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30/05/2005
By EWAN KENNEDY
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Citroen's just launched C4 sees a real return to the famed marque’s roots. The French maker is renowned for designing quirky cars with fascinating technology. Our test car this week was the fascinating three-door coupe version of the C4 range. Similar in style at the front to the five-door hatch, the coupe has a distinctly different tail using a steeply sloping roof and a glass rear panel.
 The interesting shape isn’t without its drawbacks when viewed from the inside. The windscreen is a long way forward, more after the style of a people mover than a coupe. This leads to some visibility problems created by the wide pillars. The view to the rear is also restricted as the solid horizontal panel that sits between the two glass sections of the back window tends to confuse the eye and doesn’t give as immediate an impression as to exactly what's happening behind. Perhaps a longer period of time than we spent with the C4 coupe (we managed 800 km in our week) would make this easier to live with.
There's good interior space for four people in the Citroen C4 three-door hatch, though entry to the rear seat isn’t too easy despite it having very large doors. Boot space is fine and there's the option of a clever foldout unit that divides it into several compartments to minimise the amount of sliding about of the boot’s contents.
Our C4 had the larger of the two engines, a 2.0-litre unit. It provided plenty of punch in all driving conditions and had good reserves of power for overtaking. Strong torque let it climb hills with a minimum of gearchanges. The engine is smoother and less intrusive than some units seen in recent Citroens and is a real pleasure to sit behind.
On the open road our typical fuel consumption was about eight to nine litres per hundred kilometres, with suburban driving pushing the figure up to about 10 to 12 litres per hundred kilometres. There's nothing particularly outstanding about these fuel numbers, some in the class do it better, others worse.
 On the road the Citroen has excellent steering feel and reacts precisely to all commands. The way the standard suspension soaks up the lumps and bumps of Australian backroads is most impressive and provides not only comfort and stability, but also a feeling of real security. The slightly firmer suspension of the sporting VTS may prove a bit much for some passengers. There was quite a bit of intrusion from tyre noise on some coarse-chip surfaces.
The fixed-hub steering wheel (the hub remains stationary whilst the steering wheel revolves around behind it) works exceptionally well. The hub has controls for the audio system, trip computer, cruise control with inbuilt speed limiter, and some ventilation items. All the controls on the hub are sitting exactly in the same place all the time, making for safer, easier driving and Citroen is to be commended for this new design feature.
The primary reason for the fixed-hub design is that the airbag always comes out at the same angle instead of at an angle dictated by the position of the steering wheel. Thus the airbag has a non-symmetrical shape for optimum protection.
 Citroen C4’s use of no fewer than four LCD screens in the dashboard is a bit of an overkill and can be tiresome at night. There's the option of turning some of them off. It would be smart for a new owner to get out their owner’s handbook and work out the best arrangement for their tastes.
Incidentally, the clean frontal look with its distinctive Citroen chevron badge isn’t there just to look good, the Citroen C4 has gained the highest ever marks for pedestrian protection as tested by European NCAP.
Citroen's new C4 is stylish, quirky and interesting to drive, it sells in Australia at a very reasonable price for a mid-range European machine.
AT A GLANCE
MODEL RANGE
C4 1.6-litre five-door hatch - $25,990
C4 Coupe VTR 1.6-litre two-door coupe - $25,990
C4 2.0-litre five-door hatch - $33,990
C4 Coupe VTS 2.0-litre two-door coupe - $36,990
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard on all models
Air Conditioning: Standard on all models
Automatic Transmission: Standard on 2.0-litre hatch, $2000 option on 1.6-litre hatch, not offered on Coupe
CD Player: Standard on all models
Central Locking: Standard on all models
Cruise Control: Standard on all models
Driver Airbag: Standard on all models
Passenger Airbag: Standard on all models
Front Side Airbags: Standard on all models
SPECIFICATIONS (Citroen C4 Coupe VTS 2.0-litre two-door coupe)
ENGINE
Capacity: 1.997 litres
Configuration: Four cylinders in line
Head Design: NA
Compression Ratio: NA
Bore/Stroke: 85.0 x 88.0mm
Maximum Power: 103kW @ 6000rpm
Maximum Torque: 200Nm @ 4000rpm
DRIVELINE
Driven Wheels: Front
Manual Transmission: Not offered
Automatic Transmission: Four-speed
Final Drive Ratio: NA
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES
Length: 4260mm
Wheelbase: 2608mm
Width: 1773mm
Height: 1471mm
Turning Circle: 11.5 metres
Kerb Mass: 1292kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 60 litres
Towing Ability: 683kg (1300kg with braked trailer)
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES
Front Suspension: MacPherson struts
Rear Suspension: Flexible torsion beam
Front Brakes: Ventilated disc
Rear Brakes: Disc
PERFORMANCE
0-100 km/h Acceleration: 10.1 secs
Standing 400 Metres: 17.3 secs
FUEL CONSUMPTION
City Cycle: 11.7 L/100km
Highway Cycle: 8.4 L/100km
STANDARD WARRANTY
Three years/60,000km
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