Funky and charming C1
ANYONE looking for a practical and economical small car should try the perky and good-looking Citroen C1 before they buy anything else.
After a week around my local area and a couple of 50-mile journeys, I grew to like it more and more.
OK, with a 1.0-litre engine, it’s not the quickest thing out of the box, but it is surprisingly willing at lower speeds and that adds a definite fun factor.
On top of that, it comes with low emissions, good economy, room for four adults and cheap insurance. This is a car that should cost peanuts to run.
The little engine is fairly noisy when pushed up the rev range, but that’s what you have to do for best performance.
It will reach 60mph in second gear and the urge is good up to there.
Around town it will trickle quietly along in third or fourth gears, but fifth is no good under about 35mph, and there’s not much acceleration in it from any speed.
The general performance is very good for a 1.0-litre non-turbo and better than many people would believe.
The electric power steering is direct and responsive and despite its city-car size and power, it can keep up with general speeds on the motorway.
The dash is different, funky and practical, with the body colour repeating around the six-inch touchscreen, which takes care of air conditioning, stereo and car functions.
Smartphones can be linked to it to play music and there’s a USB socket to charge them.
I drove the Furio 1.0 VTi and it comes with stability control, air con, alloy wheels, front and side airbags, remote locking, electric front windows, AM/ FM radio with aux in and USB, Bluetooth and funky striped cloth seats.
All the interior plastics are pretty hard to the touch, and the sun visors are angled slightly from one side to the other, with rounded corners.
The Citroen C1 Furio I drove costs £11,550.