citroen c2 1.1 lx review

Picture courtesy of Jimbobeats.

Average Ratings

Performance	6.6/10
Practicality	7.4/10
Reliability	7.9/10
Value for Money	7.3/10
Reviewer Rating	7.5/10
Overall Rating	7.2/10

63% Recommended5 out of 8 Reviews

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By mark1961 on 21st Jan 2005

mark1961's Ratings

Year Manufactured	2004
Length of ownership	4 Months
Performance	7/10
Practicality	7/10
Reliability	10/10
Value for money	8/10
Overall value	8/10
mark1961's recommendation

Good Points

Small easy to park.

Bad Points

If you want storage the car is only a 2 seater, as the rear 2 seats need to fold down.

General Comments

Citroen C2 1.1LX City Car

REASON FOR BUYING THIS CAR

For many a long year we as a family have had one car (At the minute a Toyota Avensis Verso - See review). This was proving to be somewhat of a burden to myself as I did all the driving with the children and my wife. My wife works in a town 7 miles from our home and I work in a town 6 miles in the opposite direction to my wife. In the morning I took my wife into work, as the public transport was unsatisfactory, then I backtracked and dropped the children off at school in our home town and then went to my own work. As a result my 6 miles journey to work became a 20 mile journey and I had to leave for work 25 minutes earlier than I could have. This is one of the reasons why we considered a second car. Another reason and probably the main one was that the children who are 7, 10 and 13 needed to be transported to different venues and it was becoming more and more difficult to arrange this. As all parents know their children have a better social life then most parents.

The finances were worked out (the cost of transporting my wife to her work, the cost of the public transport to bring her home again), the extra hassle of arranging lifts to and from the various locations for the children were all taken into consideration before the decision was taken to buy another car. In total we estimated that it would cost us about £80 per month extra to have the second car, we thought long and hard over the decision to spend that extra money and in the end we decider it was worth it.

After a long and exhausting search of a lot of showrooms, the choice was made to buy a Citroen C2.


THE CAR

The C2 1.1 LX petrol version was bought in black, which I paid £7100 for. The LX version was chosen as the base model (L) did not have a CD player and had wind up windows, for an extra £300 my wife wanted the LX model which has a CD player, electric windows, remote locking and different alloy wheels. The controls for the electric windows are on the middle part of the steering column meaning that I have to lean forward to operate them, which proves to be more difficult than it sounds as you physically have to look for the controls. The extra bit of comfort and security the LX offers, we both felt was worth the extra cost.


The car is a 3-door hatchback. The front 2 doors open to reveal a surprising large passenger space. The boot door is split into two; the top part goes up giving plenty of headroom the bottom part folds down and includes a concealed compartment. This fold down part forms a shelf, which can be used to assist in the loading of the bags etc into the book. Having said that there is a boot, if there are 4 shopping bags in the space, it is full!!


THE INTERNAL SPACE

The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of headroom inside. I am not a tall person but going from a people carrier to a small car I was surprised at the amount of room there was. On my journeys through the showrooms, one thing I noticed about a lot of small cars was the lack of headroom. The Citroen was a car which I did not hit my head on the frame as a when I sit down on the driver seat.

The driver's seat and front passengers seat can be moved forward to accommodate people with longer legs. I am 5ft 8inches, and the driving position for me is the seat in middle, which I find very comfortable. Both of these seats can recline and include headrests and side impact airbags. The rear 2 seats can recline and move forward and back, the best position to keep them in when passengers are on board is as far back as can. If the front two seats are well back there is very little room, just enough to put our 2 boys in (aged 7 and 10), the 13 year old is at a stage where his legs are too long for the small space in the back, and complains bitterly if he has to sit there. We have never had adults in the back, but it would be tight for space and probably uncomfortable on a long journey, short journeys would be fine.


THE SEATING ARRANGEMENT

The C2 has only 4 seats two in the front and two in the back, so it is only designed for 4 people, unlike other cars of similar size, which try to fit 5 people in. Each seat is an individual one dedicated to only holding one person.
The rear two seats when accessing from the boot can move forward, to give a larger storage space, they can tilt up to give a decent size space for storing luggage, this has the disadvantage of limiting the car to a two seater. With the slick lines on the car this may appeal to the trendy boys.


THE DASH AND STEERING COLUMN

This has all the usual instruments, speed indicator, rev counter, temperature gauge, fuel level indicator, warning lights, noise indicator if the door is left open or the handbrake is on when driving. All the heating controls are at a below the radio, along with the heated rear window button and air circulation control.

On the passenger's side of the dash are two storage compartments; one is classed as a glove compartment, the other housed all the documentation for the car, in this one the fuse unit is housed, thus cutting down on the storage space. Both of these compartments are very small a just about hold 2 CD boxes. Passenger airbags are in the dash. One of the main features on the dash are the 4 circular vents, which are light grey and complement the black surrounding of the rest of the dash.

The radio is positioned to the left of the dash and has a single CD player; all the controls are on the radio itself as well as on levers on the steering column. Above the radio there is a display showing the radio station, the track number of the CD being played and the volume level, all of these are at a handy level to see.

In the centre of the steering column is a driver's airbag and to each side the indicators, the controls for the lights and controls for the radio.

The speed is indicated using a digital display and look fantastic in black with an orange background. There is also an onboard computer showing the number of miles completed, the number of miles completed on the current tank of fuel, the number of miles indicated before the fuel runs out, the average mpg, the average mpg at current speed and the number of miles before the next service is required.

To the right of the dash there is a fuel level indicator showing 6 lights for full, when there is only one light lit, there is approx 50 miles left to travel before the fuel runs out. A noise indicator gives a beep to indicate there is 1 gallon of fuel left in the tank. The steering wheel is not adjustable and the wing mirrors are not electric, this is very annoying as I have to rely on a passenger to adjust them for me, the mirrors have no means of clearing themselves and you just have to put the window down to clear them. The next level of spec on this car has these features.


THE DRIVE

When driving this car one has to remember that it was designed as a city car and not for high-speed acceleration or a high top speed. When the engine starts the first thing you notice is that the engine is very quiet, as the cabin is well insulated from engine noise. As you move off and reach 7 mph the doors automatic lock (this can be switched off if you are not happy driving with locked door), the reason for this, and one I think is excellent is to stop people getting into the car a junction and robbing the driver. The acceleration is very slow and the clutch is very long and takes some time to get used to. As you approach 5 gear you can hit a maximum speed of 68mph (I have not pushed the car passed that speed). At that speed I feel relatively safe, but would not like to be involved in an accident. There is very little acceleration to overtake and when going up hill in 5th gear I need to change to 4th gear to keep up the momentum. This is very frustrating!!

To me the drive is disappointing, but maybe I am expecting too much from the car. In the city the drive would be perfect as the car is relatively nippy at lower speeds, it is small in length and is easily parked.

The driver seat is very comfortable and is similar to a bucket seat in a more expensive sports car, it is of course an orthopaedic seat giving comfort to those with back problems.


RUNNING COSTS

The car is a group 2 for insurance, it has a 1.1L engine so the tax is at the lower level and the fuel consumption is in the region of 40mpg.

SERVICE ADVICE

Service intervals are 20,000 miles. YES I will say it again 20,000 miles between services. The 20,000-mile service is about £150. This is very cheep running costs.


OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

As a second car this is perfect, as a car for a boy racer, it is not so good. The things I like about the car are the size, the shape, the design of the storage space in the back, the dash, the fuel economy and the driving position. Things I do not like are the top end speed and the acceleration at the beginning of the journey.

I would certainly recommend this as a second car or as a car for a younger driver who wants to get onto the ladder of insurance.

As with all makes of cars there is a selection of cars within the range. Below is a link to a site giving a full specification on all the care. I thought I would include this as a useful link.

http://www.citroen.co.uk/level3/modelpage.asp?pagetype=c2

Hope you enjoy this read. MARK1961

Total Respect: -1