Fancy a car with some razor-sharp styling and fresh ideas but still easy on the pocket? Let me point you to the C4 Cactus which Citroen have just launched in the UK.
Like the ground-breaking DS3 on which it is based, it is likely to appeal to anyone who wants something which stands out from the crowd.
The company believes it will follow in the tracks of their classic 2CV and the original DS from 1955 both of which re-drew all the rules about what a car should look like.
They have effectively taken the DS3 platform and a range of common components and re-thought the whole established idea of what a car should look like and come up with something really different.
Starting with the exterior, the most striking elements are the air bump panels which run along the sides on front and rear doors. They look like glorified bubble-wraps but are in fact soft air-filled thermoplastic polyurethane capsules which not only protect the Cactus’s doors from chips and dents from other cars parked alongside, but also the side panels of those other cars too.
It has a raised ride height, combining the conventional hatchback with a crossover to create a crosshatch and coupled with a range of ten dramatic body colour schemes, creates a car which certainly stands out on the street.
Big wheels and eye-catching roof rails add to the overall effect and as it is 200 kgs lighter than the standard C4 hatchback it is light and nimble in its handling, with low CO2 of just 82 g/km and low consumption of up to 91 mpg to give a potential range of 900 miles on a single tankful. Other ideas are ‘magic wash’ which jets water onto the edge of the wiper blades to give a more effective wipe but also uses less water and means the water reservoir is 50% smaller and lighter.
The drama continues on the inside with a UV filtered glass roof and a front passenger airbag built into the roof lining instead of the dashboard. That releases space in front of the passenger and allows for a larger and deeper glovebox.
Chief Designer Mark Lloyd, a Kent man who is now firmly based in Paris, talked me through his thinking about the project which has kept him busy for the past five years after helping to create the DS3 itself.
“We set about taking a fresh look at what we need in a car as well as designing something which looked distinctive. We stripped out the conventional dashboard and started again by keeping everything to the minimum.”
The result is effective with a clean and efficient look and some great styling touches such as the lookalike luggage straps on the glovebox which is covered in small rubber dots which double as grips for the likes of a mobile phone.
The sat nav screen, which is a standard Citroen unit, stands proud of the dash but most of the other components have been created specifically for the Cactus.
Externally it bears some of the appeal and looks of the MINI Countryman and the Fiat 500L but takes the concept a stage further.
On the road it is nippy if not exciting and the very simple auto box with a simple D, R and N button for drive, reverse and neutral which I found a bit sloppy leaves room for a retro-style bench seat at the front.
The five speed manual was more to my liking and the car is great fun to drive – and look at.
CAR: Citroen C 4 Cactus Flair Blue HDi 100
PRICE: £17,990 (£20,425 as tested)
ENGINE: 1560cc, 4 cyl transverse, 100 bhp, 254 Nm
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 114 mph. 0-62 mph 10.7 secs
ECONOMY: 83 mpg combined
CO2 EMISSIONS: 89 g/km
