|
|
| Citroen
C4 Coupe |
Broadcast
date : 23rd April 2006 |
|
Citroen’s C4 made a sizeable
splash when it was introduced to the South African market just
on a year ago.
The futuristic moon-raker shape with its reverse-thrust rear
window certainly raised eyebrows, especially amongst
fashion-conscious car buyers. So what’s new on the C4 front?
The 1,6 litre motor is fairly run of the mill. It was
initially offered on the five-door version of the C4 as an
entry-level model, producing a fairly modest 80 kiloWatts and
priced at R160 000.
With the two-litre C4 Coupe VTS costing R5.00 short of R200
000, Citroen obviously felt there was a niche for an
affordable style vehicle in the C4 range.
Hence the introduction of the 1,6 litre C4 coupe at a very
realistic R154 995.
It’s an attractive, well-specced package, and on first
glance it looks quite similar to the two-litre VTS. This is
one for the style gurus, rather than the robot-racers.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Gugu enjoyed the refinement of the engine. But it’s geared
fairly shortly which means the driver is quite busy. Unlike
the world rally championship Citroen, getting the road-going
1,6 moving from rest or low speeds does require a concerted
effort from the driver.
For country-road driving, however, the C4 1,6 coupe turns out
to be quite a nice package.
Once on the move, you can settle in and enjoy the rather
unusual cockpit.
The steering wheel arrangement is unusual in that the hub
remains static as the rim is turned. Other unusual aspects of
the dash are the separate display areas for speedo and rev
counter, and secondary function information.
Your attention does tend to be a bit scattered in the C4 at
times, and that deep dash and sloping nose means the action up
ahead is sometimes hard to define.
Like the cabin, the car’s dynamics are also a somewhat
strange mixture of competence and tardiness.
The suspension and steering characteristics too are not
clear-cut in the C4.
The C4 is very competent on smooth roads and in fast sweeps,
and over large undulations.
The fact that it gets upset over small ripples seems to
indicate that a reconfiguration of the rear suspension bushes
is in order, to improve axle location.
A reasonable 0-100 of just over 11 seconds and a top speed of
a 194 is claimed. More important is the high cabin spec –
six airbags and an excellent quality audio system will win the
1,6 C4 Coupe many friends.
|
|
|
Did you enjoy reading this article?
Why not recommend it to a friend - Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Car Torque is
produced by
|
|
|
|
