Review Citroen C4 Grande Picasso

24 March 2007

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Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 7 Seaters

Citroen has given the C4 range another sibling that joins the hatchback, coupe and hugely successful Picasso MPV. But its not a baby, in fact it’s a Grand Picasso with seven seats, ready and raring to go in the UK showroom’s now.

But with prices starting from just £14,995 I don’t think they will stay in the showrooms for long if customers are not too bothered about the lack of toys especially on the entry level LX that does not even have a CD player. However when you reach the VTR + and Exclusive trims, the equipment, as standard, increases and money wise, they offer better value with prices around the 16/17K. This is still highly competitive in the seven-seater war dominated by the Vauxhall Zafria whereby one in three cars sold fall into this category.

Two petrol engines are up for grabs, a 1.8 litre and a 2.0 litre along with two diesels, a 1.6 litre and another 2.0 litre with a choice of four trims, LX, SX, VTR+ and top of the range Exclusive. My test car for the week was the VTR+ mated to the 1.6 HDI diesel engine with EGS.

The first thing you notice about the Grand Picasso is the abundance of glass especially at the front where the windscreen stretches back over the drivers head encouraging any glimpse of sunshine into the interior. Actually I found it too much but thankfully there were sunblinds to shield you from the suns rays, as my face started tingling. I suggest you invest another £500 for the optional Comfort Pack that includes a heat-reflecting windscreen along with a child surveillance mirror, perhaps not. Sunblinds are also on the side windows and back window that simply hook up.

Inside obviously a bright airy and totally uncluttered interior greets the driver. That is because they have laden the height adjustable steering wheel with all the toys! Not just stalks for the indicators, and wipers, but also the American style gear lever, paddles if you want to go off piste from the automatic and into manual mode, while in the middle, remote audio controls, cruse control, telephone activators and a few other bits and pieces. How are you supposed to steer your way through this minefield?