It has always been interesting to see and drive new cars at the volume end of the market. Creating a product that buyers find desirable is always tricky as it isn’t possible to put everything into a car and still keep it affordable. The safer way is to benchmark a car to the segment leader but keep looks distinct. But once in a while something comes along that tries something a little different. That is always a bit of a risky proposition, but if it clicks it will not have much of competition for a while at least.
Citroen’s upcoming C3 is one such vehicle. It will get into a segment where competition is so tough between primarily Japanese and South Korean vehicles that they set the benchmarks and expectations and others find it difficult to emulate them and grab a slice. It is here that the C3 is trying to break the mould with French flair and somewhat different priorities.
Citroen invited The Telegraph to drive two C3s, both topline ‘Feel’ models (the lower spec one’s called ‘Live’), in Puretech 82 and Puretech 110 versions. Here are our initial impressions of the company’s first volume market offering.
The C3 is quite unique in its looks and resembles nothing else on the road except the company’s own bigger C5. The treatment of Citroen’s chevron logo and the chrome strips up front is very similar and they end in daytime running lights on either side, giving the vehicle quite a unique ‘face’. Rather than use flatter body panels, Citroen has used a lots of scoops — on the bonnet, on the fenders, on the roof, around the tail lights — and contouring that add a sense of premiumness to the look. And that sense continues to the rear end as well. Driving in Goa during the rains we felt that we could have done with a rear windscreen washer and wiper and defogger options on the higher variants, but that’s missing.
The wheels are 15-inchers with 195/65 rubber on all variants, but pressed steel with wheel covers. This is different from the skinny tyres that we usually get on cars in the hatchback segment as slimmer tyres make for higher fuel efficiency. The slightly bigger wheels also improve the look significantly, filling out the wheel wells nicely and giving the C3 the square planted look of an SUV.
Now, Citroen calls the C3 a ‘hatch with a twist that is inspired by SUV styling codes’ and that’s a fair way of looking at it. It’s a vehicle primarily meant to be driven on tarmac although it is capable of doing some mild ‘off-roading’ given that it has fairly decent ground clearance of 180mm.
In terms of proportions, they are certainly of a compact or sub-compact SUV rather than a hatchback as we know them. The upside to that is the higher ground clearance looks natural and not as if the car is on stilts.
And while there is a certain chunkiness to the looks, that has been toned down by the cladding on the flanks, the faux scuff plate finish on the front and rear bumpers, and the bright accents around the fog lamps and on the front doors.
Both the cars we drove came with two-tone paint jobs — there are six options — but one can also get them in single colours, four of them, and customise the look. In our books, the C3 scores pretty high in the looks department.
Once one enters the C3 it gets quite interesting as one spots things that evoke nice ‘aha!’s. We’ll start from the rear seats. Citroen says that it has kept these seats a little higher than the ones in front so that passengers can get a view out of the car and don’t feel cooped up. Whatever the reason, the result is that under-thigh support is excellent and we would like to try it out on a longer drive. The cushioning has enough give to make them comfortable without getting squishy.
With the driving seat adjusted for a person of average height of about 175cm, there is still a fairly generous four inches between the knees of the rear passenger and the back of the front seat. Also, the foot can go under the front seat adding to the room. There is no arm rest though and the head restraints are fixed.
Big glass areas add to the sense of airiness as well. The seat back isn’t split but folds down if one wants a bigger luggage area. There are loads of cubbyholes all around for one-litre water bottles, even at the back, as well as for the smaller stuff. We particularly liked the little shelf in the front console.
Up front, the seats are comfortable and although Citroen said they have been made ‘narrower’ to let rear passengers see out of the car, in use it did not feel wanting in any way. Here too the head restraints are fixed. The driver’s seat gets height adjustment and, along with the adjustable steering tilt, one can find a nice driving position.
There are two eyecatchers on the well-designed dash. The first is the dimpled orange panel that takes the highlights of the exterior into the car — there’s a grey alternative too. The other is the 10-inch (26cm) touchscreen infotainment system, which is one of the bigger ones in this segment. It is intuitive and easy to use and supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, phone sync and the usual stuff.
There are USB charging ports front and rear and a 12V socket as well. There are two thoughtful clips to prevent cables from flapping around when a phone is wired in.
The feel of the switchgear and knobs is good with them moving or turning with nicely damped clicks. We would have liked a different gear shift knob though as it felt a tad too big in the hand and a little touch of silver like on the steering wheel — which is nice to grip and use — would have made it look much better. There are hard plastics but not the cheap-looking stuff and should hold up alright.
Oh, the audio system was surprisingly good. The instrument panel is a monochrome digital screen with the speedometer, odometer and tripmeter, fuel and temperature gauges, and readouts for average fuel consumption, distance to empty and gear shift indicator. No tacho. Around this central screen there is the usual complement of tell-tale lights. We get all the info that we really need, but one has come to expect things like the tacho, although few actually use it. With competitors going for fancy here, this will take a bit of getting used to.
Overall, there was much to like about the passenger compartment and it comes across as well thought through, although it did look a touch basic at first glance.
The C3 will come with two engine and gearbox options. The first is the Puretech 82. This is a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol mill mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. The second is the Puretech 110. This is the same
1.2-litre, three-cylinder, petrol engine but now with a turbocharger and a six-speed gearbox.
The turbocharged vehicle is heavier by about 70-odd kilos overall but has significantly more power. Both the engines are quite peppy. While the 82 has a typical three-cylinder thrumming sound at idle, the 110 sounds smoother. Power flows very smoothly and since the cars did not have tachos we cannot really say what engine speeds are the meatiest to drive in, but suffice it to say that neither seemed wanting at up to highway speeds that we tried.
The noise insulation is pretty good and not a great deal seeps into the cabin from either although we did keep muting the audio system to listen to it. To that extent refinement levels seem a couple of notches above what we expected.
The gearshifts are smooth but a tad on the soft side and one could miss the slot if trying to change up or down very quickly. But there is no problem in normal or even somewhat spirited driving.
Even when one gets into a completely new car, one does have some notion of how it will be, based on experience of similar products or others of the same make. So when we got into the C3 we were expecting something of a soft ride. We were not all wrong, but were completely wrongfooted by how well the ‘softness’ had been tuned and the level of poise the C3 showed. Citroen has nailed it with the suspension and blindfolded I could have mistaken it for a car a couple of segments higher.
We purposely didn’t slow down over a couple of rumbled strips and were pleasantly surprised how well it rode them, with the suspension transmitting very little to the passengers. Amazing. On the narrow winding roads of Goa in the wet it tracked true at middling speeds of around 70-80kmph. Body roll was nearly absent and there were no white-knuckle moments. On fast sweeping curves in the rain it did not want to stray at all even at three-digit speeds. This little thing was punching way above its weight on the road.
Given that it rides high, one should, however, be judicious with how fast one is going on sharper turns like switchbacks on hill roads. While it does hold its direction, it tends to squat down on the outer wheels and shows body roll under hard cornering. There is probably a reason why it doesn’t have that tacho after all. While it drives and handles with poise under normal conditions and is sporty enough, it isn’t a racer and terms like ‘attacking corners’ aren’t the most used ones in its vocabulary.
That said, it is no slouch, particularly the Puretech 110. Even when one isn’t trying, other cars are left behind at traffic signals very quickly and this is done pretty effortlessly with the 190Nm of torque kicking in pretty low in the rev range. Even the Puretech 82 is quite lively but needs more downshifts to get the shove. We found the third cog of the 110 extremely versatile and able to go from somewhere around 30kmph to triple digits very smoothly.
The C3 is certainly right up there and then some when it comes to ride and handling. It does ride high but the amount of poise it shows is really surprising and in a very positive way.
The C3 is expected to start somewhere around Rs 5.50 lakh and probably go up to somewhere around Rs 7.50 lakh for the turbo, but there would be, we are told, a wide array of customisation options that could vary those prices significantly. At those prices there is quite a bit going for the C3, primarily — comfort, good peppy engines and fresh looks. If those are priorities, then this should definitely be in the consideration set for a buy. As for features, there’s supposed to be plenty on the options list, “56 customisation options” no less. Take your pick.
Pictures by the author and Citroen India
Brakes: Front disc, rear drum
Price: Rs 5.50 lakh upwards expected