just came out an old grannies garage where it’s been for 30 years

Here in New Zealand these were extremely popular cars, we even had a special model called the 'Panther', which only came in black with coloured side decals..snazzy! Love your videos, you do cars no one else would dream of! Very entertaining thanks!

These were very popular in Australia for many years until the last decade, they were assembled in Adelaide South Australia alongside the Sigma and Magna. My auntie had a late 80s automatic 5 door up until the mid 00s

Beautifull! Brings back childhood memorys...my uncle had one of these in golden colour.