Citroen C3 test drive since 2002 hatchback

House of toys

If someone buys a compact car, this does not always mean that there is not enough money for more.
 
Against the wind
Every year, the domestic automobile market is less and less like a bazaar. Slowly but surely retreats a fanatical admiration for sedans more and more buyers see the advantages of universals and even minivans. Not everyone is buying multi -liter motors now, but those who really want it. How cigarette smoke is dispelled by the myth that super -mini cars are not serious, almost toy.
 
All this is certainly great. However, just today we want to look differently at Class B cars. Imagine that Supermini is not just a practical means of transportation for the city, but a bright, pleasing eye and soul toy. Why not? Just look at the trio of our contestants. A completely new and such unusual Nissan-Mikra, the European sales of which began this winter, Citroen-S3, faithful to the avant-garde covenants of the double chevrons of the 4050s and Seat-Ivisa, hot as the beaches of the same resort. Agree, counting these cars is simply almost criminal by cars. Toys! But for whom: boys, girls or unisex? Let's see.
 
We drive a nickel?
Are there any toys prestigious or not? Someone is an old doll with a torn leg, bought in the Selpo one hundred years ago, more expensive than the most beautiful golden barbie.
 
On the other hand, Supermini with a three-beam star or four rings on the radiator grille directly shout about their owner: look at him! He can afford it! From the point of view of impassive logic, neither Nissan, nor Seat, nor Citroen relate to the very prestigious brands.
 
However, a person who goes to city open spaces at Mikra, C3 or Ivis can look down not only at the owners of Togliatti and Korean consumer goods, but also to those who travel to European or Japanese golf class machines. After all, he did not buy a baby out of savings. And he just likes it so much! It is impossible to give preference to someone from the trinity.
 
Passionate and beautiful eyes
But the appearance for the toy is very important. No, not so the appearance for the toy is the most important thing. And then Seat loses to competitors. By and large, there is nothing to blame the accurate figure of Ivis. It is quite modern, pulled up, the youth just doesn’t leave the feeling that somewhere we saw it: not on the new polo, or on the Ivis of the previous generation. The only thing that really pleases optics. This is the famous designer Walter Da Silva, who came to Seat, when work on the new Ivisa was already completed, literally at the last moment gave the senorite burning eyes.
 
Nevertheless, delightful headlights and lanterns are like two pairs of luxurious expensive balls on an empty New Year tree. If you only admire them, you can’t tear your eyes off, but in general the picture is not so hot. The exterior of Nissan and Citroen is much more attractive. And in additional jewelry, by the way, they do not need, because with all their appearance they cause revival on the street and a smile on their faces.
   
 

Hi girls! In response to two friends on an ash-gray example, I, who, seeing Mikra, endowed the car and, more importantly, the driver with seductive smiles. But behind the tourist Ikarus tilted behind the left side: it was the guys who pressed his noses to the glass, delighted with fingers towards the funny shell of C3. My God, what a charm! It rushes from everywhere: from pedestrian crossings, from neighboring cars, from employees of paid parking lots and even guard police officers. A car that gives others joy, is this not the best praise for the designer? Five decided for the appearance of both!

Kitchen for life
The toy, heartbreaking in the best sense of this word The topic is fully reflected in the interiors of Mira and C3. Moreover, the Mill Salon is most reminiscent of not, not a small -sized apartment, but a modern kitchen.
 
 
We like it here: in the Michk salon you feel the designer approach to every little thing, and in addition, the quality of execution does not cause questions
   
Cylindrical deflectors and a three-spoke steering wheel is not able to hide the obvious fact that the seama salon is just a variation on the interior of Volkswagen-Polo
   
I got to the holiday, such a feeling does not leave in the Sitro salon. A similar combination of style, individuality and amenities in the class of supermi are rarely found
 

Ah, how cute the plastic upholstery of the torpedo, made under the fabric! And the handles of control of microclimate are as if borrowed from the gas stove. Elegant hoods and voluminous pockets are good, at the same time acting as door handles. Immediately hiding in the torpedo hooks for bags, a cool sliding submits in a glove box and, finally, the main attraction hidden in the right front seat voluminous boxing kilo, such, for ten selected potatoes! But there is also a sliding rear sofa, especially in case there are more purchases than passengers. By the way, Mikra, perhaps, is the most spacious in our test for my eighty-five meter, I sat down in general conveniently conveniently.
 
What else is tasty? Yeah, starting the engine without the ignition key, an on-board computer that helps control fuel consumption, convenient spaces in the central tunnel. Minuses? Do not believe it, practically absent. Unless on a well -reading, but compact dashboard there was no room for a coolant temperature sensor. We will have to hope for a control lamp. However, I want to live in such a kitchen!
 
       
The main controls of most modern cars do not cause complaints, the whole difference in design. Mikra, Ivisa and C3 only confirm this rule
     
To the Nissan dashboard (left at the top) the least complaints, the numbers and scales of the seama speedometer seemed small for us, in Citroen (left below) a completely unread tachometer
 

We have already told about the pros and cons of the cheerful and a little plague interior C3 (see limousine No. 78, 2002). There were two complaints then: unimportant assembly and unreadable tachometer. You still determine the engine speed by ear, but the care of the assembly compared to cars from the first batch has grown noticeably. All the panels are now neatly fitted, the plastic does not puff, and the musicality of the interior has gone to a decline. True, without a multifunctional rear shelf, a moded with many pockets and compartments (unfortunately, it is not supplied to Russia), the trunk of the Ts-third trunk. A large loading height, a narrow opening and a modest volume immediately swam out.
 
However, the pleasant impression is that every modern car boasts a unique salon in Ivis melts faster than ice cream in the microwave. Alas, no matter how the Spanish engineers tried (if they tried at all!), But they failed to defeat the spirit of Wolfsburg. Here everything is black, black, high-quality, convenient and incredibly boring.
 
If you look at the Spanish supermini through the eyes of the buyer not so much romantic as the practical one, perhaps, it is Ivis that he will like the most. I don’t know, maybe so. However, one thing is obvious: it is Seat that has the most passenger and comfortable landing, although the very adult chair is large, with a long pillow and developed lateral support, it takes away the spaciousness from the sitting from behind.
 
     
 
In this cute retractable, I want to put something

By the number of useful little things like a hook at the bottom of a torpedo or a migra-migra-salesman, there are no equal in its class
 
   
Below from the steering wheel switch, the engine starting handle

The readings of the on -board computer are well read by lateral vision

No, this is not a female clip, this is a door handle!
  
 
 
Round air theme in the C3 cabin in honorable first place

Turn on the heating of the seats will have to be on the hunch button located on the left sideboard of the pillow
 
  
You will not attack so many boxes!

There is no multifunctional shelf in the C3 cabin, and the fasteners remained for it

The joystick of the audio system is quite compact and quite convenient

 

The cup holder is one of the few elements of luxury included in the basic package of Seata

Volkswagen origin in the Ivis salon guarantees high assembly quality
 
  
The driver's seat is just excellent: a long pillow, developed lateral support, many adjustments

Carefully, the doors open on the sharp edge is easy and hurt

Unlike Polo, Ivisa has full -sized rear -view mirrors both right and left

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It won't be small
All three cars that were in our hands were equipped with automatic gearboxes not at all by chance. After all, any toy should be available for understanding without reading any instructions and the development of a wise alphabet of smooth release of clutch while adding gas. It must be so that he sat down and went. But somehow the machine gets along with a modest volume? After all, Ivisa and C3 under the hood are only 75 forces, Mira only five more. Will it be not enough? Believe me, no. For the city, it is even the most.
 
Car engineers solved the problem of modest volume and automatic box for a long time. The panacea is called gear rates. A large number of the main pair and short programs really allow you not to feel their inferiority. Moreover, from the start of Citroen and Ivis, they generally leave so vigorously that from pleasure you want to close my eyes. A moment of joy is sweet, but fleeting. Behind the mark of 50 km/h, acceleration no longer seems swift, and closer to a hundred it becomes clear why in passport data there are more than 15 seconds. However, in Moscow there are much more traffic lights than places where you can accelerate to a hundred. Do not wait from the kids and close to 200 km/h of the maximum speed. Where did she get from? But you can count on one and a half hundred for sure.
 
If we talk about personalities, then Ivis will be frozen by its goods. And in a short spurt, and at maximum speed, she wins a little at C3 and the same slightly at Mira. There are no complaints to the brakes (for nothing that everyone has drums). We will not be cunning, by and large the rear discs on such cars and use.
 
Yes, and now, I almost forgot: short gears mean that the motor often works at high speeds, and therefore do not be surprised at all not to toy fuel consumption. A little more than 10 liters per hundred, consider, the norm.

The tougher is hard
But to forgive the toy fuel appetite is easier than justify the lack of comfort on board. This is not a matter if the ears are laid from road noise, and the beloved dog was thrown from shaking. Put comfort at the forefront? Here the advantage of C3 is undeniable.
 
For a car, the wheels of which are separated only by two and a half meters, Citroen has just an amazing smoothness of the course. But the baby has no cunning hydropneumatic lotions in the suspension: McEferson in front, traditional French torsions behind. But go, you, the work, manages to hide from me almost all the outrages of Moscow roads. Class! It is a pity that this cannot be said about sound insulation, especially wheeled arches. After all, the hum from tires is the main musical note of Citroen.
 
However, not one. Seat and Nissan with sound insulation have the same story. Even the grumbling voices of motorists, pulling the overwhelming burden in the road rustle. The Spanish suspension reports to the driver and passengers information about all road potholes, pits and joints of the canvas. An elastic knock-tough reaches the cabin, and a dense shake caresses the back. Subtle adjustment of the suspension leads to the fact that on rude asphalt, low -frequency vibration fills the salon. Senorita clearly gravitates to European asphalt!
 
But the tough suspension Ivis does not seem like that after a trip to Micre. Here, indeed, where it will shake in two counts. Well, of course, a short wheelbase, short, dense suspension plus 15-inch wheels with low-profile rubber. Impressions are from a stool. Why, one wonders, is such an uncompromising character to the city baby? Not otherwise the English genes are produced by a mira at the factory in Sanderland. The British are a strange people of acute controllability, they require both Minivan and Supermini.
  
Small scorches
And there is! The first meters behind Nissan’s wheel convinced of the mismatch of shape and content. Outwardly, Mikra is a soft toy, a hare with pink ears, but in fact it is a yula, a groovy top. Or a wolf cub? Wow, how tenaciously he keeps the road at speeds for a hundred! And with what youthful enthusiasm the green baby with bulging eyes changes the trajectory of movement only hold on! The almost complete absence of transverse rolls is conquered, here they are, the advantages of a hard suspension. Class!
 
But Nissan still did not deserve an excellent assessment. The steering wheel failed. The steering wheel itself is simply cool. Nice such, in sporting chubby and small in diameter. But the buzz spoils the electric power with a completely indecent character. How Nissan engineers managed to achieve an absolute absence of a clear reactive effort simply a mystery. With such an empty steering wheel, the desire to nimble quickly disappears. Well, at least at parking speeds, Mikra is humble and obedient.
 
But Ivisa receives an excellent assessment of merits. The severity of reactions, commendable zeal in the execution of driver's orders, a magnificent steering wheel, predicted and correct front -wheel drive habits. A wonderful character is a real toy for an understanding driver. Not superior, but balanced-tasty handling. To wear you, Ivisa, the title of Queen of Mining Roads.
 
Citroen, of course, cannot boast of the same. A soft suspension played a role and the high body of the rolls begins early, and the demolition of the front axle comes earlier than you are waiting. However, all this happens quite smoothly, so there are no problems with the capture of the car. We add to this an informative steering wheel and good filtration of irregularities at high speeds and get generally good handling.
 
And finally, the advice for cute young ladies. Do not take talk about controllability especially to heart. For confident and safe movement in space, Nissan, Cesan, and Citroen are adapted perfectly. But how, one wonders, reactive effort? Leave their toys to men.
  
Five over four
So far, no Supermini received a 5-star rating in the Euroncap rating, but Citroen-S3 got the closest to him. More than 28 points (four stars) among small cars scored only Toyota Yaris, which is not officially sold in Russia. All this, as well as the fact that the Frenchwoman has two airbags already in the base, and for four more, they ask for only 560 euros, allows you to name C3 the safest supermini Russia.
 
Ivisa also earned 4 stars, while scoring 26 points, Euroncap experts noted poor knee protection. Otherwise, the seat is on top. Even in the basic configuration, you can detect frontal airbags, seat belts and three head restraints from behind.
 
As for Mira, this car has not yet managed to pass the tests of the pan -European commission, but the creators do not count on less than four stars. This can be believed, because the smallest Nissan is equipped with a very adult: four Air Bags, two of which are in the standard, belt pretense, fastening for children's seats isofix. So a priori can be considered a very safe toy.
 
       
Mill's keychain can not be taken out of your pocket. By recognizing the electronic code, the computer will light the green inscription KEY (key) on the dashboard and will allow you to start the engine without the ignition key

 
Roads are not a gift, but attention?
Nothing like that! And the gift itself can be very expensive. Especially when it comes to Ivis. Even in the basic equipment of CAAT, it is not cheap 12,738 euros. A lot, but as if tolerant. That's exactly, as if. Considering that for everything except the means of passive safety, you will have to pay extra, the amount runs up be healthy. In the minimum acceptable configuration of ABS, air conditioning, radio, heating the seats of Ivis will cost you already 14,940 euros. These are still flowers, but there will be berries. Just add side eire-beags, cast discs and fog, it will turn out well for 16 thousand. Do not forget that the assault rifle costs about one and a half thousand. So to twenty not far! Unjustifiably roads are obtained.
 
True, the Spaniards in the near future promise to comb the prices and even prepare a special budgetary package for Russia. They say that a 1.4-liter Ivis with a driver’s pillow and air conditioning will cost 11,500 euros. Quite cheap and angry. But this is in the future. In the meantime, more than Troyaka, the pricing policy of Ceata does not deserve.
 
The situation is different with the micro. Firstly, a great demand for it in Europe led to the fact that quotas for Russia are extremely small. Nissan you like will have to run. In the spring, the dealers had practically no living cars. In addition, Nissan sellers do not welcome the construction of the car for themselves, offering ready -made configurations. A car with a 1.2 liter engine, an automatic transmission, four airbags, climate control, which visited our test, is estimated at 16,500 euros. And this is without ABS and radio! Expensive.
 
However, such a high price can be explained by the novelty model. Do not forget that the prices of Nissan dealers vary. Therefore, I only hung on the phone for five minutes, I found almost the same package, but already for 14,700 euros. Feel the difference! I would like to believe that over time prices are stabilized, and the dealers will have miracles in budget performance.
 
But Citroen with prices and equipment is full in order: civilized and quite affordable. The minimum 1.4-liter C3 costs 12,800 euros. Moreover, it is already equipped with air conditioning and front electric windows, not to mention the extensive arsenal of security tools. You charge ABS and the radio, get 13,570, plus the side pillows, alloy wheels and fog with a winter package and still 14,320. Not dead, of course, but for the modern and fashionable supermini nothing. By the way, in March dealers appeared a version with a 1.1-liter 60-horsepower engine, the price of which starts with 9900 euros.
    
We decided:
As in figure skating, to start assessing for the technique of execution. And here a completely tangible advantage of Citroen is revealed an average rating of 4.5. C3 is a rare case when the external attractiveness of the car only complements its consumer qualities. An original, convenient, comfortable, safe, moderately frisky and obedient and, importantly, not too expensive. It is clear why the popularity of the car is growing not only in Europe, but also in Russia. Moreover, you see not only women behind the wheel of this machine.
 
The attractiveness of Ivis and Mira is also very high by the average estimate 4. But the Seat was primarily lifted by the price, which hardly fits into the rational framework. In general, Ivisa with her road habits, let me forgive me dear ladies, a toy is more for men.
 
Mikra, on the contrary, the machine, in my deep conviction, is exclusively female. Such as upgrades in the wardrobe of the fashionista: bright, slightly causing, giving birth to envy of friends. But beware, in this car your companion will attract too much attention! And this is not the only drawback of Nissan. The situation is very unpleasant for the buyer when he is forced to take not what he wants, but what they give. Do not forget about the smoothness of the course below the average. For Europe, such a rigid suspension is acceptable, for Russia it is hardly. To forgive Micre this sin, you just need to love it.
 
Mikhail Medvedev, photo Maxim Goncharov
 
 

Source: Magazine "Limousine" [06/03]