Somewhat ironic to me, but completely understandable, to ask that question on a forum that most people go to when they have trouble with a gun. Both guns are well represented in the "I got a problem with my...." threads.
Solely based on my recollections it seems that the Kimber seems to have a bit more teething problems than the Colt. They seem to both have the same type problems. But ratio wise, with the higher number of Colts out there, one should see much more Colt problems on these types of forums. Maybe they are, I haven't done the math.
If you start with the assumption that the gun is going to run right straight from the box, which I'm sure the majority of them do, then you will only have to figure out what to do if one quits working right.
In that case I think the Colt would be the way to go. Without getting completely "fanboy" about it, the rest are, after all, copies. And I say that only to illustrate that the others make what they consider to be improvements. I would say the majority of gunsmiths know the Colt better than another copy. There may intricacies to a Kimber, I don't know.
If I considered them to be equal quality and all else equal then there is no doubt I would go with a Colt.
