Mitsubishi's New Carisma Elegance Adds A Touch Of Class

Mitsubishi’s Carisma has always been known as an affordable family car with comfort, economy and reliability as its major benefits, but now the range has a touch of class and luxury thanks to the arrival of the Carisma Elegance.

This latest addition to the Mitsubishi family boasts all the features of the standard Carisma Mirage – matching it for performance, fuel consumption and CO2 output – and is available as a 1.6 litre 16-valve petrol or 1.9 turbocharged Direct Injection Diesel (Di-D) model.

But it offers some smart additions to the exterior including new 9-spoke alloy wheels, black side airdams and ‘Elegance’ badges in side mouldings.

Inside it has air conditioning, black leather seat trim with driver’s seat lumbar adjuster, and rear seat centre armrest. All of this is complemented by a dark silver instrument panel trim, inner door handles and vent knobs. There are also bright finish front door scuff plates, electric heated door mirrors and cruise control on the 1.9 Di-D derivative.

The Elegance has added that certain something to a model that has already received outstanding praise – particularly when it came under the scrutiny of the Metropolitan Police Force which gave the car a Class 1 mark in its rigorous Brake and Handling Test. The Shogun and Shogun Sport also passed with flying colours.

The Carisma’s test report made a particular point of praising the vehicle’s handling saying: "The handling was extremely positive from the vehicle giving excellent driver confidence with a superb balance between engine performance and handling dynamics."

The Carisma Elegance comes with three options – the 1.9 Di-D,1.6 Elegance Manual, and 1.6 Elegance Automatic which comes with Mitsubishi’s intelligent INVECS-II automatic transmission which has a ‘thinking’ system designed to adapt its shift patterns to suit the driver’s individual style.

The full Mitsubishi Carisma range is as follows: