Go petrol for real Carisma

Jul 6 2009 Peter Hayward

AT one time, direct injection petrol engines were almost as economical as diesels.

In the Mitsubishi Carisma for example, the direct injection 125bhp GDi 1.8 will do about 44mpg, while its turbo diesel brother only manages 46.

One other engine in the range is a 1.6 with 102bhp and it's decent to drive, with good acceleration and a smooth, willing nature.

The Carisma is available as hatch or saloon and is very reliable in the Mitsubishi tradition, making it cheap to run.

Later models are reasonable to buy and better looking and the ride and steering were improved.

They are comfortable and safe and they come with a decent level of standard kit which matches or betters the opposition.

They give better than average economy even without the excellence of the GDi.

The petrol 1.6 and 1.8 engines are eager and reasonably refined, but early GDi's were quite coarse and noisy compared to the industry average when they came out.

Interior

There are basically two levels of trim GLX and GLS, which all have tinted glass, seat and column height adjustment, split-folding rear seat, four electric windows, central locking, electric sunroof and twin airbags.

GLS adds aircon, alloys and side airbags.

FAST FACTS

Mitsubishi Carisma 1.6

Price: Pay about £1,300 for an '01 Y-reg Classic, £1,600 for an '02 52-reg SE, or £2,400 for an '04 04-reg Elegance.

Mechanical: 102bhp, 1,597cc, 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox.

Max speed: 115mph

0-62mph: 12 seconds

Combined mpg: 38

Insurance group: 7

CO2 emissions: 198g/km

Marks: 8/10

Main rival: Vauxhall Astra