Citroen bumps up the comfort

New Cactus’s ride feels a lot less prickly

THE latest Citroen Cactus certainly offers a less bumpy ride – in more ways than one.

First, the firm has shrunk its trademark Airbumps – outer panels on the side to stop other drivers denting your doors in tight parking spaces.

Now that might leave some Cactus lovers who are OCD about their paintwork feeling a bit prickly. But the other bumps reduction is a lot more pleasing.

Launched in 2014, the original Cactus sold in big numbers and injected some pizzazz into a segment of the car market not known Now, Citroen upmarket previous It replaces with has for C4 in the Cactus moved price wacky two all-new and cars and the designs. Cactus, image. the range – the C4 itself has to – raise which the is car’s why Citroen game a bit. It still looks different and attractive, but I wonder if sales will be as good as previous Cacti – still, they’ve probably done some customer research.

The big news about this new car is not its less bumpy flanks but its suspension system. Citroen calls it Progressive Hydraulic Cushions – part of its ‘Advanced Comfort’ programme. They are to be found inside each shock absorber or damper. Inside conventional dampers there are mechanical bump stops which absorb and reflect energy from large bumps. Citroen’s hydraulic cushions, developed in motor sport and specifically rallying, absorb the energy and dissipate it as heat. The result is a

It rolls and floats over bumps in a classically French way

more comfortable ride over bumps. You notice the effect of these trick suspension units not so much over potholes and speed bumps, although the Cactus copes well with them, but over bumps, ridges and crests outside of town.

The Cactus rolls more and floats over bumps in an old fashioned and classically French way.

The word Sport doesn’t appear anywhere in Citroen’s publicity material. The word Comfort does, prolifically. Instead of pretending everyone wants to be a racing driver, Citroen has decided most of us want a car that’s nice on long journeys and is kind to the bum.

Which is what Advanced Comfort is all about. As well as the Hydraulic Cushions, the Cactus is fitted with Advance Comfort seats with special high density foam. Sound insulation has been boosted and efforts have been made in all areas to make the Cactus as serene as possible.

The interior is pleasingly simple but not quite as well done as the original Cactus.

There’s a still a fair bit of hard plastic about, too.

Our test car is in high spec Flair trim and is fitted with the threecylinder petrol engine available with 110bhp or 130bhp outputs.

Ours is in the latter spec with a six-speed manual gearbox. I doubt you’d notice the extra power over the lower powered version so you could save yourself £800. The range starts at £17,965 but our car costs £20,665 without options.

You get quite a bit for your money, including a panoramic sunroof which lets in a lot of light but does rob some rear headroom. The engine has plenty of torque, but the gearbox has a rather sloppy and sticky change.

I’d go for the optional six-speed automatic.

The new Citroen C4 Cactus doesn’t float down the road as an old Citroen used to, such as the 70s GS and CX models, but it does have an old school cossetting ride.

Citroen is going to bring this Advanced Comfort philosophy to all its future cars. I think it’s great, more car manufacturers should put the Comfort before Sport.