Citroen's little Tardis
10/07/09 17:36 Filed in: Road
tests
If the people at the BBC are looking
for something funky to replace the police box in future episodes of
Dr Who, then perhaps they should consider equipping the
new doctor with a Citroen C3 Picasso.
It’s based on the Citroen C3 (he said, stating the obvious) but with ambitions to be a mini MPV (or, I suppose that would be “mini minivan” to our American cousins). The clue is in the Picasso monicker which Citroen reserve for their people carriers.
Now the Citroen C3 is a small hatchback. Into its 3.86-metre length it packs four (possibly five if very compact) seats and 282 litres of luggage space (1160 litres with the back seat folded down). The Citroen C3 Picasso is just 21 cm longer than the hatch, yet it offers considerably more passenger and 76% more load space at 500 litres with the back seat in place (three times that at 1506 litres, with the seat folded).
More surprising is the price. True, you can get a 1.1-litre version of the Citroen C3, whereas the Picasso starts at 1.4-litre. But, the Picasso 1.4 comes in at £50 less than the equivalent standard C3.
Yes, I know this is a little ironic after going on about the space in the C3 Picasso, but I am notorious for needing long legroom. I found the C3 Picasso just OK. To be ideal I would have liked maybe an inch or so more legroom on the driver’s seat. The slightly cramped space for my feet was not helped by limited space around the pedals. It was not the easiest of spaces in which to stow and deploy the clutch foot.
By complete contrast the headroom is cathedral-like. Head space in the back is equally generous and knee room is also good if you don’t sit behind a longest-legged driver. You could certainly get four six-foot adults in to this car. Try a fifth and the rear central passenger will notice the narrowness of his, or her, perch.
As you would expect from a vehicle with aspirations to be an MPV, there are some additional storage spaces. However, on the downside, the glovebox is deceptively small.
The view from the driver’s seat is unusual, but good with a big windscreen and small quarterlights ahead of the main door pillars. The instruments are in the centre with a digital speedometer and slightly-odd anti-clockwise rev-counter – both lit by natural light during the day.
My test car was the Citroen C3 Picasso VTR+ HDI, which costs £13,695. In this specification it comes with some obvious additional equipment and some not so obvious. From a safety perspective, the ESP system is standard on the more upmarket models, but costs an additional £350 on the two base models. It’s a similar story with side curtain airbags, except they are simply not available on the lower spec models. Among the more obvious frills on the VTR+ are the alloy wheels, air conditioning.
The 1.6 diesel engine on the Citroen C3 Picasso VTR+ HDI is gruff, but more in a gutsy way than the unpleasant drone of some small diesels. Indeed, I marked it down as quite refined. It is also reasonably lively once you have it wound up. As the 14.7-second 0-62 mph time indicates, this car is not at its best sling-shotting away from a standstill. But, typically for a diesel, it has reasonable pace when accelerating where you need it, at overtaking speeds.
On my mixture of country and city roads, I achieved a fairly consistent average around 46 to 47 mpg on most trips. CO2 emissions are 125 g/km.
In a strange way I set of on the wrong foot with the C3 Picasso. Frankly, I thought I wasn’t going to like it. But the little MPV won me over. It has individuality, character and personality, which are somewhat intangible features that I like.
It’s based on the Citroen C3 (he said, stating the obvious) but with ambitions to be a mini MPV (or, I suppose that would be “mini minivan” to our American cousins). The clue is in the Picasso monicker which Citroen reserve for their people carriers.
Now the Citroen C3 is a small hatchback. Into its 3.86-metre length it packs four (possibly five if very compact) seats and 282 litres of luggage space (1160 litres with the back seat folded down). The Citroen C3 Picasso is just 21 cm longer than the hatch, yet it offers considerably more passenger and 76% more load space at 500 litres with the back seat in place (three times that at 1506 litres, with the seat folded).
More surprising is the price. True, you can get a 1.1-litre version of the Citroen C3, whereas the Picasso starts at 1.4-litre. But, the Picasso 1.4 comes in at £50 less than the equivalent standard C3.
Yes, I know this is a little ironic after going on about the space in the C3 Picasso, but I am notorious for needing long legroom. I found the C3 Picasso just OK. To be ideal I would have liked maybe an inch or so more legroom on the driver’s seat. The slightly cramped space for my feet was not helped by limited space around the pedals. It was not the easiest of spaces in which to stow and deploy the clutch foot.
By complete contrast the headroom is cathedral-like. Head space in the back is equally generous and knee room is also good if you don’t sit behind a longest-legged driver. You could certainly get four six-foot adults in to this car. Try a fifth and the rear central passenger will notice the narrowness of his, or her, perch.
As you would expect from a vehicle with aspirations to be an MPV, there are some additional storage spaces. However, on the downside, the glovebox is deceptively small.
The view from the driver’s seat is unusual, but good with a big windscreen and small quarterlights ahead of the main door pillars. The instruments are in the centre with a digital speedometer and slightly-odd anti-clockwise rev-counter – both lit by natural light during the day.
My test car was the Citroen C3 Picasso VTR+ HDI, which costs £13,695. In this specification it comes with some obvious additional equipment and some not so obvious. From a safety perspective, the ESP system is standard on the more upmarket models, but costs an additional £350 on the two base models. It’s a similar story with side curtain airbags, except they are simply not available on the lower spec models. Among the more obvious frills on the VTR+ are the alloy wheels, air conditioning.
The 1.6 diesel engine on the Citroen C3 Picasso VTR+ HDI is gruff, but more in a gutsy way than the unpleasant drone of some small diesels. Indeed, I marked it down as quite refined. It is also reasonably lively once you have it wound up. As the 14.7-second 0-62 mph time indicates, this car is not at its best sling-shotting away from a standstill. But, typically for a diesel, it has reasonable pace when accelerating where you need it, at overtaking speeds.
On my mixture of country and city roads, I achieved a fairly consistent average around 46 to 47 mpg on most trips. CO2 emissions are 125 g/km.
In a strange way I set of on the wrong foot with the C3 Picasso. Frankly, I thought I wasn’t going to like it. But the little MPV won me over. It has individuality, character and personality, which are somewhat intangible features that I like.