Citroen were never among the top selling brands in Ireland when they only produced petrol and diesel cars. But I have a feeling their sales figure should improve this year after recently test driving their impressive looking new electric car, the e-C4.
My test car was the e-C4 X-Flair and it came in an attractive Elixir Red colour. The first two questions everybody asks me when I show them an electric car are, range and price. Well the range is a decent 350km and prices start at 41K.
Citroen has always made cars with a touch of French style and flair and the company has produced some classy looking cars, but somehow they never really took off in Ireland.
For a few decades Citroen were part of the Gowan group and based in Bluebell in Dublin. They broke away for a few years and were imported by the IM group, but now Citroen are back in the Gowan family, in their new headquarters in Citywest.
When you sit into the driver’s seat the first item you will notice is the pop-up screen in your line of vision which tells you the speed limit on the road/street you are driving on, plus your own speed. A great service, but the system seemed to question the 60km speed limits with a question mark coming up on screen.
I have gotten used to massive infotainment screens in some of the recent new cars I have tested. I described one as an oversized iPad. Well Citroen have gone for a small infotainment screen and it works perfectly. The seats are gorgeous and came in a very attractive grey chevron cloth with black leather effect seats and Emerald Green stitching. The interior décor is brightened with a cream roofline.
You get USB-C and USB-B charge points under the infotainment screen and your gear selection lever is located between the driver and front passenger. There are also mobile phone charge points available for the back seat passengers where there is room for three adults.
My test car came with 18-inch diamond-cut crosslight alloys with anti-theft locking wheel nuts and topped off with Michelin primacy tyres. I’m told that the car has a slight visual references to the classic Citroen GS from the seventies
It’s a really comfortable car to travel in and so easy to handle. When Citroen introduced their new Cactus a few years back they had airbumps on the doors to prevent scratches from other car users in tightly parked spaces. There is an indentation at the bottom of the front door and I’m told it’s called an airbump capsule.
The e-C4 was described to me by a man who has spent his lifetime in the motor trade as a “hatchback with a saloon boot”. That’s a fairly accurate description as the boot is massive. In the boot there is a ‘well’ to hold a spare wheel, but as is normal nowadays no spare is provided. So my advice if buying new is to haggle for a spare wheel if possible.
Prices starts at €41,55, while my test car with a few extra goodies will cost you €43,507. It will charge fairly rapidly once you find a quick charge point.
The name of the car might sound like a London postal district, but I think this e-C4 could be a saviour for Citroen in Ireland.
