Having worked for car dealerships for the last 7 or so years and being very much a “car girl” I jumped at the chance to test drive a mini MPV family car. Well ok I didn’t quite jump at the chance, I would have much preferred to drive an Aston Martin DB9 but anyway . . . .
Last week myself, a good friend and our daughters had a day trip to London Zoo so I asked if could borrow a car to get us there in comfort. We were given the Citroen C3 Picasso. Looks wise I couldn’t make up my mind if I thought this was “cool” car or not and decided its actually quite “funky”.
The car was really comfortable to drive and gave you a very “upright” driving position with good visibility of the road. It felt very sturdy and handled very well because of its low centre of gravity. Thanks to its outwardly compact nature I was able to manoeuvre it well when I took a wrong turning and needed to double back on myself!! You can’t see very well on this picture but the windscreen kind of wrapped around the front of the car so it was almost like being in a fish bowl there was so much glass. The car felt very light and airy. The back seats were spacious enough for the two child seats and they sat up nice and high so the girl’s could have a view out of the window instead of staring at the inside of the door.
The boot comfortably carried 2 pushchairs (a Britax Verve and a City Mini Jogger) with plenty of space left for changing bags, coats, toys and shopping! Storage-wise there are lots of handy compartments for storing your personal belongings and the boot has two floor levels to increase capacity if necessary.
The biggy for me was an interior pull down rear view mirror which enabled me to clearly see both girls in the back seat
The Citroen C3 Picasso comes in two petrol and two diesel engines. I drove the 1.6HDi which was more than capable for motorway driving.
You’ll be pleased to know that the Citroen C3 Picasso is one of the safest cars in its class with up to 6 airbags, ABS, optional Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) and a 4 star Euro NCAP rating.
Prices start from £11,795 OTR.
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