Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 5,060
- Location
- The remittance desk
Well, having just got back from ragging the living daylights out of a C4 VTR+, I thought I should share the gained wisdom from this weekend.
The car was delivered by National Car rental on Thursday, 30 minuites late I may add. 20 miles on the clock and in Silver. My mission was a little town driving and then head off to the land of the Darliods (Darlington) and pick up 3 colleagues and drive down to Wawick (220 miles). First impressions were that it wasn't a complete minger, just I wouldn't have noticed it parked up - hardly stands out if you know what I mean. I knew I was getting a 1.6 and a 1.6 it was - 110 wild ponies waiting to be unleashed!!!
Interior was the first thing that alarmed me, just after the initial 30 seconds of 'wow' wore off. It feels cheap, a massive dash with swaythes of plastic and fake carbon. There are millions of buttons and wheels. The on-board computer is confusing and, as far as I can see, useless anyway. The dispalys are centred with MPH shown in big numbers in the centre of the dash. I don't like this at all. The petrol guage is so far over, I missed it to start with! Then there is the 'computer' display. This is above the CD player and is not useful at all when driving. The best thing I found was how to disable and enable auto locks. I does display MPG, when you find that screen, something I will touch on later. The rev counter and status lights are above the centre parts of the steering wheel, which never moves, just the outside 'wheel' - slightly strange to say the least.
The level of kit as standard is great - multi-zone aircon, alloys, CD, cruise, computer, privicy glass - all great features, but there is no intuative feel about where everything is. As an example, I didn't find the Hazard lights switch for ages as the steering wheel and indicator stalks hide it and then there are the trip reset buttons, located some 3 miles away from the driver, by the speedo console, when EVERY other button is in easy reach. The lack of Sat Nav and bluetooth are a bit worrying but hey, they aren't a must.
The drive is the next let down. Citroen have managed to remove the normal suspension and replace it with a large bowl of jelly. Amazingly, they have also got the wibbly wobbly rolling wonder to detect EVERY bump in the road - even the one's you miss! It's an amazing combo of twitchy and soft ride. The brakes were designed by a man without any comprehension of physics. Even when bedded in, they dig the front of the car hard into the road, lifting the back to the point that it becomes loose and skittish under hard braking - to trouser filling level at any decent speed. The steering is reasonably responsive and the gear change is smooth and refined, though I wanted a little more feedback from the clutch in truth.
Once you get used to all the gadgets and gizmos, as well as the ride, they are ok and you can put them to the back of your mind. What you can't ignore is that woeful 110bhp engine. It requires constant flogging to get anywhere and under 4k revs is just pathetic. Why did Citreon not use the 1.616v out of the Saxo VTS? This is a heavy car with 4 adults and luggage, we will have been tipping 1550kg's and I had to spend time hunting up and down the box for the power - 5th couldn't pull a fat minger at ten to two in the nightclub, even with the offer of a free kebab first. There is no footrest either - a capital crime in my opinion!
Economy on the C4 was rather poor - i did 29.3 mpg with a bit of town driving and mostly motorway. Ok, I was in a rush but the lack of power means you have to rev it. Apparently you can do over 40, but that would be my dad driving.
On the whole, I cannot imagine why anyone with the required level of intelligence to walk into the showroom with £14,300 would actually buy this car. It's just so poor compared to the competition - the Focus blows it away. If you want economy, a 1.6TDCi is as powerful and has MUCH more torque, handles better and, although it won't have as many 'toys', they are generally a) useless or b) annoying on the C4 anyway. If you want 'sporty', you can get a 2 litre 145BHP focus for the same money. But, if you must have 'toys', the 1.6 VTEC Civic Exec has as many an is as cheap, or how about a Fabia vRS with all the options bar sat nav - and change?! Even a Mazda 3 has to be a better purchase.
I am truly sorry if you have bought a C4 - and even more so if it has a lower spec engine (the 90bhp 1.4) as it's quite a big car but, in reality, a bit pointless. The boot isn't big enough, the ride is poor, the handling is not good and there is no power.
One to be avoided.
The car was delivered by National Car rental on Thursday, 30 minuites late I may add. 20 miles on the clock and in Silver. My mission was a little town driving and then head off to the land of the Darliods (Darlington) and pick up 3 colleagues and drive down to Wawick (220 miles). First impressions were that it wasn't a complete minger, just I wouldn't have noticed it parked up - hardly stands out if you know what I mean. I knew I was getting a 1.6 and a 1.6 it was - 110 wild ponies waiting to be unleashed!!!
Interior was the first thing that alarmed me, just after the initial 30 seconds of 'wow' wore off. It feels cheap, a massive dash with swaythes of plastic and fake carbon. There are millions of buttons and wheels. The on-board computer is confusing and, as far as I can see, useless anyway. The dispalys are centred with MPH shown in big numbers in the centre of the dash. I don't like this at all. The petrol guage is so far over, I missed it to start with! Then there is the 'computer' display. This is above the CD player and is not useful at all when driving. The best thing I found was how to disable and enable auto locks. I does display MPG, when you find that screen, something I will touch on later. The rev counter and status lights are above the centre parts of the steering wheel, which never moves, just the outside 'wheel' - slightly strange to say the least.
The level of kit as standard is great - multi-zone aircon, alloys, CD, cruise, computer, privicy glass - all great features, but there is no intuative feel about where everything is. As an example, I didn't find the Hazard lights switch for ages as the steering wheel and indicator stalks hide it and then there are the trip reset buttons, located some 3 miles away from the driver, by the speedo console, when EVERY other button is in easy reach. The lack of Sat Nav and bluetooth are a bit worrying but hey, they aren't a must.
The drive is the next let down. Citroen have managed to remove the normal suspension and replace it with a large bowl of jelly. Amazingly, they have also got the wibbly wobbly rolling wonder to detect EVERY bump in the road - even the one's you miss! It's an amazing combo of twitchy and soft ride. The brakes were designed by a man without any comprehension of physics. Even when bedded in, they dig the front of the car hard into the road, lifting the back to the point that it becomes loose and skittish under hard braking - to trouser filling level at any decent speed. The steering is reasonably responsive and the gear change is smooth and refined, though I wanted a little more feedback from the clutch in truth.
Once you get used to all the gadgets and gizmos, as well as the ride, they are ok and you can put them to the back of your mind. What you can't ignore is that woeful 110bhp engine. It requires constant flogging to get anywhere and under 4k revs is just pathetic. Why did Citreon not use the 1.616v out of the Saxo VTS? This is a heavy car with 4 adults and luggage, we will have been tipping 1550kg's and I had to spend time hunting up and down the box for the power - 5th couldn't pull a fat minger at ten to two in the nightclub, even with the offer of a free kebab first. There is no footrest either - a capital crime in my opinion!
Economy on the C4 was rather poor - i did 29.3 mpg with a bit of town driving and mostly motorway. Ok, I was in a rush but the lack of power means you have to rev it. Apparently you can do over 40, but that would be my dad driving.
On the whole, I cannot imagine why anyone with the required level of intelligence to walk into the showroom with £14,300 would actually buy this car. It's just so poor compared to the competition - the Focus blows it away. If you want economy, a 1.6TDCi is as powerful and has MUCH more torque, handles better and, although it won't have as many 'toys', they are generally a) useless or b) annoying on the C4 anyway. If you want 'sporty', you can get a 2 litre 145BHP focus for the same money. But, if you must have 'toys', the 1.6 VTEC Civic Exec has as many an is as cheap, or how about a Fabia vRS with all the options bar sat nav - and change?! Even a Mazda 3 has to be a better purchase.
I am truly sorry if you have bought a C4 - and even more so if it has a lower spec engine (the 90bhp 1.4) as it's quite a big car but, in reality, a bit pointless. The boot isn't big enough, the ride is poor, the handling is not good and there is no power.
One to be avoided.
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