Citroen C4, an informal review / car envy

[Otter74]

I was in France last week and reserved a "mid-sized" (C-segment) car from Sixt - they gave me a Citroen C4. I didn't get offered choices, but it's all interesting, as anything I get will be new to me. Photo of glorious steed below:



I put about 1600km on it over the course of my visit. This consisted of a long drive down from Paris to the Perigord on the A10 and A20, and then when I was down there lots and lots of 2-lane roads ranging from fairly fast highways to paved goat trails.

Doesn't have particularly inspired handling, but it rides really well. It was extremely comfortable on the autoroute and wasn't bad on the B-roads - handling was nothing special, but decent. I think it had the highest output diesel (2.0L, 150bhp or so) as it was quick, and had terrific midrange torque. Powertrain was very refined, clutch and shifter were good. Not so much steering feel, but at least it was linear.

I haven't driven many newer cars (other than my 2003 appliance car) since I was an engineer at Chrysler 8-10 years ago and drove lots of new cars, and I do find myself impressed by some of the equipment that new cars come with, and the refinement. Adaptive headlamps with cornering lamp function built into the fog lamps, hill holder on the clutch, you can set the cruise control to recognize speed limits and observe them, and it also had a programmable speed limiter function in the cruise control. I had no idea you could get light vehicles with this; apparently it's relatively common in Europe. Nav system was really good. I am not used to them since I Don't drive cars with hav and navigate with maps, but I was impressed with it.

Altogether, while I'd prefer something with better dynamic qualities (like a Golf, I suppose, but I imagine even a Peugeot 308 would have handled better) this kind of hit a lot of 'want' points and reminds me why I've been wanting to replace my Accord for the least year and a half with a hatchback this size. And it makes me wish we could get more diesels of this size in the US. I love the flexibility, it was quick enough, and I think I was getting the equivalent of at least mid 40s mpg (USG) on the autoroute, doing 130-140kph.

Now I can just go replace my low-mileage Honda with a Mk V or Mk VI Volkswagen diesel. What could possibly go wrong?!

[intakexhaust]

Somewhat on topic, I read somewhere Peugeot or the PSA group is going global again and will have vehicles for the US market. Vehicles as in cars and trucks.

[jyl]

French cars are much better than some think. They are not (generally) sporty or prestigious. They are comfortable, capable, roomy (for their class) cars, at prices very affordable to the petit bourgeoisie, that will soak up the ruts and cobbles of a rural French farmer's track, and also cruise calmly at 80 mph on the French autoroute, which is a freeway system that puts current US freeways to shame.

[billybek]

I had a Peugeot diesel wagon for a rental in England a two or three years ago.
I must have drove that thing for two weeks all over England before I put fuel into it.
It was a very nice car and I liked driving it.

[Arizona_928]

Here's the citroen that sixt gave me... I originally was supposed to have a vw, but this was all they had. I think it's a C1, but the pos was having major clutch issues only after 3,000 km of my abuse.

[petrolhead611]

The Citroen C4 and Peugeot 308 are brothers under the skin incidentally.Neither are renowned as the chuckable cars in their market sector, but they are relatively cheap.
The Ford Focus(withe the same PSA diesel engine as the Citroen and Peugeot) is a much better handling car, really just about the equal of the Golf in all regards except depreciation.

[Embraer]

had a Ford Kuga in France a couple weeks ago. turbo diesel with a 6 speed. really, really wish we could get that here. it was a fun car to drive, good ride, with ample power. Drove from Paris to Le Mans, used it for the week, drove back to Paris, and filled up right before I returned it.

[Otter74]

Originally Posted by petrolhead611

The Citroen C4 and Peugeot 308 are brothers under the skin incidentally.Neither are renowned as the chuckable cars in their market sector, but they are relatively cheap.
The Ford Focus(withe the same PSA diesel engine as the Citroen and Peugeot) is a much better handling car, really just about the equal of the Golf in all regards except depreciation.

Aha, I didn't know they were platform mates. I've driven US -spec Focuses and thought they were quite nice and handled very well, though I did t like the automatic very much.

Originally Posted by Embraer

had a Ford Kuga in France a couple weeks ago. turbo diesel with a 6 speed. really, really wish we could get that here. it was a fun car to drive, good ride, with ample power. Drove from Paris to Le Mans, used it for the week, drove back to Paris, and filled up right before I returned it.

The Euro Kuga is the US Escape. But of course we don't get those diesel powertrains, which is what i liked!

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by jyl

the French autoroute, which is a freeway system that puts current US freeways to shame.

While I'll agree with you that the quality of the pavement on French autoroutes in my experience is better than much of our Interstates, calling it a freeway is a misnomer. I recall spending over $40 Euro in tolls driving the A4 from Strasbourg to Paris, so I'd prefer to call it a highway.