Techno car

Motoring journalists were greeted by a Dalek-like robot at the press unveiling, one that continually confessed its love for the car, as well as highlighting much of its new technology. It also cracked a few pre-programmed jokes with Citroen executives.

It was to prove an introduction to a car offering a mould-braking blend of styling for Citroen, and plenty of innovative technology with a few notable firsts.

Most interesting is the multi-functional fixed centred steering wheel. Sounds complicated but so inspirational. Visualise a steering wheel with its centre pad containing hooter and airbag, with audio controls and other controls on the spokes. Turn the wheel and everything else also moves with it.

Not so with the C4 wheel. The fixed centre has four key sections incorporating audio buttons, cruise control and speed limiter, optional buttons for the navigation system (if fitted) and multi-function display controls, with the hooter and airbag bringing everything together stationary in the centre while the steering wheel rim turns. Everything on the fixed centre is therefore always in the same place, and within fingertip reach.

Another innovation is the speed limiter, great for keeping on the right side of the law. If you are driving in the city, dial the speed limiter to 30mph and there is no-way you can accelerate to 31mph or more, that is unless you are absolutely desperate to make a getaway, and then a hard kick-down with the right foot unlocks the limiter. The speed settings, as well as other information (temperature, and so on) are all clearly shown on a display panel, above the dashboard and slightly offset to the driver, and specially adapted to be clearly illuminated and visible whatever the ambient lighting, including brilliant sunshine, over the driver's shoulder. It's all great stuff.

Another feature linked to the speed limiter is cruise control, mainly for motorway driving.

Yet another feature is the rev display, which changes to red whenever maximum revs are reached while accelerating.

The C4 is the first all-new Citroen to carry the company's new corporate look: the front end shows off the boomerang shaped headlamps and the chrome double-chevron grille.

Besides its eye-catching new styling, the C4 comes in 22 variants, offers a choice of eight engines and is available in hatchback or coup form.

Although both share the corporate look at the front, it is at the back end that the models differ considerably, providing their own individual original styles. With its rear end showing a slender tail light design that wraps around to sit above the rear wheel arches, the curvey five-door hatchback also offers an optional fitted panoramic sunroof, while the coup provides a long, swooping roofline which arcs back from the windscreen pillar to the angled rear where it then drops almost vertically, the rear screen forming both part of the roof line and the vertical tailgate. The three-door coup's design is one to love or hate, because when driving the rear screen is irritatingly split in two by a strengthening bar.

The C4 also has plenty of room inside, nice and roomy in the back of the hatchback, nearly as good in the coup.

There is also plenty of room for the knick-knacks of daily motoring life, with special damped push-open drawers a most welcome arrival.

For the driver, one of the first things to notice is the neat and tidy dashboard look.

There is a nice soft feel to the trim, and as well as the translucent digital display screen, there are the audio controls, air-conditioning controls and the expected lever controls and furled wheels for indicators, windscreen wipers and lighting.

All sound quite normal, but the headlamp can be xenon dual functional directional on both dipped and full beam, so highlighting the road ahead while negotiating bends, and the large windscreen wipers, made up of a rather floppy rubber but strengthened inside, are specially designed to keep the whole windscreen clean, and they do their job well.

The car, depending on the model, can also be fitted with the company's lane departure warning system (the same as on the new look and recently unveiled C5) which keeps the car on the safe and narrow, capable of alerting the driver should the car wander over a white line by sending a strange buttock rubbing rolling sensation through the car's seat so alerting the driver.

There are plenty of other safety features to keep everyone safe and sound: front and rear parking sensors help avoid the bumps and scrapes generally associated with city and supermarket parking, then there are the laminated side windows which not only help keep the car thief out, but also keep outside noise down to a whisper. A special car raid demonstration showed that it took 30 seconds to break the laminated glass sufficiently to grab a handbag left on the front seat, compared to the two seconds that it took to achieve the same ends breaking through real glass.

Yet another comfort factor is the inbuilt air freshener. Rather than dangle a scented pendulum from the rear view mirror, a small cartridge can be inserted into a special fragrance diffuser next to the central air vents. This operates via the air conditioning, allowing the intensity of the scent to be controlled or even switched off if wanted. I recommend the cinnamon ginger!

All models are fitted with stereo radio and CD player, with the flagship models having a five-CD auto-changer.

Both hatchback and coupe come in four trim levels, the five-door with LX, SX, VTR Plus and Exclusive specs, and the three-door in VT, VTR, VTR Plus and VTS levels.

Engine choice, too, is wide. There is the entry level 90hp 1.4i-litre 16v petrol offering economy as well as reasonable performance, followed by the livelier 1.6i-litre 16v still capable of returning 40mpg at the combined cycle before reaching the two gutsy 2.0i-litre 16v units, one developing 138hp, the other 143hp, yet still returning 35mpg combined. There is another petrol engine, the 180bhp 2.0i-litre 16v, designed exclusively to fire up the coup.

The diesel range starts with the impressively frugal 92hp 1.6-litre 16v clean and economical common rail unit. Then there is the 110hp version of the 1.6-litre, while the crowning power plant is the 2.0-litre 16v, providing plenty of pull, power and yet still returning around 52mpg on the combined cycle.

Finally the prices: the petrol-engine hatchback starts at £11,495 for the 1.4i-litre LX while the starting price for the VT coupe is £11,095. The 2.0i-litre VTR Plus hatchback is £15,295 and the coupe version £14,895. Diesel-powered cars start at £12,695 for the 1.6-litre hatchback, rising to £18,395 for the 2.0-litre Exclusive, while the coup comes in at £13,495 for the 1.6-litre VTR peaking at £17,995 for the 2.0-litre VTS.

Updated: 11:57 Friday, November 19, 2004