I’m generally okay with getting older. I’ve come to accept that I’m going to be stiff and sore if I overdo pretty much anything, and I can put up with the music I listened to in high school now being played on “classic rock” stations. But one thing that still throws me for a loop is seeing appreciating values on what were essentially throwaway cars in decades past. Who would have thought a sixth-generation Dodge Colt would ever fetch even four figures again? Since I found not one, but two such Colts with disturbingly high price tags, I thought we’d look at both of them today, and see if either one of them is worth the asking price.
We looked at two sporty hatchback coupes yesterday, both one-owner cars in really nice condition. It sounds like many of you were disappointed in the Firebird’s specification, and I agree that a V6 with an automatic is kind of the worst of both worlds for those cars, but it’s also the most common configuration. The Ford Probe with its five-speed manual, even without the GT’s turbocharger, appealed to a lot more of you.
You already know my choice. It’s not often you have to sell a car you really like just to get something you want more, and it’s even rarer to get a second chance at the first car years later. I still want to add another small manual car to my garage eventually, and if I were able to go shopping for one today, that Probe would be high on the list. Unless, of course, I found a Geo Storm in similar condition.
Now, before we dive into these two cars, I want to clarify that there were some Dodge Colts that were genuinely cool, and worth consideration as collectible classics. The Colt Vista wagon, especially in its 4WD form, was a neat car. And the eight-speed “twin stick” models of the early ’80s were novel and fun to drive. That generation of Colt, as well as the generation that followed, were also available turbocharged, and those were even more fun. But these two? Really? For this price? Let’s take a look at them and see if there’s any way they’re worth it.
1989 Dodge Colt GT – $4,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Odometer reading: 106,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Previous generations of the Dodge Colt were available in a variety of body styles, but the sixth generation only came in one: a three-door hatchback. You could get a four-door sedan if you went to your friendly neighborhood Jeep/Eagle dealership and asked for a Summit, but Dodge and Plymouth only offered the hatchback. Several different trim levels were available, though, including this GT. From what I can tell, it’s just an appearance package, with red trim and some fancier seats.
The engine in this Colt is a far cry from the turbocharged engines in earlier versions. Apparently, you could get a Colt Turbo in 1989, but they only built 1,500 of them. This one has a humble 1.5-liter engine making 82 horsepower mated to a three-speed automatic. Yes, I agree; a five-speed manual would have been a better choice, but whoever ordered this car new disagreed. The seller says it runs fine, but has a bit of a rough idle from sitting. You know the cure for that: put some fresh gas in it and take it on a road trip.
The interior looks all right, but I don’t know what that pile of crap on the passenger’s seat is, or why it’s there. A bigger mystery is what a genuine Nardi steering wheel is doing in a Dodge Colt. It looks great in there, and I’m sure it feels really nice too, but why this car?
The photos in this ad are terrible. The car is clearly parked just inside an open garage door; why not pull it out into the sunshine to take a picture or two? We can tell it’s shiny, at least, by the reflections of the LED light grid on the ceiling. I’d check the date codes on those tires, though; I can’t imagine how long it has been since anyone made 155R13 whitewalls.
1992 Dodge Colt GL – $5,995
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Altamonte Springs, FL
Odometer reading: 78,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
This body style of Colt only lasted for four model years, and coincidentally, we have one example of the first year, and the last. Apparently, it didn’t change much over the years. This is, I’m guessing, a GL model. There was a base model, but the presence of air conditioning on this one makes me think it’s a step up.
This Colt has the same drivetrain as the black one above, a 1.5-liter four and a three-speed automatic, but it has fewer miles, and we have a little more information about its condition. It has a new battery and a new fuel pump, and it runs and drives great.
The interior looks really nice, as you would expect with so few miles. One photo shows the back seat, and it has a popped seam, but the front seats look fine. The air conditioning works, which is a nice thing to have, but I bet it feels like you dropped an anchor when you turn it on.
The outside looks great, and there’s a reason: the previous owner had it repainted. Again, I have to ask why. Not only why did it need repainting, but why invest so much work and money in a car like this? Was it sentimental attachment? Or rust repair? Whatever the reason, it looks better than any ’92 Colt I’ve seen since about ’93.
Don’t get me wrong; these are perfectly decent little cars. But are they five or six grand cars, three and a half decades after they were built? I’m not so sure. But I’ll leave it up to you. And for those of you who have always asked for a “neither” option in the poll, today is your lucky day.
The post Are Either Of Them Worth It? 1989 Dodge Colt vs 1992 Dodge Colt appeared first on The Autopian.
