Long Term Test: Citroen C3 Picasso, 2nd Report

A few thoughts on our long term test C3 Picasso, mostly inspired by a long motorway journey with the kids on board...

1. That fish-bowl windscreen and the v-cut a-pillars really do give a fantastic view out. No more having your vision blocked through long corners or losing sight of pedestrians behind the a-pillar. It's like having your own portable IMAX theatre. Now showing: your life.

2. Subsequent to the above, the kids in the back have an almost equally good view out thanks to large windows and a low-set beltline. Crucial for establishing harmony on a long journey.

3. The way Citroen has managed to did space in this thing continues to baffle me. The C3 hatchback it shares components with is not the most spacious thing in the world, and the Picasso is unfashionably narrow, yet it is remarkably commodious. You can even get three child seats across the back bench at a pinch, our massive 3-wheel Phil&Teds buggy fits in the boot without overwhelming the boot and there's plenty of room up front too.y wife has described it as "the best family car ever" and I'm having a hard time disagreeing with her on that.

4. Its fuel economy is unspectacular but remarkably constant. 6.0-litres per 100km (mid forties MPG) is hardly cutting edge for a small, relatively light car running an efficient 1.6 diesel but it doesn't seem to matter what we do: Urban stop-start, long motorway hauls, trips to the petting zoo, the economy holds constant.

5. It looks utterly brilliant. I know ours is the specced up Code edition and the red-insert wheels and gleaming white paintwork really lift the Picasso'a game, but there simply isn't a better looking small MPV out there. Every other such car just looks like a tall hatchback or a shrunken van. The Picasso looks like nothing else and I love that. Not everyone will, true enough, but it's almost worth the €20k purchase price alone to see how the C3 stands out in a car park full of me-too silver-grey-black hatches and saloons.

6. Croissant crumbs and flakes are almost impossible to hoover up. Must stop stopping at Gourmet Tart Company for in-car snacks.

Long Term Test: Citroen C3 Picasso, 1st report

As a professional hurler on the ditch (I rate cars but very rarely actually buy one) I have long extolled the merits of the Citroen C3 Picasso. Yes it’s French and yes it’s quirky (two things more or less guaranteed to have arch-conservative Irish car buyers heading for the door) but I’ve always reckoned it to be the pick of the mini MPV brigade. In a sea of plainly-styled tall hatchbacks, the Picasso is a cubist painting of a car, and therefore the most appropriately named Citroen Picasso yet (Picasso was a cubist, right?).


Of course, underneath it’s all simple C3 mechanical parts. Now, the C3 itself is a pleasant but ultimately unremarkable small hatch, but already it has donated its oily bits to one of the most enjoyable hot hatches out there; the cute and fun DS3. Can lightning strike again, but in an entirely different section of the market? Time to put my money where my opinions are...

Well, first impressions. Our C3 Picasso rocked up on the driveway looking a bit more distinctive even than the already left-field standard car. Bright white paintwork could have made it look like a delivery van, but the Code special edition trim (costing €21,250 to the standard VTR+’s €20,850) brings with it glossy black inserts around the grille and lights, red piping on the side trim and, best of all, seriously cool alloy wheels with red inserts on the inside of the spokes. It must be the big kid in me, but I really love these.

Inside, you get an excellent level of standard kit including air conditioning, Bluetooth phone, cruise control and speed limiter and an iPod-compatible stereo.

In the back, where the non-big-kids go, there’s a decent amount of space. The Picasso is kind of unfashionably narrow, which means squeezing people into the centre rear seats will take some... well, squeezing, but two up in the back should have plenty of room, and if you need to juggle things around to make some space, the seats split, fold, flip and recline.

Up front, you would think that the narrowness would have driver and passenger rubbing shoulders, but actually there’s plenty of room and the upright driving position is very comfy.

Beyond the driver lies the familiar 90bhp, 230Nm 1.6-litre four cylinder diesel engine. It’s a touch noisier in this installation than we’ve noticed it being in other cars, but it’s still adequately refined. And pretty economical. Our average is currently working out at 6.1-litres per 100km (46.3mpg) but that can improve by a whole litre or more on a gently driven long run and seeing as most of our daily mileage is around town, 46mpg seems pretty good. Besides, and this is a purely subjective thing, it does seem to go forever on a fill of the tank.

What we really love, so far, about the C3 Picasso is its combination of style and practicality. The cabin is robustly built but still looks and feels a cut above the likes of a Toyota Verso-S, there’s lots of space but it feels terrifically wieldy in town and is a cinch to park (excellent visibility through massive windows helps there) and while many would accuse it of being a mumsy people mover, your 6’1” most-definitely-male correspondent feels entirely happy pootling around in it.

So, life feels pretty good in the Picasso household at the moment. No, it’s not a hot hatch to drive, but then it was never supposed to be. It’s showing none of the build frailties that French cars are supposedly prone to and frankly, if you’re going to have a practical family car, why shouldn’t it look this good?