Getting down and dirty in Parys
CITROËN C3 AIRCROSS: SOPHISTICATED CITY SLICKER TOOK TO THE MUD LIKE A PRO WRESTLER
Ground clearance of 178mm served us well on the muddy, uneven roads.
This writer recently had a sophisticated French model as a house guest for a full week. At my age, stuff like that does not happen often and I planned to take her on a dirty weekend while the opportunity presented itself.
Now, if I were rich, Paris would have been a perfect destination, being the “City of Love” and all. But, this is South Africa and I never got my share of the white monopoly capital that apparently made others really rich.
So, a compromise was reached, and we went to Parys, where we did, indeed, proceed to have a dirty weekend.
Which is a roundabout way of saying that ace motorsports photographer Dave Ledbitter and I drove a Citroën C3 Aircross to the Parys 400, the final round of this year’s South African Cross Country racing championship.
Attending such an event with Ledbitter involves Google Earth, an exact travelling time schedule and much driving on untarred roads. And, it rained – hard – almost all weekend.
Taking the fancy, city slicker into the harsh Free State countryside via wet farm tracks seemed like a bad idea. But, the Citroen shed her fishnet stockings and high heels, donned army boots and went mud wrestling when asked to do so.
The C3 Aircross is powered by a turbocharged, three-cylinder petrol engine, producing 81kW of power at 5 500rpm and 205Nm of torque at 1 500rpm. This goes to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission, with the test model sitting on 17-inch alloy wheels in 215/50/R17 rubber.
We do not have the space here to list all of the C3 Aircross’ features. Suffice to say, if it clicks, bangs, flashes, computerises or can call Donald Trump direct, the Citroën has it.
The manufacturer prides itself on the fact that Citroëns do not come with an options list – the car has everything, and what you see is what you get.
They pointed out the ground clearance of 178mm. That served us well on the muddy, uneven roads around the Parys 400 route.
The little Citroën never bottomed and, as long as one maintained momentum, there never seemed a possibility of getting stuck. Meanwhile, the suspension easily handled the rough stuff. She got wet, muddy and we tramped a lot of the Free State into her carpets, but the C3 Aircross never faltered.
After a car wash, she showed no signs of the dirty weekend.
The vehicle costs R359 900, which includes a fiveyear/100 000km service plan, warranty and roadside assistance.