Citroen C4 review

The C4 fundamentally drives exactly as you expect it will. There are no particular surprises here – it’s more refined than Citroens were in the firm’s cheap ‘n’ cheerful era of discounts and fleet sales, which is nice. It offers a comfortable, composed ride that holds things together as long as you don’t try and get a bit greedy for speed. Then it all starts to get a bit wobbly and flustered. 

But is it actually comfortable?

It’s easy to get cynical about the marketing and PR efforts of carmakers, who try to convince us that theirs is the best on the market. But the C4 actually manages to be (almost) as comfortable as the French manufacturer would have us believe. 

The wide, flat seats are decently cosseting (it’s like being on the Eurostar) and the suspension smothers obstacles like speed bumps with aplomb. Some of the niggly little ripples and cracks seem to sneak through, but you’d have to be in something £100,000 pricier to deal adequately with the terrible roads we have in the UK.

What if you were really in a rush?

The C4 starts to fall apart in a hurry – put the car into Sport mode and suddenly you’re left with a loud revvy mess, the auto box clinging onto gears like it’ll never get them back. The ride starts to degenerate into heave and roll until you dial things back again and go for the sedate option. 

What are the engine options?

In the ICE version of the C4 you get the choice of a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol in two states of tune, or a 1.5-litre diesel. The 99bhp/151lb ft petrol is only available in the entry spec and does 0–62mph in 10.8secs, while the main act is the 129bhp/170lb ft version of the motor with an 8.9secs 0–62mph time (0.5secs slower with the auto box). The diesel motor has the same power output as the beefier petrol, but offers 221 lb ft of torque and takes 9.5secs to get to 62mph.