Dodge Colt - Fourth Generation

From late-1978 for model year 1979, the Dodge Colt and Plymouth Champ nameplates were applied to the front-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Mirage imports into North America. The Colt and Champ (Plymouth Colt after 1982) was a 3-door hatchback, and came in Standard or Custom equipment levels. These imports used a 70 hp Mitsubishi Orion 4G33 1.4-liter overhead-cam, four-cylinder engine at first, which received the highest United States Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy rating in its debut year. This engine was joined by the 1.6-liter 4G32 Saturn engine (80 hp) at the end of the year. There were three manual transmissions and one automatic transmission available. There was a KM110 four-speed manual transmission, or a novel "Twin Stick" version of the transmission that used a two-speed transfer case to give 8 forward and 2 reverse speeds. There was also the option of a KM119 five-speed manual transmission or a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission.

For 1982 a five-door hatchback joined the lineup. The names of the equipment levels changed to "E" and "DL". At some point claimed power dropped to 64 and 72 hp respectively for the small and large engines. In 1984, which was to be the last year of this model of Colt, the GTS Turbo model arrived (along with a naturally aspirated GTS). Unique for North America - the turbocharged Colt/Mirages sold elsewhere had a 1.4-litre engine - this used the fuel-injected 1.6-litre 4G32T engine also seen in the next-generation Colt, providing 102 hp (76 kW) and considerable performance. It, too, featured the eight speed Twin Stick transmission and also received ventilated brakes in front.