Citroen C4 Cactus
Has former favourite’s reinvention as a family hatchback been a success?
MODELTESTED: Citroen C4 Cactus Puretech 110 Flair PRICE: £19,870 ENGINE: 1.2-litre 3cyl, 108bhp
THE new Citroen C4 Cactus might have morphed from a small SUV into a more conventional VW Golf-rivalling hatchback, but it has retained much of its quirky character, as well as its good-value price tag. This Flair model fitted with a 1.2 Puretech 110 petrol engine and a manual box costs £19,870, and is the cheapest car of our trio.
Design & engineering
EVEN at the end of its life in the SUV class, the C4 Cactus managed to be a striking and interesting car to look at. While it’s not quite as quirky in its new hatchback form, the car still retains its own unique style.
When you look at the dimensions, it’s more hatchlike than Suv-like. The Citroen is the lowest car here at just 1,480mm tall, next to the 1,492mm Golf and 1,485mm Astra – although it is wider than its rivals.
Under the skin, it’s still based on the PSA PF1 platform, which means it uses Macpherson strut front suspension and a torsion-beam rear axle. It’s a standard layout for this sort of car and helps keep costs down. The Cactus is fitted with some clever new chassis tech, though, called Progressive Hydraulic Cushion (PHC) suspension. This uses hydraulic dampers in place of rubber bump stops, with the aim of reducing crashiness and thumps if you hit potholes and other compressions.
It’s partly thanks to the materials used, but things like the low dashboard and large glass area mean the cabin has a spacious feel, even though the C4 Cactus is comparatively small in this sector.
The quality of the plastics inside the Citroen falls behind those in the Golf, but they’re about on par with the Vauxhall’s, while also being more interesting to look at. Some of the more unusual features like the leather door pulls and the funky seats will put some people off, but to others they’ll be a welcome relief from the drab interiors of many hatchbacks.
Driving
THE C4 Cactus performed well in our performance tests. It ranked in between the other two cars in the 0-60mph sprint and from 30-70mph, posting times of 10.1 seconds and 10.2 seconds respectively. The Golf was faster in both assessments, recording 9.6 and 8.9 seconds, while the slightly less powerful Astra took 10.5 seconds and 10.7 seconds respectively.
Thanks to its five-speed transmission, top gear in the Citroen is longer to better handle motorway travel. The Vauxhall suffers from the same problem, but the Golf has six ratios. That gives it more flexibility around town and on country roads, while also improving economy at speed, thanks to the lower cruising revs it can achieve.
The Cactus’s engine has enough poke to keep up with the Golf on the road, but its gearbox feels baggy and isn’t very satisfying to use, especially after trying the sweet shift in the Volkswagen. The Astra’s box is a little better than the crunchy Citroen’s, too.
Keen drivers will soon notice that the C4 Cactus is nowhere near as engaging as its rivals down a twisty road. The steering is vague and short on feedback, while the softly-sprung suspension means there’s a lot more body roll than in either competitor. Still, the comfort-focused set-up was something we praised highly on the previous model, and it’s a similar story here. The new PHC suspension is excellent at dealing with bumps and potholes in the road, and the C4 Cactus is certainly the most comfortable choice of the three cars.
The problem is that when the Citroen was up against SUVS, the lack of driver involvement didn’t matter as much. Against the Golf and Astra, it loses out to their combination of comfort and agility.
Practicality
DESPITE the feeling of airiness in the cabin, the C4 Cactus is the smallest car on test when it comes to overall boot space. With the rear seats in place there’s 358 litres available, which is behind the 380 litres in the Volkswagen and even the 370 litres in the Astra. There’s a fair old loading lip on the Cactus, too, and although the seats now split 60:40, they don’t fold down completely flat.
Oddly, the rear windows can’t be lowered; they are pop-out units. That’s really disappointing for rear-seat passengers, although on the positive side, climate control is standard. There’s also a lot of headroom in the back of the Citroen, and while legroom is tighter, the seats are really comfortable.
Ownership
CITROEN didn’t fare too well in the makers’ chart of our Driver Power 2018 satisfaction survey (Page 20), coming 25th out of 26. That’s only a single-place improvement over the company’s performance in the 2017 poll.
The C4 Cactus scored just four out of five stars in Euro NCAP’S crash tests when it was assessed in 2014, but there have been changes since then, including the addition of autonomous emergency braking, which is standard on this specification.
Running costs
DURING its time on test, the Citroen was the most economical car, although only by 0.1mpg over the Golf. Its 44.4mpg is solid for a small petrol engine, and it means you’ll spend £1,474 a year on fuel – almost identical to the £1,478 you’ll pay in the VW. It’s not a huge amount lower than the £1,555 you’ll pay in the Astra, either, so all three cars are well matched on efficiency.
The C4 Cactus’s economical engine helps it to be the most cost-effective company choice, too. Its 104g/km CO2 emissions mean that a standard-rate earner will pay £826 in Benefit-in-kind tax a year, against £903 for the VW and £878 for the Vauxhall.