LATEST ALL CAR NEWS: LATEST ALL CAR NEWS Citroen C4 Grand Picasso (2015)

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<h2>
Citroen C4 Picasso diary notes: distraction control</h2>
That futuristic dashboard is quite a thing to behold when you first 
climb into the Picasso. Those massive cinema multiplex screens, the 
almost total absence of buttons (until you realise they’re all on the 
steering wheel instead), that odd but stylish textured surface, like 
robotic rhino hide…<br />
It’s one thing staring at it goggle-eyed during the car’s original 
launch, as I did, but the acid test is whether it can still look as 
striking against a backdrop of accumulated bric-a-brac from 10 months’ 
worth of long-term duties. And the good news is, it does – even offset 
against crumbs, crisp packets and parking receipts, it still looks like a
 step into the future.<br />
Is it a step in the right direction, though? Fancy as the touchscreen
 looks, it’s a bit of a concentration test to operate. You need a really
 firm prod, and a steady hand, to hit the bit you’re after, and just 
adjusting the air-con temperature was enough to see me wandering over 
white lines while my eyes were off the road. Of course, the more time 
you spend in the car the easier it gets, but anything that could 
increase the demand on a driver’s attention in a car that’s likely to be
 full of passengers seems borderline immoral, however advanced it 
appears in the showroom.<br />
<i><br /></i>

<br />
<h2>
Month 10 running a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso: how did you rate your Picasso experience?</h2>
I’ve been getting so cosy with Robinsons, the Citroën 
dealership in Peterborough, that I’m now on their Christmas card list. 
Following my urea/AdBlue issues last month, the Grand C4 Picasso has 
just had its first service. Not bad for a vehicle just three-quarters of
 a year old. Slight advisory on the front tyres – I must be loading them
 up as I swing this slab-sided pantechnicon into yet another A1 
roundabout – but nothing more worrying than that.<br />
A decade or so ago then that would be that from the dealership 
for another 12 months/20,000 miles. Instead, it’s set in frenzied motion
 the service industry’s modern vogue for accruing customer feedback. 
It’s been conducted with a zeal you could describe at best overly keen, 
at worst rabid. I’ve had countless voicemail messages, phone calls, 
texts and email alerts pleading for me to say something – anything – 
about my experience. It’s a bit like the hovering rookie waiter at the 
Harvester, asking if you’re enjoying your meal… after every mouthful. 
I’ve filled in an online questionnaire now, saying how wonderful the 
experience was. The correspondence has stopped.<br />
Worryingly, I may be back soon as something odd is happening 
when I plug my iPhone USB lead in to power it up. Listening to DAB 
radio, it slows broadcasts down. As a result, James Naughtie on the 
Today programme sounds like he’s had a couple of snifters-worth of 
Bruichladdich before coming on air or Gordon Brown after two packs of 
Gitanes. And I can’t tell you what it does to Sandi Toskvig…<br />
<br />
<h2>
<hr />
Month 9 running a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso: taking the pee out of its AdBlue urea exhaust treatment</h2>
It’s a phrase I never thought I’d be using at my age, but I’ve had 
terrible urea problems lately. It’s so bad that I’ve had to go and see 
someone about it – Robinsons, the Citroën main dealer in Peterborough. <br />
It’s not me suffering, you see, but the C4 Grand Picasso.
 It began with a legend on the display saying that I needed my urea 
topping up. A week later the warning turned red (always a bad sign), 
eventually counting me down to impending carmageddon with a threat that 
the car would not start in 500… 400… 300 miles time. <br />
I got a D at Chemistry so I won’t get all Open University on you 
here, but a urea solution – given the more palatable sobriquet ‘AdBlue’ –
 is added to selected diesel engines in order to lower exhaust 
emissions. It rather outfoxed Robinsons, initially because they didn’t 
have any in stock when I dropped by and secondly because top-ups are 
usually required at 20,000 miles, whereas I’d only reached 16k. 
Apparently, high-milers burn the additive more quickly.<br />
After my second visit inside two days, AdBlue levels are back to 
normal, although I’ll probably be back in six months. Frustratingly, 
AdBlue comes in 10-litre bottles whereas the tank holds 17 litres, so we
 weren’t brimmed.<br />
And there’s me betting Ben Pulman that I wouldn’t use the line ‘Citroën takes the piss’. Looks like I owe him a fiver.<br />
<i> </i><br />
<hr />
<h2>
Month 8 running a Citroen C4 Picasso: don't buy the auto</h2>
Albert, the septuagenarian Liverpudlian who owns the Hotel Migjorn in
 Mallorca where we holidayed this summer, may be a former hippy who once
 ran a bar in Franco-era Palma, but he doesn’t half love his cars. He 
borrowed one of John Lennon’s Rollers for his wedding and showed me a 
pea-green E-type that a fellow ex-pat is having restored nearby.<br />
So, one can only imagine Albert’s disappointment with the hire car 
that I drove through his hotel gates. Still, at least the C4 Picasso 
gave me a week-long opportunity to compare specs with the porkier Grand 
version I drive at home.<br />
The headlines from my fag-packet notes decided that the panoramic 
sunroof (which our hire car lacked) is a must, as is the electric 
tailgate (burdened as I was, daily, with pushchairs, buckets & 
spades, parasols and sundry children) although it was the auto ’box (my 
Grand is manual) that received most of my ire. Its jerky gearchanges had
 me bunny-hopping like a teen on their first driving lesson, while the 
US-style column-mounted controls wound me up at a time when I was trying
 to wind down. Virtually every time I selected reverse, I activated the 
wipers.<br />
As comely as its interior is, the Picasso still has the power to infuriate.<br />
<i><br /></i>

<br />
<hr />
<h2>
Month 7 running a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso: holiday time!</h2>
In a rare display of automotive professionalism, I feel well 
qualified to comment on the merits of today’s people carriers. We 
recently sold our Volvo V70 – bye-bye Blue Blancmange – and having 
scrutinised every MPV on the market, are about to become owners of a 
shiny new Seat Alhambra.<br />
The Seat has a lot going for it, as we know, having run one a while 
back. It’s intelligently configured, spacious, exceptionally well 
equipped and very good value. But for me, the clincher over its rivals 
are its sliding rear doors. Today’s parking bays are so ridiculously 
narrow that conventionally hinged large rear doors are impossible to 
fully open, making entry and egress a difficult, expletive-inducing and 
paint-scraping event. But were it not for its doors, the Citroën would 
have edged out the Seat.<br />
So the chance to swap my Caterham
 – not quite ideal for pan-European family travel – for Stephen Worthy’s
 C4 Grand Picasso for a fortnight was one I grabbed. It would not only 
swallow all we needed for our fortnight on Ile De Re, but would also 
sanity check my Seat-buying decision.<br />
You see, I’ve never been a big Citroën fan. Yes, I know all about the
 Traction Avant, 2CV and DS. But when I started in this game, Citroën 
was churning out dross like the ZX, Xsara and the C3 Pluriel – possible 
the most ill-conceived car I’ve ever driven, BMW X6, Porsche Panamera 
and Dodge Nitro included. Fortunately someone at Saint-Ouen saw sense, 
and the recent crop of chevron-badged cars has certainly swung the 
design pendulum away from dull towards desirable.<br />
And like the Cactus and DS5,
 our C4 certainly is an interesting thing to look at. It’s distinctively
 ‘new’ Citroën, this car – it strikes the perfect balance between 
engaging quirkiness and family-friendly practicality. It’s curvy, 
challenging and unorthodox. The very opposite of the Alhambra, then, 
which looks like a box on wheels from all angles. The cavernous cabin is
 equally innovative – stacked screen, button-free centre console, 
receding hairline windscreen and not a straight line in sight. It’s so 
Frenchly chic, it even has its own perfume…<br />
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To the C4 we bolted our Thule roofbox and our superb new Thule 
Euroclassic bike rack. Mounted on the car’s towbar, this ingenious bit 
of engineering holds four bicycles in a rock-solid grip and comes with 
its own number plate and lightboard. But its cleverest feature enables 
you to tilt back the entire rack for access to the boot with bikes in 
place.<br />
Our trip got off to the best possible start – a relaxing cruise 
across a millpond Channel on Brittany Ferries’ 27,500 tonne 
Finnish-built ferry Normandie. They may be the briny equivalent of 
budget airliners, but the size and capacity of these ships always 
impresses. With 2000 people and 650 vehicles on board, the Normandie 
slipped us smoothly across to Caen in just over six hours.<br />
Unsurprisingly, the C4 Picasso felt very much at home in France. Its 
languid and laid-back character was perfectly attuned to our 
what’s-the-rush holiday attitude. It wafted us down to the west coast in
 style and comfort, while we enjoyed the panoramic visibility offered by
 the large glasshouse, the chunky iPod-fed sound system, the squidgy 
back-rub chairs and the decent pace of the refined and hushed diesel 
engine.<br />
But things weren’t all parfait from the driver’s seat. Body control 
was very relaxed, making the car feel pretty loose and baggy, while at 
the same time it constantly fidgeted and jittered over road 
imperfections. The steering is very light and devoid of feel, and the 
gearlever feels horribly disconnected from the actual physical process 
of moving and meshing cogs. I found having to repeatedly jab at the 
slow-witted touchscreen to change basic settings for the climate, audio 
and the like pretty frustrating. And I didn’t like the way it binged and
 bonged at me for the slightest driving infraction.<br />
Rather oddly, the C4’s rather impressive overall economy, given its 
Thule-laden status, was significantly better driving back to France than
 it was leaving England – 37.0mpg on the way out versus 43.7mpg on the 
return leg. This despite following roughly the same route at similar 
speeds.<br />
So, were just over 1000 miles enough to convince me that I’d opted 
for the better car? Oui. The big Picasso has plenty of character and is 
extraordinarily good to gaze at, but the flipside is that it’s very 
ordinary to drive.<br />
<hr />
<h2>
Month 6 running a Citroen C4 Picasso: premium or not too premium, that is the question</h2>
‘You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,’ sang Joni Mitchell. 
She’s right – I’m missing my big red family conveyance. While Ben 
Whitworth has been off with my C4 Picasso, avec bike rack, recreating 
the Tour de France – hopefully minus blood boosting and broken bones – 
I’ve been sampling a test-car pot pourri.<br />
While the C4’s interior tilts at being premium, it doesn’t beat the real thing. I’ve found that out driving the CLS wagon
 for a couple of nights; the ivory and cream leather makes the C4 feel 
puritan. Conversely, I found that the low-slung Merc’s drive suffers 
from too much lateral agitation. The Citroën is cosseting in comparison.<br />
I’ve also revisited my Lexus IS300h
 from a few months back; it’s reminded me that interior refinement isn’t
 the preserve of the Germans although, like the Citroën, it has an 
infuriating media interface. While the C4 is too minimal, the Lexus is 
ultra finicky.<br />
Our Pic even played support car on a recent Lamborghini shoot for CAR
 magazine (see below). I think it's best we don't compare these three 
cars, though. Chalk and cheese, and that...</div>

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso (2015)

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