Auto Trader Ten Point Test: Citroen C4

It's great value, good to drive and looks like nothing else on the road

Auto Trader Ten Point Test rating: 78%

In a part of the market which sells in massive numbers, few car makers are willing to take risks with their styling.

But for a company like Citroen - which has always built some of the boldest cars on the road - the C4 looks almost normal. Look inside and you’ll see it’s filled with lots of unique touches and unlike any other car you can buy.

Looks | Looks Inside | Practicality | Ride and Handling | Performance
Running Costs | Reliability | Safety | Equipment | X-Factor

1. Looks

With its striking face and big, curved rump, the C4 certainly has presence. We drove the five-door version which misses out on the three-door version's coupe-like lines. Although we tested the sporty VTR+ model, there wasn't much to emphasise its racy pretensions, other than a set of multispoke alloys with a neat Citroen logo that straddled the centre cap cover.

7/10

2. Looks inside

Possibly the most radical interior available today, the dashboard is more like the Starship Enterprise than that of a small family hatchback. The conventional one-piece instrument cluster you'd expect to find inside is split into three screens. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but we found all the readouts very easy to find. A small electronic rev counter sits behind the steering wheel, while the speedometer, fuel gauge and other gauges sit centrally on the top of the dash. A further display underneath the speedo contains the clock and the trip computer, while another lower down features the heating controls.

But the C4 saves its trump card for the steering wheel, which has a fixed centre, so just the rim of the wheel moves. This allows space for a plethora of buttons for the speed limiter, cruise control and audio controls. We found these a little muddled at first, but they became more intuitive over time.

Our test car came with an optional glass roof, which we felt was well worth the extra £500. Two spring-loaded covers can be pulled from the front and rear of the roof lining to cover it, but with the light and airy ambience it lent, we left it open.

It proved to be a comfortable companion, with supportive seats and minimal road noise, even at speed. Citroen claim the C4 is the roomiest car in its class too.

10/10

3. Practicality

A decent sized, 320-litre boot, coupled with a wide, low sill made it easy to load bulky objects, and smaller items were held in place with an elastic net on the boot floor. We were well served for the 'travelling light' journeys we mostly put it through, and the conditioned glovebox and drawers in the dashboard and under the front passenger seat came in useful on several occasions.

7/10

4. Ride and Handling

Citroen is well known for making cars which soak up bumpy roads without fuss, and the C4 is up there with the class leaders. Given the comfortable ride, the handling is surprisingly good. The C4 is among the best we've driven, which is a foregone conclusion given it shares many components with the eminently chuckable Peugeot 307.

8/10

5. Performance

Our test car might have only packed a modest 110bhp 1.6-litre diesel under its bonnet, but was a very impressive performer. On paper, our C4 VTR+ reached 62mph from standstill in 11.2 seconds, but felt much faster. That's more to do with an impressive 177lb/ft of pulling power, which peaks at a usefully low 1,750rpm. Overtaking was simple, and it felt energetic in all of its five gears.

8/10

6. Running Costs

Officially, the C4 VTR+ will set you back £16,340, but Citroen have a steady rota of cashback and money off incentives, so you'll get up to £3,000 off the list price when the deals are taken into account. This makes it a very appealing competition, because at a shade over £13,000 it's pitched against poverty-spec Focus diesels. The group 6 insurance grouping is remarkably low, as is a claimed average fuel consumption of 47.1mpg. The only shocker is depreciation, with the C4 VTR+ losing 54 per cent of its value over three years.

8/10

7. Reliability

Still too early to say really, but Citroen are slightly better than average for the cost and frequency of breakdown and repairs. Anecdotal evidence points to some electrical gremlins.

7/10

8. Safety

Another strong showing in the safety category, with a full five star EuroNCAP rating for passenger protection, four stars for child protection and three stars for pedestrian protection, making it one of the safest in its class. Our VTR+ test car featured intelligent front driver and passenger airbags, side impact bars, brake assistance, ABS and brake force distribution. EuroNCAP praised the C4's strong shell most of all.

8/10

9. Equipment

It was all there, bar the kitchen sink and some satellite navigation. Cruise control was joined by a speed limiter, while the air-freshened climate control was a nice touch (refills are available from Citroen), although ours must have been nearing empty - it just smelt of New Car. There was also an air-conditioned glovebox and drawers in the dashboard and under the front passenger seat to hide bits out of sight.

8/10

10. X-Factor

Its great value, good to drive and looks like nothing else on the road, although if you want a really radical design, choose the three-door version. There are plenty of reasons to recommend the C4 - particularly with the fun and frugal 110bhp diesel engine - and if you can take advantage of the numerous offers available, so much the better. Sadly this is its Achilles heel; discounting cars from new makes them an attractive prospect, but just remember they’ll be worth proportionally less when you come to sell.

7/10