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MOTORING MASTERPIECE
The latest Picasso from resurgent Citroen is a family-focused work of art says Guy Bird
Still, Renault countered with the bigger seven-seat Grand Scenic in 2003 that has just been given a facelift and some crucial new engines to keep it competitive.
There are so many great features available on Citroen’s new Grand Picasso mini-MPV it’s hard to know where to start. Seven seats, seven airbags, exterior headlights that see round corners, a device that measures whether you’ve got enough room to park when you sidle up to your intended space, a separate child surveillance mirror, built-in air freshener and scent options, endless clever storage spaces – some which can be cooled and others that light up when a hand dips in – adjustable interiormood lighting, reading lights in the back of the front seats and even a detachable torch that doubles up as a boot-light when clipped into place (recharging as it does so).
Of course, many of these gadgets are optional cost extras unless you choose the top spec exclusive trim, but the fact that they have been engineered into the car at all, reflects a car that has been thoroughly designed for ease of use – especially for families in need of a flexible and innovative vehicle.
But all this technology would be for nothing unless the car looked great – which luckily it does – particularly with the huge glass panoramic roof option (choose it if you can afford the extra £600, as it should hold its |
This review from FQ MAGAZINE March 2007
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value well when it’s time to sell too).
Citroen’s signature bonnet-mounted double chevron logo tells the world you’re not another Ford or Vauxhall and is now neatly incorporated with two chrome strips that stretch our to meet the shapely front headlamps. It looks sharp.
The car reveals its slickness from the moment you blip the remote key fob to open the doors – at the same time the wing mirrors (tucked into the car’s sides) gracefully open out to their driving position. Jump inside and the dash layout immediately sets itself apart from most rivals. A modern but simple affair, it has only one main digital display for mph and revs, a stereo that hides under a flap and aircon controls that sit with the side vents on each side. The rest of the controls aregrouped around the fixed hub steering wheel. As you turn the wheel the centre hub and controls stay where they are for easy use. It’s a neat and distinctive touch no other major car manufacturer offers.
With no handbrake, transmission tunnel or conventional gearbox between the two front seats, a mountain of space is freed up. Storage trays and cupholders take up some of that space, but the unused area helps create a wonderfully airy feeling enhanced by the swathes of glass cocooning the cabin. The ‘no handbrake issue’ is solved by an automatic electronic park brake – that |
engages when the engine is switched off – and disengages when you press the accelerator sufficiently (and there’s also a manual small pull-on/pull-off handbrakebutton under the dashboard display too). Meanwhile instead of a conventional manual gearbox, the C4 Picasso has an Electronic Gearbox System (EGS) worked by ergonomic cold chrome-accented steering wheel-mounted paddles (right for up changes, left for down). Alternatively, simply leave it in ‘auto’ mode via another lever on the top of the steering wheel reminiscent of the one on the old classicCitroen DS. It’s all very easy to use once you get used to pausing your accelerator foot slightly when it changes gears – as you would on a normal manual.
It’s very fuel-efficient too – recording just under 50mpg for the 1.6-litre diesel unit. If you want more grunt and less engine noise there is a 2.0 diesel and two petrols (1.8 and 2.0).
With a flexible boot that expands from 208 to 1951 litres, depend on seating configuration, and a five-star EuroNCAP crashworthiness rating for adult occupant protection, plus three stars for children and two for pedestrians, the seven-seat C4 Grand Picasso is quite a proposition.
Price £18,695
Engine 110bhp 1.6
Top Speed 112mph
0-60 13.4secs
Economy 49.6mpg
CO2 emissions 150g/km (Band C)
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