Citroen C4 Hatchback test drive since 2004 hatchback

Entertainment

Hello George Lucas and Agent Malder! If the aliens came into contact with earthlings, then it is definitely not in Roswell, but somewhere in France.


I still remember him. I remember how a fifteen -year -old boy picked up this single -spoke steering wheel, how he looked at this space dashboard. Ten years have passed, but I still remember him. Citroen GSA 1980 model year. The first Citroen in my life.

 

Since the appearance of this modification, a quarter of a century has passed, and its fans are not translated. And once again I looked at one of the fan sites to make sure that my memory would not fail me, that I did not dream of this car. Yes, everything is in place. Both a single -spitz steering wheel and this combination of devices, the upper part of which is occupied by a dissected GSA with a labyrinth of broken lines connecting the machine systems with appropriate control lights. And two windows, behind which the scales of the speedometer and tachometer move. There are no steering wheel switches at all. All controls are located on the cylinder that grew to the left of the steering wheel, the swinging key, wipers and a head optics - rotating switches - are headed by turn signals. Hello George Lucas and Agent Malder! If the aliens came into contact with earthlings, then it is definitely not in Roswell, but somewhere in France.

  

Ten years have passed, and in front of me a direct descendant of GSA - C4. Today we are forced to call it a golf class car, and take out the assessments (even verbal and subjective) on a Wolfsburg scale. And what is now in fashion in Wolfsburg? That's right - traditions. And still continuity.

 

With traditions, C4 has order. I have already leaned a whole paragraph (which, however, I do not regret it), but this is a long history.
 
And in the recent past, Citroen has something to boast. The predecessor of our hero - XSARA - the standard in the nomination is combined incompatible, namely, smoothness and controllability. A real slap in the face of all the tolerae has written off in the scrap.
 
Torsionov, however, is not in the c-fourth suspension. Global unification demanded that the Citroenovites build a new class C car on the same platform with Peugeot 307 - a golf -like lion. So - equal -scree, MacPherson in front, twisting beam from behind and no torsion. And even more so branded hydropneumatics. So Citroen C4 and drive - does not notice a trifle, large potholes are harsh and noisy. Without complaints, but also without piquancy.
 
What remains? The design remains.

 

The profile was especially successful. Compared to the dynamic three -door, he may seem boring, but you can’t refuse to swiftness. The silhouette is as if with one stroke is drawn. The line of the lifted corner of the headlight picks up a heavily tilted windshield, a short roof run, and - hop! - The car is over. If someone lacked swiftness, the high window sill line will add. The only thing that lubricates the impression somewhat is the picket fence of black racks. But there is nothing to be done - this is still a car, and his doors should open, and the glasses in them - to fall. But the designers were able to weaken the negative effect of the minivan front windows: the rear -view mirrors were not attached close to them, but were carried to the sides by muscular racks. Bravo!
 

I penetrate the salon and immediately fall into the strong and some kind of not entirely French embrace of the seat, which has already been lined with at all a French reticent fabric. To ask stupid questions in the spirit and where I will not. Firstly, because there is no one, and secondly, because I like this mesh. And it looks practical and one hundred percent corresponds to the anatomical ideology of the seat. Only the longitudinal excavation on the pillow puzzles - it is somehow difficult to imagine a person with such anatomy (another hello to Lucas and Mulder).

 

Anyway, I’m not up to the recesses now - I count the screens and screens. My God! Two on the central console, one (a real information board) - soars over it, and two more - in the place where the earthly classmates have long reigned, ordinary two plus two reigned to nausea. And the steering wheel itself: No, he, of course, is not a single -bedroom, but the hub: She stands still! That is, no matter how you rotate the steering wheel, the double chevron remains as motionless as its increased copy between the headlights.

 

I will allow myself a little advice to future owners of C4. For the first twenty minutes, go slowly.
 
Let your eyes adapt to this unprecedented. Because otherwise they risk quarrels with the brain.
- How is the hub? - the brain is interested.
- In place! - their eyes report.
- Can't be!
- Yes, they tell you - does not spin!
- I do not believe!
- Come on! You have not seen how many displays there are!
And so on. The conflict can last from a few seconds to half an hour. After that, problems may arise already with the control of conventional cars. And if your mind is still stubborn, reinforce it with the thought that, thanks to a fixed hub in the event of an accident, it will save the most advanced driver's pillow in the world, created taking into account the anatomical characteristics of a person. Before C4 they were always made round simply because it is impossible to predict how the steering wheel will be turned at the time of the accident.
 
Well, are you used to it? Then you can bolderly squeeze the gas pedal to the floor, feel the smooth and quick work of the kick downs and look behind the wheel - how the scale is painted over the turnover on a narrow display. By the way, it blushes when the maximum revolutions are reached. If you, like our test, will have a car with a machine gun, try neutrals. And show friends. Very interesting.
 
The machine left a good impression. He switches smoothly, quickly adapts, in manual mode turns the motor until reddened, after which it switches for the next gear. Transmission - stretched. The second car goes for a hundred, which can be easily seen by throwing your eyes under the windshield. However, the numbers on the speedometer are so huge that they are also read by peripheral vision.

  

In general, you will not get bored with these displays. The testimony of the on -board computer live next to the speedometer - that is, they soar over the central console. Fuel signs and coolant temperature are in the same place. See the tape recorders to see - you are a little lower, configure the climate in the cabin - even lower, almost to the machine gun selector. Well, if the control light lights up, look behind the wheel - all the bulbs live in front of the tachometer.

 

Oddly enough, all this liquid crystal abundance does not annoy. In the end, all the information is quickly accessible and easily read. But the salon looks not boring at all. And if you put a fourth assessment on the Wolfsburg scale: then, perhaps, let them, in Germany, are evaluated by their golfs with astras on it. C4 is a car for those who value originality and sophistication above satiety and triviality, and chevrons prefer to circles and ovals. For whom two plus two at least occasionally - five. Like five displays in C4. In the real Citroen.
 

Autography
Citroen C4
Predecessor
XSARA (1993)
Prototype
C4 Sport (2004)
Platform
PSA PF2 (Peugeot 307)
Body
hatchback (3 or 5 doors)
Premiere
september 2004
Engines
1.4-2.0 l (75-180 l.
Production
France
Expected replacement
2011
 

The car is provided by Auto-Exis, the official dealer of Citroen.
During the test, the car is insured by Rosno.
 
Text: Nikolai Svistun
Photo: Roman Ostanin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 89/2005]