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CAP Blog > CAP Blog > Martin's Blog
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Dec
9
Written by:
Martin Ward
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
 This all new C3 goes on sale in the UK in mid January and is bound to appeal to those who want a very fashionable, stylish five door supermini. The new C3 on first sight does look like the old model but when you park the two side by side, you can easily see that the new one is much different and so much more pleasing to look at. Citroen has taken a classic shaped car that was already unique and made it better. The curved roofline remains but somehow they have tidied up the whole car’s exterior design.
 The interior has also vast improved in comparison to the original C3 with quality, fit and finish now as good as the best of the rest; credit where credit is due to Citroen. The seats are comfortable and the leather trim in our test car was excellent. This leather would typically be found in a more premium car and costs an additional £375 if ordered as an option, but it does represent good value.
The car we had was powered by a 1.6 litre 16V petrol engine, producing 120hp. It goes from 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds, has a top speed of 118mph and CO2 emissions of 136g/km. It was very quiet and refined and we achieved very close to the official combined fuel consumption figure of 47.9 mpg.
The new C3 certainly drives a lot better than the current car as it feels much more solid and handles superbly; you can tell instinctively that the new car has undergone numerous improvements under the skin.
 The C3 was painted in ‘Botticelli blue’ or as someone called it, ‘duck egg blue’, but the colour did suit the car and made it stand out in a car park. All new Citroen C3 models have a panoramic zenith windscreen as standard (except VT models). This is an extended piece of glass that stretches from the bonnet right up into the middle of the roof. This glass measures a total of 1350mm in comparison to 990mm on an average five door hatchback, so you receive an increase of around 36% more windscreen on the new C3. It does allow plenty of light in for all occupants and in the front it feels as though you are sat inside a goldfish bowl.
The price of the car we tested was £14,590, and when you add the leather trim, it takes it up to almost £15,000 on the road. This is not exactly cheap and a far cry from the cheap and cheerful days of Citroen, as the stack ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap method seems to be history.
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