MOMMY’S JET ON WHEELS
To make her feel better about the number of times she has scratched her car while trying to park, she tells me that parking is a nightmare for women in general. She said it, not me.
But park assist is not the only exciting feature in the car, which has a 85KW four-cylinder 1.6-litre turbo-diesel engine.
I have never seen a car with a calendar function in it, so receiving reminders while driving was quite revolutionary and made me feel that the car was my mini-PA.
Citroën’s next innovation should be a built-in coffee-making machine.
With the French manufacturer doing away with CD player slots in the C4, they now offer two USB ports, aux and Bluetooth for media playback.
The Picasso comes with 16-inch or 17-inch alloy wheels with CITROËN C4 PICASSO Engine: Four-cylinder, in-line, turbodiesel, 1.6l, 85kW.
Fuel requirement: Low sulphur (10 ppm or 50 ppm) diesel. Fuel consumption: Expect between 7l and 8l per 100km on the highway and about 9l/100km for city driving. CO2 emissions: 105g/km (official figure).
different patterns, has a full panoramic sunroof, two touch screens on a fancy but easyto-use interface dashboard – one a 7inch for controlling navigation, air conditioning,radio, media, handsfree Bluetooth and then a 12-inch for driving information including fuel consumption, fuel levels, speed, display, a calculator and many more features.
It is a safe car too. The Picasso has seven airbags, a lane departure warning and a blind-spot alert on the side mirrors, unlike many other mommy cars. All passengers in this Citroën must have their seatbelts fastened or else the warning sound will continue to beep.
This is a useful feature because some passengers, especially the ones sitting at the back, tend to think seat belts were made for front passengers only.
One thing I feel Citroën got wrong with this car is the cream and grey colour seats that come standard with this model.
Marketed as a fun mommy car, the colour is not practical because within a short time the kids would have messed the seats up and you would hate being in your own car.
But maybe I should be fair and mention that this model comes with trays behind the front seats and, with a little discipline, the kids might learn to use them when eating and this might save your seats.
When you want to take your kids on a road trip, the 537l of luggage space – which can be increased to 1 851l with the seats folded – will make any journey a pleasure.
As a techno junkie, I am disappointed to find that the Citroën connect drive technology is not yet available in this country because that would have made it a perfect car for the future.
The Picasso comes standard with a 3-year/100 000km manufacturer warranty that you can upgrade to a 5-year/100 000km, 3-year paint warranty and a 5year/100 000km service plan. With all these features, I find R350 000 a generous price for the car.