THE world of the small car continues to be an ever growing scene, particularly when taking into account the number of special editions.

One of the most recent hails from Mitsubishi. The Colt Juro ClearTec in three or five door form coming billed as a "high value" model and it certainly did not disappoint.

Here is a city car with real character, a supermini with a front end bearing that intense stare of the so-called jet fighter look to the front grille which can only be attributed to the family Mitsubishi.

Much more than just your average city slicker, the Colt Juro, based on the Colt CZ2, looks very much the hardman standing on the tarmac almost as if it is raring to cause a stir before hitting the road .

Like all members of the Mitsubishi family these days, the Colt Juro is very well put together, looking a decidedly quality piece of kit.

The body is built around Mitsubishi's next generation Reinforced Impact Safety Evolution (RISE) design which disperses energy loads during side and rear impacts and controls distortion, enhancing occupant protection while also helping to protect the fuel system in the event of a rear impact.

The Colt also has a four-star Euro NCAP safety rating thanks to its comprehensive safety package which includes an advanced dual front air bag and ISO-Fix child seat anchorage points fitted as standard in the rear.

The interior belies the car's urban runabout tag with the Juro featuring some excellent extras of real quality usually found on vehicles higher up the pecking order.

Get on board and you immediately breathe in that sweet smell which comes with the provision of soft leather upholstery, neatly designed and nicely stitched together.

Also from the no-pay extras bin is a neat portable Garmin sat nav with Bluetooth hands-free phone capability, while the standard kit manifest also includes air con, cruise control and that fine driver safety aid, steering wheel audio controls,

In a thoughtfully laid out interior the three-door version did lose some of the five-door model's spaciousness but the seating still proved surprisingly comfortable.

There is also some good head and legroom to be had for its size and a number of cubby-holes. However, while boot space is pretty limited with only 160 litres available, clever folding rear seats do up the luggage space to a user friendly 568 litres.

Powered by a spritely 1.3-litre engine paired with a five-speed manual gearbox the Colt proved a pretty smooth operator, if you excuse the engine growl under heavy pressure, with plenty of pep under foot.

The car sprints from 0-62mph in 10.4 seconds and musters a maximum speed of 111mph.

However, thanks to the ClearTec technology which includes stop/go running, revised gearing and fuel saving tyres, a very user friendly 56.6mpg over the combined cycle is available.