Test Drive Citroen C3 Pluriel since 2003 Convertible

Abrakadabramobil

Any manufacturer would consider a catastrophe if its products were called Abrakadabra. But the French from Citroen selected themselves this word to characterize their amazing C3 Pluriel - a model outside of existing segments, a bold challenge canons of automotive industry. Instead of in place in accordance with the existing trends, release the usual 3-door version of the city hatchback C3, French engineers decided to arrange a real revolution. In the late 90s, the company model, famous in the former times, surprisingly original cars, were rarely inexpressive. Fortunately, Citroen's leadership rather quickly realized the situation and decided on the need to rehabilitate the company's image. And on the Toddler's platform C3, the real transformer was created - a compact car with a polyvalent body.

Of course, in recent years there have been a lot of models with hybrid bodies - a minivan coupe, a wagon coupe, a picap convertible, etc., and therefore, in order to stand out on this background, in Citroen decided to take a number! More precisely, the number of body options. Little C3 Pluriel can appear in five horses: Hatch Beck, Lando, Targa, a convertible and pickup. Thus, the French word Pluriel (Multiple) completely reflects its essence.

When creating this original car to maintain the image of the company, the least focus was paid by rationality and practicality. The priority task of C3 Pluriel, this consciously insight creation, was to prove the courage and avant-garde of the manufacturer. And the team of designers under the guidance of the chef designer Jean-Plohe Plue, showing an extraordinary ingenuity, made five body options in one model, and most importantly, adapted these dysphem found solutions to serial production. There was no time to bring the body-hybrid to perfection, neither the more fiscal funds, and the price of C3 Pluriel should have been very low. And the desire to hit, make people actively discuss and even loudly criticize the meaninglessness of the model can be called in this case with superficials, if you want, a hundred car clown. And in this sense, the creators worked virtuoso: there are so many bold delights in the model, which, if it is an ordinary family small, experts would receive an infarction from such a blatant neglect of elementary practicality!

But C3 Pluriel is an engineering marketing shock in pure form. And this causing car with all its disadvantages and inconveniences, as it turned out, very quickly won the sympathy of the public. First, his design breathes genuine French charm. Funny humpback turtle-ninja profile, deliberately embroidered body shapes and a look to the impossibility of playful headlights - this combination is simply quintessine model, ideally transmitting its essence as toys for liberated originals. And in any version, the car immediately causes a smile in humans - the image of a cute contest, a tireless joker and fun to irresistible! But at the same time, C3 Pluriel, which does not have any common with the usual C3 of the outer panel, looks quite massive. The need to somehow compensate for the loss of stiffness of a small open body forced the designers to add a lot of excess metal outside - the side are made very high and deliberately plump. Against the background of his classmates C3 Pluriel looks like a frank grind!

To emphasize the entire illogy and crazy machine, we decided to lure C3 Pluriel there, where the contrast with the environment would be the most expressive, on the prestigious ski resort. Surrounded by snow-covered alpine vertices, in the frost and a blizzard on high-mountain passages and insidious serpentines, this Motomobil tried to prove to us that with all his fun appearance and shocking impracticality he is not a toy! It is here at this time of the year there is a surveillance of an advanced public, at the sympathy of which the creators of the car were calculated. The adventures and climbing C3 Pluriel in this expedition are captured on our photos. But before talking about the aspects of the controllability and other nuances of the model's behavior, it is simply necessary to tell ... about the fascinating process of the steam struggle of the driver and passengers with the delights of the body-hybrid. In other words, the most important and exciting in the transformer is transformed!

Act First
It all starts pretty trite. In its most ordinary Ipostasi - the 3-door hatch-beek - Pluriel is almost no different in use from other models of this class. As with the C3 donor, in the front of the car is exceptionally spacious, a very high roof line and a large width for this class allow you to get free to accommodate passengers of any growth and a set. But it is much more interesting that the rear seats whose type does not cause much desire to settle on them, are surprisingly comfortable. Space on the sides and above the head is enough, and thanks to the width of the door, it opens quite ate access back. That is, C3 Pluriel can actually carry the four people with an acceptable comfort with the growth above the average. True, only a couple-triple of large road bags will fit in the trunk, but still he is significantly more than an average of the models of this segment. Up to 140 km / h Closed Pluriel is quite comfortable and riding does not bother: the level of aerodynamic noise is very discreet, the stability is good. But after this turn, every new 10 km / h make life on board more and more unbearable. At a speed of 180 km / h (and we, with courage, the sake of the experiment accelerated almost up to 200 km / h!) The tarp top makes deafening cotton and vibrates strongly, due to massive rack-arcs, the noise of the air flow turns into a heartbreaking moan, and it seems That car will fall apart. And the tall body begins to rock threateningly. This is the difference in a huge difference between our transformer and standard C3. No, high speeds on the autobahn is clearly not the horse of our hero.

Act two

The overwhelming majority of the averages of small hatchbacks would be quite satisfied with the first form of C3 Pluriel. But the owner of such an avant-garde car is a restless enthusiast, which has a special pleasure from miracles. In such people, the desire to start magic transformations of the colonic car occurs immediately. There is nothing simpler: the turn of the table in the end of the windshield, and the tarp roof begins to gradually move the arcs back. In this process there are several intermediate steps, up to full departure to the rear glass. Thus, it turns out the body of the Lando type. Above the dazzling blue sky, but ... vibrations and roar of the air flow will immediately make the speed of up to 50-60 km / h. However, at such speed, passengers get pretty. Even the extreme fans of convertibles who drive without a roof with every opportunity, the Lando version will not like.

Act Third

C3 Pluriel is positioned as a car for people with a sports spirit. And active exercise are guaranteed with the third degree of freedom of the car. To get from the Lando body Targa, you need to spend about ten minutes and hundreds of kilocalories. First, you should completely remove the soft top thus thus so that one with the rear glass it turns out a single cassette, and then open the boot board and, of course, to completely unload its contents, then a great recess will be revealed under the bottom of the box. Here in him, demonstrating the wonders of kinematics, the tarpaulin roof with glass is cleaned on cunning hinges. Process, we will not hide, very laborious, and it can be accompanied by small production injuries, because it requires a lot of skill and physical strength ... then you should download it back to the trunk, and here you are C3 Pluriel in the formation of Targa. At the same time, traveling by car is not recommended - by an evil Will of the Witch of Aerodynamics Movement with lowered glasses and without vertex in the presence of longitudinal roofing arcs provokes terrible air flow currency even at the lowest speed. There is no doubt that this variation was conceived solely for a formal increase in the number of body options - no meaning in its existence, and the transformation process is the most unpleasant, and we even counted Targu with the subspecies described above Lando.

Act fourth

At the fullness of the fourth version of C3 Pluriel there is no reason to doubt, although the transformation into a convertible is given to the owner of it with a battle and here it is necessary to show a real heroism! And here in this transformation lies not only the main prompt model, but, as it turned out, its Kwintessence and the source of special charm. Now we have to be literally ... Disassemble your car. Decorate two locks, holding arcs in front, not a problem. Then it is necessary to unload the trunk again and make simple, but fairly ingenious manipulations with knobs-locks. After that, we first take one roof arc, then another and carry them out somewhere. All this, on the one hand, looks ridiculous, and on the other, it causes curiosity among others. At least, there are dozens of skiers from those slopes from where this idea was visible from where it was visible. And indeed, the unprepared viewer seems that this is the process of dismantling the car! Of course, the main question is how difficult arcs.

In such a sports environment, it is inconvenient to complain, especially since the skiers are looking with a delight on the architects constructing a convertible. But nevertheless, it is worth it to strain no less than extremal snowboarders from a red descent next door. Each arc weighs 16 kg, which is a lot, and given their extremely uncomfortable form and the need to high and hold the subject, the training is obtained that it is necessary. For the fragile lady (A, according to forecasts, the car will have to taste a female audience) only approach to the simulator called C3 Pluriel will replace the session in the fitness center. Or, how the company's representatives hint twice, with this car, Mademoiselle will always have a win-win reason to meet a man, asking him to help convert Pluriel to a convertible or back! By the way, for these arcs that engineers called the arches, no compartment is provided in the car! The idea of \u200b\u200bthe creators is such that the details need to be left, for example, in the garage, which means that you go on the road without any hope to find the roof over your head in case of rain - the tarp trunk is removed in the trunk without arcs completely useless.

In the mountains at an altitude of 2500 m Rain in March, we clearly did not threaten, there were snowfall in the menu and a chilling wind. Therefore, at first, we left our arcs on the stand for the mountain ski, and they themselves decided to try out the C3 Pluriel in the convertible version. And it turned out that this is the most pleasant and harmonious way of the existence of this car. Aerodynamics, which merciless rides in Lando and Targa versions, this time act as a good fairy. Without arcs and with all lowered glasses, the cabin is almost completely protected from any sensitive effects of air flow. Even climbing passes and moving on a high, up to 120 km / h, we did not have any discomfort, no cold, but the stove included at first was turned off at first. The windshield and a very high windows line provide protection against air twists - it seems that there are invisible transparent shields from all sides. And even on the rear seats does not blow! To confess, we did not have to meet a convertible, in which, with lowered side glasses at high speed, no hairs on the head did not laugh at the passengers.

If the C3 Plu-Riel convertible had at least the usual retractable tarpaulin roof, like the cheapest roadster, he could become a sales hit, the main thing that cape could be treated with him. And if there was such a rigid rigid roof now ... Affordable 4-seater cabriolet, so attractive outwardly?! But remember the distant relative in the concern - 206 CC, and you will become clear that Pluriel did not have the right to be a reasonable and logical car so that, God forbid, do not worry it! It's a pity. Although, of course, the simplicity of controlling the installation / folding process of the roof by pressing the button in the cabin can not be compared with the activity of the heroic actions that must be made to produce the same with C3 Pluriel. In the West there are many originals that are not looking for simple solutions and prefer to do everything as not as others - here they will probably like the Citroen transformer simulator!

Act Fifth

No, it has not yet finals, because one more option remains. Compared to the previous previous transformations, turn C3 Pluriel into a pickup is completely simple: the rear seats are folded and form a flat site, and the board is folded, increasing the total length of the cargo platform to 1180 mm. The last reincarnation is impressive: the kid C3 Pluriel begins to resemble a barustic truck. And I can not even believe that in this, as it seems, a tiny body can be transported by such volume of cargo. It is the volume, but not a lot! The permissible load does not exceed 350 kg, and more than 100 kg can not be put on the back board. For the carriage of bulky, but relatively light sports equipment This pickup is suitable just wonderful.

That's all the instructions for use. Of course, all these transformations cannot make the car perfect, but at least one thing is obvious: C3 Pluriel is a completely extraordinary instance. And what else an inexpensive little car can make so long to tell and cause such curiosity?! True, the prospect does not please: in order to assemble the car, you will have to do all these operations in the reverse order ... But when C3 Pluriel is again assembly and returned to its aggregate state No. 1, the body rigidity becomes quite satisfactory and can be checked what he stands on mountain serpentines. The behavior of the chassis bribes immediately. ESP is not yet rare on the machines of this class, but it is on C3 Pluriel, and it is also brilliantly configured. In the coolest rotations, electronics simply destroys insufficient turning.

At the same time, ESP stops attempting at a split second, to put the car into a skid. The presence of such a remarkable even by the standards of the modern sedan version of the ESP here admires. One thing is: doing the ride as safe as possible, the system still significantly reduces the total pace of turning. If the ESP is disabled, a strong insufficient turning is immediately manifested, but it can be struggling with it by late braking, in this case the more lively behavior of the rear axle allows you to bring the machine to the desired trajectory. Without ESP riding it becomes, of course, more complex and technical, but also more exciting and fast. Setting the chassis is also above all praise. The suspension is quite soft, and the machine jumps on the irregularities of the mountain roads as if moving on the carpet: vibrations almost do not reach passengers. Rolls at the same time although noticeable, but not threatening and do not spoil impressions. The most powerful of the Motors provided for the model is 1,6-liter four with a capacity of 110 hp It is rather aggressive, but the misfortune is in the absence of thrust on small and medium-sized circulation: up to 3000 rpm from the engine it is useless to wait for some kind of tolerant acceleration.

Even on the lower gears, it is unpleasant to overtake overtaking on the oncoming lane when the tachometer is less than 4000 rpm - it seems that eternity passes before the car begins to accelerate. But in the range of 4500-6000 rpm, the motor is very good, and if its dynamics can not be called a sports, then an energetic one can accurately. For a model weighing 1100 kg it is quite enough. In addition, the engine is extremely volatile - when overclocked it is heard to the entire district. Hearing this terrible sound, you can even think that overclocking up to 100 km / h occupies not 11.6 s, but twice the smallest. Unscrew the motor to high revs permanently, and this is, oddly enough, nice. A truly sports ride brings the average fuel consumption to 16-18 liters per 100 km, and therefore the 45-liter tank cannot provide a large autonomy. There are no complaints to the brakes, however, the ABS is triggered early.

Of particular interest is the so-called robotic transmission Senso Drive - a manual box with automatic clutch. When driving in urban traffic jams at low speeds, fully automatic mode is perfect. But it is worth leaving the AUTO mode and after departure from the city, as a frank tube box manifests itself: it does not want to switch down when the gas pedal is unscrewed, staying on the highest, in transmission, then suddenly when overclocking remains for too long on II or III transmission , forcing the motor to work hard. But, fortunately, nothing interferes to switch to manual switching mode: sparkling levers on the steering column are convenient and almost the same as on Ferrari models! Slitting them, the transmission can be switched up and down.

A pleasant solution for the pilot enthusiast, although women choosing this model probably would like more classic machine.
In general, C3 Pluriel is very well suited not only for a fixed cruise, but also for dying ride through dizzying mountain sides. The traditions of the French school of compact hot hatchbacks are embodied in a car to such an extent that the specificity of not too rigid open bodies allowed. By the way, with removed controllability of the machine very much worsens - the clarity of the chassis reactions is very dulled ... Nevertheless, we concluded that a hot hatchback could be added to the ascent of the transformer as a fifth and half version.

The final

In something terribly impractical, in something absolutely unprotected, C3 Pluriel in some other aspects is perfection and quality itself, despite its price. This real ball of paradoxes and contrasts as a whole causes respect and greater sympathy, although both of these sincere feelings do not necessarily develop at the desire to become the owner of the transformer. In Europe, the top version of C3 Pluriel with a 1.6-liter motor costs about 20 thousand euros - about 3000-5000 euros more expensive than similar hatchback with a conventional monotype body. The company cannot yet determine how many of these hybrid carappows can be sold annually, but it does not feed much hope and rejoicing, even if a pair of tens of thousands of pieces is purchased. While C3 Pluriel acquires mostly fashionable-townsms, which primarily like his funny design, and the body transformation is not important for them. Moreover, the transformer fell to taste just extremely secured people who are not related to the number of traditional customers for the Citroen brand. Their developed fantasy and delicate taste allow us to evaluate and maintain a bold Double Chevron project.

And the main category of buyers of compact hatchbacks (including the youth, whose tastes tried to please!) Does not want anything other than the base model for the minimum price, and pay the allowance for hidden talents is not ready. Interestingly, it is exactly the new rich owners of C3 Pluriel, who bought this model as a fun toy, most interested in when the firm will still risk step up and release the Citroen C6 business class model. According to them, they may have changed their BMW 5 series or Mercedes-Benz E-class on her ... By the way, the company still decided to supply C3 Pluriel and to Russia. It is assumed that he will serve as an image tool to attract the attention of buyers from the highest light! Car-souvenir, another funny-funny thing for entertainment, a cool thing in one garage next to BMW X5 or Mercedes S-class. The revolutionary transformer is trying to justify the definition of Abrakadabra and in the marketing sense - seduces those whom the least was calculated!

Ivan Vesnin

A source: Magazine "Autopanoram"