At first, I thought the Suzuki Swift Sport and Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart would be an extremely close battle since both manufactures were seeing success from previous models. After fully testing and examining the vehicles it wasn't even a question of who the winner was.

The Mitsubishi Evo VIII and Mitsubishi Evo IX are two cars that are well known for their performance. With that said, I was really excited to try the new Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart. The new car features a very nice 1.5 liter MIVEC engine. Another feature that sparked my interest is the seats. They are the same seats that can be seen in the Evo VIII, which I happened to really like. Without comparing the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart to another vehicle, it wouldn't nearly as much fun so in this article I will match it up with the Suzuki Swift Sport Car.

Both of the vehicles are priced below $30,000 so I definitely didn't expect to be taken back by the interior features. These vehicles are not made to be luxurious or feature packed, so having only the basic features isn't necessarily a bad thing.

However, the Suzuki's seats are a lot larger and provide you with plenty of space, even if you are a larger person. Not only do they accommodate to those with a bigger frame, but they also have great padding on the sides that manage to hold you in nice and snug. This prevents you from sliding around when taking a corner at faster speeds. The only negative thing I can say about the seats in the Suzuki Swift Sport Car is about the seat cover material. It looks extremely cheap and like it was picked out from the shelf of a thrift store. Aside from being cheap looking though, they are quite comfortable and do their jobs well. At the same time though, the Mitsubishi Colt's seats deserve to be mentioned for being sturdy and barely even moving an inch when cruising through tough and tight corners.

Getting in and out of the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart can be a bit troublesome at times. If you are not careful you could end up landing on the lumpy seat edges, which I can assure you it won't be a very pleasant experience. The seats are somewhat small and could be difficult to fit in if you are a larger than average person. Otherwise, you should fit pretty securely in the seats, thanks to the tight fitting padding on the sides.

As I said earlier, if you are feature hungry neither of these cars will leave you feeling fulfilled. The stereo systems are somewhat of a joke. Inside the Mitsubishi Colt you will find a built in 6 disc changing CD player that is also MP3 compatible and 4 speakers. That may sound like a decent deal, but the speakers are completely worthless. Unless you enjoy listening to your music at a very low volume, you will be treated to nothing but distorted music and static. It doesn't matter if you are using the CD player or the radio, you can never escape from the distortion. The stereo setup in the Suzuki Swift isn't that much better, but the steering wheel does feature volume, station, mute, and mode controls. If you are judging the cars by audio quality then the Suzuki wins, but sadly not by that much.

The Suzuki Swift may appear to be small and insufficient when it comes to leg room, but it is actually the complete opposite. In fact, it has more room for the rear passengers than the Colt does! Where it gains this advantage, it loses it when it comes to the size of the trunk. The only reason the Suzuki has more back leg room is simply because it has a much smaller trunk. Actually, the trunk is incredibly small and doesn't even come with a spare tire. The lack of a spare tire on a vehicle like this disappointed me greatly. Although it does come with a repair kit and air compressor, I would still have liked to see a spare tire of some kind.

When it comes down to the appearance of both vehicles, they are pretty much even. The Colt's radio face makes quite the appearance when it's dark outside, and the Suzuki Swift's radio is integrated. However, the Suzuki's speedometer and tachometer look a lot better and stand out. The tachometer has nice looking chrome highlights that blow away the appearance of the Colt.

The sacrifice in leg room for the Mitsubishi Colt is made up for with the size of the trunk. It's not the biggest, but is very decently sized and provides adequate storage space. It also comes equipped with a space saver tire, which is better than nothing at all in my opinion. The downfall is of course the cramped leg room for rear passengers, but if you mainly ride solo or with just one other person, this shouldn't be a hard thing to swallow. If you have more than one passenger, then prepare yourself for some complaints.

The Suzuki Swift Sport Car has a much more appealing appearance. With its 16 inch alloy wheels and dual exhausts, it provides you with a look that is easier on the eyes when compared to the Colt. Although it is barely noticeable, you can also find the Sport tag that is on the Swift if you try hard enough.

If you look at the exterior of the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart you will notice that it is very similar to his big brother Evo. Aside from sharing the same style of seats, they also have the same grille on the bonnet. Some vehicles have fake grilles that do nothing but add to the appearance of a car, but that isn't the case with the Colt. The grille does its job cooling the engine down by creating an outlet for the residual heat.

Once you are driving the Colt, you will start to be impressed a lot more. With an exclusive center muffler and the fact that you can get reductions of up to 27% in back pressure to make sure that the ominous exhaust can be heard from the inside of the vehicle and the outside. The deeply resonating exhaust when pushing around 2000 RPMs adds a bit of a sporty feel to the experience.

When the vehicles were tested on corners, curves, and windy roads, it got a lot more interesting. The Mitsubishi Colt and Suzuki Swift both weigh in less than 1.2 tons, making both agile and responsive vehicles around corners. Due to the higher center of gravity the Colt tends to lose a bit of its control when trying to change directions quickly, even though the suspension is pretty firm. That also leads you to unfortunate oversteer tendencies as well. Thank goodness the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart had implemented the Active Stability Control (ASC), which is the same thing as the ESP system, to counter this though. Unfortunately, the only thing the driver will see in the Suzuki Swift Sport Car is the Antilock Brake System (ABS) brakes which are handy but nothing new.

You can find 5 speed manual gearboxes in both of the vehicles. The Colt's gear shifter is a too small and made the transition through the gears not nearly as smooth as the Swifts. On a plus side though, the Colt Ralliart's gearshift appeared to be a little tighter than the Suzuki Swift Sports.

It is safe to say that both of these vehicles have much better and firmer ride than their cheaper models. The Mitsubishi Colt can thank the Recaro seats that hold the driver and passenger in so tightly. The Suzuki Swift Sport however, uses MONROE shock absorbers to maintain a great ride.

Since both vehicles are fairly light weight, the brakes function just fine without any problems. They are both equipped with ventilated front discs and solid rear disks. You could test the brakes on these two vehicles all day and still not notice any brake fade.

If you look at how both cars handle cornering, you will be nothing but impressed by both. If you want to zip in and out of tighter corners, however, the Suzuki Swift takes the cake. If you were to take both vehicles out and race them against each other on the same path, the Suzuki Swift will no doubt be the winner. The Colt doesn't have any trouble keeping up with the Swift on straight a ways, but once you factor in corners the swift will quickly jump in the lead. The Colt just can't handle the corners like the Suzuki can. With an almost nonexistent body roll, the Suzuki Swift would be tough to beat against many vehicles as far as cornering goes.

The Suzuki Swift Sport standard features are the following: Electric windows, air conditioning, steering wheel audio controls, pollen filter, central locking, MP3 compatible CD player with 6 speakers, alloy pedals, 16 inch alloy wheels, leather steering wheel, electric mirrors, dual exhaust pipes, and fog lamps. The included safety features are: Antilock Brake System (ABS) brakes accompanied by Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), engine immobilizer, driver/passenger SRS airbags, front/rear SRS curtain airbags, and side mounted SRS airbags.

Perhaps the biggest difference between these two vehicles is the price. While the Suzuki Swift Sport is priced at $23,990, the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart is starting at $29,990. If you do the math, that's a significant $6,000 difference between them. Does the difference make the Colt more worth the purchase or is the Suzuki Swift better even with a cheaper price?

The Colt's standard features that it comes equipped with are as follows: Air conditioning, 16 inch alloy wheels, 6 Disc MP3 compatible CD player with 4 speakers, leather steering wheel, alloy pedals, gear shifter and handbrake, fog lamps, power windows, power mirrors, retractable mirrors, and a pollen filter. The safety features are: Antilock Brake System (ABS) brakes, Acitve Stability Control (ASC), Brake Assist (BA), 9 inch variable brake booster, Recaro seats, and driver/passenger SRS airbags.

In conclusion, which car is considered the winner? It would have to be the Suzuki Swift, even though I personally thought the Colt would take this competition easily in the beginning. The Colt is just a little too pricey for me considering what you get. You can pay $6,000 less for the Suzuki Swift Sport and basically get the same features the Colt aside from the Recaro seats, but with all the advantages of having the Swift. Even if the Colt was cheaper than the Swift, I would still have to go with the Suzuki. It just out performed the Mitsubishi Colt in many areas and in others they appeared even. With that said, it is obvious why you should go with the Swift Sport.