Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi Review

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Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi
★★★★☆
3.9
64.0% of users recommend this
  • Performance

  • Practicality

  • Reliability

  • Value For Money

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czernuszka's review of Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi

“All things considered I would recommend the Citroen C4...”

★★★★☆

written by czernuszka on 08/06/2007

Good Points
This car is extremely practical in every sense with a great interior and a well thought out passenger design. I loaded mine up with 4 adults and 1 teenager and two small children and everyone was extremely comfortable. The rear seats fold down independent of each other and there is also a rear sliding shelf to protect valuables stored in the boot during "Works Car" mode. But even in family mode the sliding cover adapts to cover the small area immediately behind the rear of row 3 seats and can just house a stroller for the small one. The rear seats (Row 3) are non adjustable but are extremely comfortable. Anyone up to the age of 14 could sit in the row 3 seats with comfort, but for adults it is a big no-no. The 2.0 HDi engine once run in really does pack a kick to it and with a combination of the EGS in manual mode you will leave most vehicles in a cloud of dust as your gear change helps gain a 2-3 second advantage over everyone else. The wiper blades are well though out even though there is no rain sensor on this model Citroen have added intelligence to the ECU to make the wiper blade speed dependent on the vehicle speed which means it is faster on the motorways and slows down on suburban roads etc. It does come with a lighting function which you manually press to assist with finding the car and guiding you home or alternatively you can pull on the lighting column once after the engine is off and the lights will stay on for 30 seconds. There are 3 accessory sockets two at the front which are switched with the ignition and one in the rear which is constantly live, ideal for when you have a big rechargeable torch. The middle row seats slide forwards and you also have a recline mode which is very comfortable. The sun blinds on row 2 are very useful and the way they integrate with the door is very good. You can customise buttons on the steering wheel to do certain functions, I have one set to turn all the interior lights on or off, which is very useful. Driving the car is very pleasant if you can live with the foot rest which is a problem for me (See bad points).
Another good feature of this car is that if it is raining and you engage reverse car it will automatically wipe the rear glass automatically for you if you already have the front wipers active. This continues for a few moments even after you turn the ignition off which again is a good safety feature of the car.

Bad Points
Firstly, the EGS (Electronic Gearbox System), this is as much a curse as a blessing. When you have this system as part of the car there is no clutch pedal and it is replaced by a foot rest that is level with all the other pedals. Now I am a very experienced driver and have had more than 4 company cars and driven over 500,000 miles in my life. When i have driven automatics before, Vauxhall, Skoda etc they have always placed the foot rest right at the back of the foot well so you can stretch out your left leg comfortably. But in this Citroen it is level with the pedals so it kind of feels like you are sitting on one of those plastic school chairs and the only way you can stretch out is to tuck your foot behind the brake pedal (Very Dangerous). Yet my wife drives this car and has no problem with the foot rest so the advice here is make sure you drive one before you order/buy to see if you can get comfy. The next bug bear about the EGS is that although Citroen say it is "Semi Automatic" it does have an Auto option which does the gears for you. This is extremely clunky and by that I mean you neck gets thrusted forward every time this thing changes gear. The only way to cope is to predict when it is about to change and take your foot off the gas and the change is then smooth, although this is not very easy when driving above second gear. Also it will always try and change up as high as it can to conserve fuel, so you could be happy in a 30 zone in 4th gear and the car will then clunk and change up to 5th and then 6th. This is very irritating and cannot be adjusted. So I use the manual option, which is a lot better as you control the gearing in the upwards direction but the car gears down for you automatically. So what's wrong with this I hear you ask, well picture this. You are on the M6 and in a stop start traffic jam, so like most people you coast along in 2nd gear, except, the EGS decides because you are below 2000RPM it will switch into first gear and then you get that horrible clunk and hence the saying "First gear is used to move the car, not when the car is still moving" and you feel like a learner driver again through no fault of your own. To be honest I wish I had a manual but Citroen will not do one in the 2.0Hdi 138BHP engine on any spec. So that is the EGS taken care of now lets turn to the flip key. Similar to the VW where you press a button on a rectangle shaped key and put it in the ignition and start the problem with the Citroen key, believe it or not, is you can only use it one way. With the buttons facing towards the roof of the car it works a treat. But use it the other way, funny enough with the Citroen emblem pointing to the roof and the key flips back down making it impossible to start the vehicle. How stupid have Citroen been here, use a VW key and it locks solid and can go in any way. I have had to keep taking it out of the ignition and putting it the right way countless times until I became wise to the fact.

General Comments
All things considered I would recommend the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso as long as you drive it first!



Family wise it is the most functional and family friendly car I have ever used. There is plenty of room inside and masses of storage space. You simply cannot fault it for the family. One thing though, i would suggest that you have rear and front parking sensors fitted to this vehicle, as you cannot see the end of the bonnet on this car and it is very difficult to judge distance at the rear because you are so high up. One thing to point out on this car though, for all us old fashioned drivers is that it does not have a temperature gauge. The ventilation system in this car is very good but please be aware that the rear passengers do not have any vents on this model. You need to have the exclusive to have this feature, which is quite poor considering it is designed to have multiple passengers.

  • 2007

    Year Manufactured

  • 1 month

    Length of ownership

  • 5

    Doors

  • Performance

  • Practicality

  • Reliability

  • Value For Money

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Queensmessenger's Response to czernuszka's Review

Written on: 01/04/2010

I found this review very helpful because...It confirmed my decision to go for the 1.6hdi manual box and avoid EGS problems

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Prigg's Response to czernuszka's Review

Written on: 04/07/2014

Very good review which I am in total agreement with. Thought that there may be a fault with my Exclusive (EGS) gearbox, as it is clunky and requires careful handling to enable it to make a smooth gear change without a slight'clunk' (particularly when travelling downhill). It would appear that this is the nature of the beast!
It's good to read other owners experiences- it' certainly put my mind at rest

Thank you

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