The title ‘Colt’ was clearly chosen to enchantment more to western clients than the name of the manufacturing company, the large Mitsubishi organisation, however while the title is perhaps westernised, the cars were undeniably Japanese.
The elegant Sapporo was prime of Mitsubishi’s Colt range in 1979; based on the Colt Sigma it had a strange resemblance to Toyota’s pre-1978 Celica design. Underneath the skin there have been only a few surprises. The newer suspension was by MacPherson struts with anti-roll bar on the front, and the live rear axle was located by 4 trailing links angled to present a measure of lateral location as well.
The four-cylinder, overhead-cam, engine of 1995cc was not a brand new design, however for the Sapporo it had been developed since the Sigma days to give each extra power and torque thanks to two twin-choke Mikuni carburettors and a higher compression ratio. The interesting level in regards to the engine was its harmonic balancing system, by counter-balanced crankshaft, supposed to eradicate the innate roughness of a 4-cylinder engine.
Although the 2-litre engine was smooth it was a moot point simply how effective the balancing had been as the engine was not outstandingly refined. Output, at ninety eight bhp at 5500 rpm and 105lb ft of torque at 3500 rpm, was no higher than common for its measurement and specification, and it didn’t endow the Sapporo with particularly glowing performance. It was, due to this fact slightly stunning that the overall fuel consumption was as little as the 20 mpg mark, significantly in view of the truth that the Sapporo had been given a superb 5 pace gearbox with fifth being highly geared.
The extent of instrumentation was, in fact, good, with ammeter, oil pressure and water temperature gauges, and tachometer all welcome fixtures as was the standard radio. General, nevertheless, the Sapporo offered very little that its rivals could not match and even surpass.
