Citroen C4 Cactus review
The Citroen C4 Cactus is that the French brand’s endeavour to travel back to basics. To that finish, Citroen has stripped out several of the luxuries it thinks consumers during this market are not daunted concerning. The rear windows merely start instead of wind down, as an example, and therefore the back seats fold together long bench rather than the standard 60:40 split. The obvious purpose of all this is often to stay the worth down, and it’s worked as a result of the Cactus starts at but £13,000, undercutting its nighest rival the Nisan Juke.
However, there is another vital reason for the bare-bones approach: to save lots of weight. The Cactus tips the scales at but a weight unit – virtually 250kg but the rival Nisan – serving to to stay fuel economy high and greenhouse gas emissions low. Even the foremost powerful fuel version (a one09bhp 1.2 turbo) generates simply 107g/km, whereas the 99bhp one.6 Blue HDi diesel that is expected to be the largest marketer emits as very little as 87g/km. Other engines embrace 74bhp and 81bhp versions of a naturally aspirated one.2 fuel and AN 89bhp one.6 diesel, whereas Citroen’s ETG machine-driven manual gear case are ex gratia on elite engines.
What’s the 2014 Citroen C4 Cactus prefer to drive? Citroens were once noted for his or her pillowy ride, however a number of the company’s recent models (including the DS4 and DS5) are something however comfy. The Cactus could be a mixture. Even on the comparatively massive 17-inch alloys fitted to our check automobile, the soft suspension soaks up huge bumps well, and keeps the automobile settled on the pike. However, things are not thus comfy over the kind of sharp-edged bumps and potholes you sometimes encounter in cities and cities – these tend to send jolts through the cabin.
There’s conjointly lots of body sway through tight twist and turns, though the succulent ne’er lurches concerning uncontrollably, and none of its key rivals is way fun to drive quickly, either. The steering is light-weight enough to form the Citroen simple to manoeuvre and park, and weights up at quicker speeds to produce an inexpensive quantity of confidence. We tried the one09bhp 1.2 turbo, that is effectively an equivalent engine found within the new Peugeot 308. It’s nearly as swish because it is in this automobile, however it pulls tolerably from low revs, giving the succulent over adequate performance for scooting around city or maybe cruising on the quicker A-roads and motorways.
We conjointly had an opportunity to drive the super-clean one.6 Blue HDi diesel. sadly, obtaining obviate all gram of greenhouse gas has stifled its performance, as a result of despite having additional torsion than the one.2 petrol, it feels flat before around 1800rpm, and needs to be revved laborious to form fast progress. You often end up dynamic right down to keep momentum in city, too, however a minimum of it is a comparatively swish performing artist, as there is very little vibration sent back through the controls.
At high speeds you’ll notice an inexpensive quantity of road and wind noise filtering into the cabin. However, you’ll level an equivalent criticism at the Citroen’s rivals. we tend to do want the Cactus’s gear case was to a small degree additional precise, though. What’s the 2014 Citroen C4 succulent like inside? The succulent is loosely supported the DS3 supermini, however it’s AN altogether larger automobile with roughly an equivalent footprint as a Kia Soul. True, it isn’t quite as sensible as that automobile, however there is lots of leg- and shoulder-room for four six-footers, whereas the tall body conjointly provides a good quantity of headroom – though the ex gratia bird’s-eye glass roof (£395) fare up a number of this.
Outright boot house is roughly on a par therewith of the rival Soul at 358 litres, growing to 1170 litres after you fold down the rear seats. the very fact that the bench folds together piece isn’t ideal, though, as a result of it suggests that you would like to unleash catches at either aspect of the automobile at an equivalent time. What’s additional, even once collapsed, the seats lie at a pronounced angle, and there’s no clever false floor to negate the hefty lip at the boot entrance.
Citroen may need done away with a number of fripperies to stay down the worth, however you’d ne’er guess once sitting within the driver’s seat. The dashboard materials are rough-textured in a very approach that creates them look something however low cost, although they aren’t particularly dense or plush. A seven-inch color touch-screen dominates the centre of the dashboard and is common place on all versions.
This controls the bulk of the car’s functions, and is fairly simple to navigate because of the road buttons that flank the sting of the show. Annoyingly, though, you have got to the utilization the touch-screen to regulate the air-conditioning (there are not any physical controls), which implies you have got to change menus simply to tweak the temperature. The screen is additionally slow to reply sometimes. Still, it will a minimum of keep the remainder of the dashboard free from muddle, and there’s a good quantity of cabin storage because of some clever use of house, like putting in the front rider airbag within the roof instead of within the dash. Three trim levels ar offered: bit, Feel and aptitude. each C4 Cactus gets the touch-screen, a DAB digital radio, a USB socket, control and 6 airbags, however you have got to accelerate to mid-spec Feel trim for air-con, Bluetooth, a leather-trimmed handwheel, and AN smarter exterior with gloss black accents and body-coloured door handles. There ar lots of alternative ways that to customize your Cactus, too, as well as ten exterior colors and 5 totally different seat materials.
All versions get the Airbump plastic aspect strips (available in four colours), that facilitate shield the paintwork against scrapes and dings. Should I purchase one? We can definitely see why you’d. On prime of these distinctive appearance, the succulent could be a smartly thought-out tiny automobile that’s fashionable, relaxing, spacious and amazingly low cost to shop for and run. It’s not good, or significantly exciting to drive, on the other hand neither ar its nighest rivals. True, for an equivalent cash you’ll purchase a Ford party and have one thing that’s far better to drive and nearly as sensible. However, if you wish atiny low automobile with a touch of SUV concerning it, the new Cactus is certainly one in every of your best bets.