Citroen

 

Andre Citroen was born in Paris on the 5th of February 1878, the fifth child of a middle class prosperous Jewish family. After studying Engineering, and serving four years in the army, in 1904 Citroen filed a patent for the double helical chevron gear to be made by his company, a small gear cutting business called ‘Engrenages Citroen’, The logo for this company featured two double helical ‘chevrons’ (which survives to this day). The Great War halted progress and his factory was recommissioned and in its pomp was turning out 35,000 shells a day for the French Artillery. Following the end of the war the Quay de Javel factory was converted to automobile manufacture and a new name came into existence, ‘S.A. Andre Citroen’. The Type A was put into production on the 28th of May 1919, orders for 16,000 cars were reported as having been received within a fortnight backed by the introduction of  1,000 Citroen dealers throughout France.

Fast-forwarding into the 1930s, the meteoric rise of Andre Citroen and the Citroen car company was dramatically slowed down by the depression. Despite many successful intervening models and the development of the front wheel drive ‘Traction Avant’ concept, Citroen’s finances had become overstretched, not helped by the fact that being a very heavy gambler he was losing enormous personal and apparently company funds. The company was eventually not able to pay its bills and one of his biggest creditors and a friend Edouard Michelin was invited to take over the running of the company. Andre Citroen was legally required to retire and to take no further part in the running of the company. Although still a relatively young man at 57 Citroen did not take well to retirement and became very dispirited. His health declined rapidly and he died on the 3rd of July, 1935.

 

 

Citroen C3  

The Citroen C3 is a cross between a DS3 and a C4 Cactus, complete with ‘airbumps’ and is an attempt to make the C3 more fashionable. There are options of individual personalisation for the roof, light surrounds mirrors, and dashboard. Power comes from a small three cylinder petrol engine and a 100bhp Diesel. The Citroen C3 starts at £Nil advance payment, Auto cars are paired to the 110 variant and start at £Nil AP in C-Series trim, we would go for the Shine Plus trim at £95 Advance Payment for either the Manual or Automatic 110hp version. Diesel cars are manual only and the sole offering is the top Shine Plus trim at £595 AP.

 

 

Citroen C3 Aircross  

The C3 Aircross is the replacement for the C3 Picasso and offers a more fun and desirable exterior design to take on rival compact SUVs, including the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur. The Aircross is 20cm longer and 20cm higher than the standard Citroen C3, with a 410 litre boot extendable to 520 litres by sliding the rear seats forward. The front seats are extremely comfortable, Citroen pride themselves on making comfortable cars, the padded front seats are indeed very supportive. Rear room is good, the doors open fairly wide making for good access. The Citroen C3 Aircross starts at £395 Advance Payment for the 110bhp Manual petrol in Shine trim, Auto cars are paired to the 130 petrol variant and start at £495 AP in Shine trim. The 1.5 litre 108bhp Diesel cars are manual only and start at £1095 in Shine trim.

 

 

Citroen C4  

The new for 2021 Citroen C4 and fully electric ë-C4 is available to order as a Motability vehicle. The C-Segment hatchback offers a 380 litre boot, the same size as the class leading Volkswagen Golf and five litres up on the Ford Focus. The C4 is slightly higher-riding and larger than the C4 Cactus it replaces, the C4 stands 436cm long, 180cm wide and 152.5cm high which is 19cm longer, 9cm wider and 4.5cm taller that the outgoing C4 Cactus. Thankfully carried over from the very comfortable Cactus are the Advanced Comfort seats and Progressive Hydraulic Cushion suspension, which uses two hydraulic stops to smooth out the ride. Prices are realistic Q2 prices start at £295 Advance Payment for the 1.2 petrol manual in Sense Plus trim and £995 as an automatic, the Electric car is in Shine Plus only at £1995 Advance Payment

 

 

Citroen E: C4X

Saloon version of the C4, sporting an ‘old skool’ boot, one with quite a small opening yet increases the load carrying space to 510 litres from 380 litres in the C4 hatch. The 50kWh battery is paired to a 100kW motor so the C4x is not a sports car, 0-62 in 10 seconds and top speed is 93 miles per hour. WLTP range is 221 miles which will dip in cold weather or faster driving speeds. Fast charging is 100kW so to go from 10-80% charge can take as little as 26 minutes, from empty to full from the standard onboard 7.4kW charger paired to a 7.4kW wallbox will take 7 hours 30 minutes. Only the top trim Shine Plus is on the Scheme priced at £3249 Advance Payment.

 

 

Citroen C5 Aircross  

The C5 Aircross is built on the same platform as the Peugeot 3008/5008, Vauxhall Grandland X, DS 7 and even the new Peugeot Rifter and Citroen Berlingo but it has a look and feel all its own, it is taller than all the competition and has Progressive Hydraulic Cushions which flatten out the bumps in the road so if you are able to get in (it’s 4cm higher than the DS7) then the ride should be to your liking. The boot is an excellent 580 litres in size or up to 720 litres with the second-row seats pushed forward, these also slide and recline individually but have isofix points on the outer two only. The manual Petrol car start at £1995 Advance Payment in Shine trim and Automatics at £2195 in C-Series trim. the sole Diesel offering is the Automatic in C-Series trim at £2195 Advance Payment.

 

 

Citroen Berlingo  

The new Citroen Berlingo retains the styling of the old car but the Peugeot 5008 shared platform increases the length and width  (the roofline is a little lower but you can’t tell) meaning there is even more room for five or even seven passengers. The boot has increased by 100 litres to a whopping 775 litres, still with no load lip.  The ‘M’ Berlingo is joined by an XL car that is 35cm longer and offers seven seats. The Berlingo offers a commanding driving position and more thrills than you would expect, sliding rear doors are the perfect way to enter and leave.  From the 1st January 2022 only the Automatic gearbox E-Berlingo is available on the Scheme, the 50kWh battery offers a claimed range of 174 miles.  Rapid charging from 0-80% takes 25 minutes, charging from a 7kW point takes 7 hours from 0-100% and a domestic 3 pin plug takes 17 hours. Only one Berlingo is on offer for Q2 2023, the 5 seat Medium sized Flair XTR (top trim) at £3495 Advance Payment.

 

 

Citroen C5X

The new model, which occupies a strange place in the market as it’s a blend of saloon, crossover and estate bodystyles, sees Citroen return to the large car segment after a seven-year absence. Citroen says the C5X incorporates design elements from past Citroens like the iconic DS and CX, while promising ‘unrivalled’ comfort thanks to its newly developed seats and clever suspension.It’s also more spacious than a typical saloon, with more legroom and a large 545-litre boot, increasing to 1,640 litres once the rear seats are folded. The engine is a turbocharged petrol with 128bhp 1.2-litre paired to an eight-speed automatic gearbox. The Sense Plus model opens the range. Standard kit is generous, including 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a reversing camera and a 10-inch touchscreen with 3D satellite navigation. Mid-range Shine models include a larger 12-inch touchscreen, a head-up display, LED interior lighting and a heated steering wheel. At the top of the range, the Shine Plus model brings black leather upholstery, electric and heated front seats, an electric boot and 360-degree camera system. the only C5X on the Scheme at Q2 2023 is the Sense Plus 1.2 petrol Automatic priced at £2995 Advance Payment.

 

 

Space Tourer

The large people carrier, only the 9 seat version is on the Scheme, is only available as an electric vehicle, the small 50kWh battery in such a large vehicle means the range is very limited, officially 135 miles, but this will drop considerably in the colder weather or for faster driving. The sole trim is ‘Business Edition’ but don’t be fooled by the title, this is the entry level trim and is very sparse. If you need to transport a large group and you only do short runs and have the ability to charge off road, then this just pips the Vauxhall Vivaro Life in the battle of basic 9 seaters.  Priced at £7295 Advance Payment