Test Drive Citroen C4 Hatchback since 2010 Hatchback

Entertainment

Hi George Lucas and Agent Mulder! If the aliens and came into contact with earthlings, then definitely not in Roswell, but somewhere in France.


I still remember him. I remember how a fifteen-year-old boy picked up this single-spidy steering wheel, as looked at this space dashboard. Ten years passed, but I still remember him. Citroen GSA of the 1980th Model Year. 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 I once again looked at one of the fan sites to make sure that my memory did not fail me, that I did not dreamed of this car. Yes, everything is in place. And a single steering wheel, and this combination of instruments, the upper part of which occupies the prepared GSA with the labyrinth of the broken lines connecting the systems of the machine with the corresponding control lights. And two windows, followed by the Speedometer and Tachometer scales. There are no submissive switches at all. All controls are located on the left of the steering wheel of the cylinder, turn signals the swinging keys, wipers and head optics are rotating switches. Hi George Lucas and Agent Mulder! If the aliens and came into contact with earthlings, then definitely not in Roswell, but somewhere in France.

  

Ten years passed, and here it is before me a direct descendant GSA - C4. Today we are forced to call him a golf class car, and estimates (even if verbal and subjective) to endure in the Wolfsburg scale. And what is today in fashion in Wolfsburg? Proper - tradition. And more continuity.

 

With traditions in C4 order. At one of the ancestors, I had already faced a whole paragraph (about what, however, I do not regret), but this is a long history.
 
And in the recent past Citroen there is something to boast. The predecessor of our hero is xsara - the standard in the nomination combine the incompatible, namely, the smoothness of the stroke and handling. True patcher to all speakers in the duck torsions.
 
Torsion bars, however, in the C-fourth suspension no. Global unification demanded sitroenovtsy build a new car class C on the same platform with Peugeot 307 - golfopodobnym lion. So - ravnyays Smyrna, MacPherson strut front, torsion beam rear and no torsion. And even more proprietary gidropnevmatiki. So Citroen C4 and rides - a trifle does not notice the large potholes passes harsh and noisy. Without pretensions, but without the spice.
 
What remains? Design remains.

 

Especially failed profile. Compared with dynamic trehdverka he can, and will seem boring, but in the swiftness he can not refuse. Silhouette if one stroke is drawn. Line upturned corner lights picks up strongly inclined windscreen, a short jog on the roof, and - hop! - the car over. If someone did not have the agility, high window-sill line adds. The only thing that lubricates impression - a palisade of black racks. But there's nothing you can do about it - it's the same car, and the door had to be opened, and the glass in them - to fall. But the designers were able to reduce the negative effect minivenovski front windows: rear-view mirrors do not cleave to them closely, and taken out to the side, muscular studs. Bravo!
 

Penetrates into the cabin and immediately get into a strong and some not at all French arms seat, covered already not the French mesh fabric. Ask stupid questions in the spirit and where I will not be velor. Firstly, because there is no one, and secondly, because this grid is to my liking. And it looks practical and one hundred percent corresponds to the anatomical seat ideology. Puzzles only the longitudinal groove on the pillow - once hard to imagine a person with the anatomy (one more hello Lucas and Mulder).

 

Anyway, I have no time for recess - I think screens and small screen. My God! Two in the center console, a (real bulletin board) - hovers over it, and two more - in the place where the earth classmates have long reigned ordinary ad nauseam two plus two. And the steering wheel: No, it is certainly not odnospitsevy, but the hub is standing still! That is, no matter how Whirl the wheel, double chevron remains as immobile as his enlarged copy between the headlights.

 

I will allow myself a little advice to future owners C4. The first twenty minutes drive slowly.
 
Let your eyes adapt to this fantastic story. Because otherwise they risk a quarrel with the brain.
- How's the boss? - Interested in the brain.
- on the spot! - warn the eye.
- Can not be!
- Yes, they tell you - not spinning!
- I do not believe!
- Come on! You have not seen how many displays here!
Etc. The conflict can last from a few seconds before half an hour. After that, problems may arise with ordinary cars. And if your mind is still stubborn, reinforce it with the idea that, thanks to a fixed hub in case of an accident, it will be saved by the most advanced driver's airbag, created taking into account the anatomical characteristics of the person. Before C4, they were always round simply because it is impossible to predict how the steering wheel will turn at the time of the accident.
 
Well, used to? Then you can get bolder to the floor of the gas pedal, feel the smooth and fast work of kick-down and look after the wheel - how the scale is painted on a narrow display. She, by the way, bluses when reaching maximum revolutions. If you, like us on the dough, there will be a car with a machine gun, try on neutral. And show friends. Very interesting.
 
The machine left a pleasant impression. Smoothly switches, it is quickly adapted, in manual mode, the motor turns until redness, after which goes to the next transmission. Translation - stretched. The second car leaves for a hundred, what can you easily be convinced by throwing a look under the windshield. However, the numbers on the speedometer are so huge that it is easily read and peripheral vision.

  

In general, you will not get bored with these displays. The readings of the on-board computer live next door to the speedometer - that is, soaring over the central console. Fuel indexes and coolant temperature - ibid. Magnetic settings to see - you just below, the climate in the cabin is adjusted - even lower, almost to the selector of the machine. Well, if the control light turns out, translate the steering wheel - all the light bulbs in front of the tachometer live.

 

Oddly enough, all this liquid crystal abundance is not annoying. In the end, all information is quick and easy to read. But the salon looks not boring at all. And if you put a C-fourth assessment on the Wolfsburg scale: then, perhaps, let them, in Germany, their golfs with Astrami are evaluated. C4 - a car for those who originality and refinement appreciates above raw and triviality, and chevrons prefer crugs and ovals. For whom two plus two at least occasionally - five. Like five displays in C4. In the present 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. P.)
Production
France
Expected replacement
2011
 

The car is provided by Auto-EXIS, the official Citroen dealer.
During the dough, the car is insured by Rosno.
 
Text: Nikolay Svistun
Photo: Roman Stunnin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A source: Magazine "Wheel" [№89 / 2005]