Citroen C3 - Review

From the outset this funky little hatchback looks rather like a Nissan Micra; both are smallish hatchbacks, both have a smooth, bubble like appearance, and both have airy interiors with lots of toys on the inside. However, there is one big difference; the Citroen is French, and the Nissan is Japanese, (I like stating the obvious) in that the Japanese want to build a hatchback that’s good value, well equipped, and reliable. The French however want to build a hatchback that’s good value, well equipped, and fun. And this is good news, as they have indeed succeeded with the C3. You see, this car was originally intended to be the advanced, sprightly successor to the Saxo, which was a snazzy, lovably little car, but unfortunately was outclassed by a shopping trolley as far as reliability and safety go. The C3 was Citroens chance to create a new, modern, advanced car that heralded change, or something along those lines. And you can see this when you get in. The futuristic dash with loads of lights and the digital speedometer for example may put some off, but give them a chance, and you’ll soon get used to them, if not like them. The rest of the cabin has a similar feel, although it’s not really as futuristically minded; a few light greys here and there break up the monotonous black plastics which aren’t really that bad, giving the cabin a cheerful and somewhat bouncy, if not limited atmosphere.

Then there’s the handling and control; the C3 is a largish city car and smallish family car. It was designed to be light on the road, slipping from lane to lane easily and getting off from the traffic lights without making a fuss, and being a city car, especially in the big cities, it knows it’ll be spending a lot of it’s time queuing, so it needs to be comfortable and easy to use at low speeds and in low gears. One word of warning though; in an attempt to do this Citroen has made the steering and the pedals stupidly light. The first time I trod on the clutch I nearly put my foot through the floor, and the steering felt like it was held together with elastic bands. This worry goes though, you soon get used to the lightness and it becomes refreshing to do a U-turn through what is practically telekinesis.

The model I drove had the 1.1 Litre engine, which is the base engine, but it was quite smooth, and had some punch, however it wasn’t really much cop past 75 mph (the top speed being 98 mph), it did it but you get the sense it’s really trying. However you can get a 1.4, and even a 1.6 and I imagine they’ll have more go. The money conscious however would probably prefer the 1.1 as it’ll do the most miles per gallon, except for the 1.4 and 1.6 diesels of course but these are in higher insurance brackets, the 1.1 only being in group 2. Overall, it’s a funky little car, that’s well equipped, however, it’s not designed to be good at long distance so don’t expect it to be; it’s new and snazzy, but in a city car kind of way.