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THE POCKET ROCKET
Page 46
Page 48
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Citroen's latest little van combines style, speed and thrift — at a bargain price. CM does some babysitting.
Sometimes you're given a vehicle to test that you just know you're going to get on with.And Citroen's C2 Enterprise van — the commercial version of its C2 — is just that vehicle. If the car has enough attitude for legions of boy racers, then surely its van model is going to be equally zippy, stylish and fun?
But few van buyers would choose a vehicle solely on its ability to doughnut impressively round local supermarket car parks in the early hours of the morning, or for its sound system. So if your needs are slightly more mainstream, what exactly does the C2 offer?
For starters, you'll be part of a rather exclusive band; the C2 Enterprise has only been on sale in the UK since February this year, but expect to see more of them on the road: Citroen has pitched this as a "chic city van" and is clearly after a market that wants good looks as well as performance.
It adds, helpfully, that it's aimed at anyone who wants to "avoid owning a traditional van because of its looks", and says the C2 means they now have a "viable alternative". But it is worth remembering that the C2 is in a very competitive sector, with the Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 206 leading the pack — and neither of those are that different from their parent cars.
There are two things setting the C2 apart from its rivals.The first is that the rear panels are still glazed, but covered with opaque film, which does maintain more of its car-type looks, or perhaps a bit of drug dealer mystique....
The second and crucial difference is that it's much cheaper. In fact, at £7,495 it is more than £1,000 cheaper than the Ford Fiesta van and £855 less than the Peugeot 206, despite the fact they all share the same 1.4HD1 engine. And just because it is cheaper, it doesn't mean that Citroen has skimped on the C2 —it offers more standard equipment than many of its rivals. It has good security features, including remote control central locking, and automatic door locking once the vehicle is in motion.
It also has an RDS stereo radio/CD player and trip computer. And if you're after top safety features, the C2 has four NCAP stars.While the braking system is also pretty high spec, with ABS, electronic brake force distribution (EBD) and emergency brake assist (EBA) as standard.
Productivity
If it's load-bearing ability you are after (which admittedly would be rather a surprise in this sector of the market), this is the one area the C2 is overtaken by all its competitors. Its payload — including the driver — is only 331kg, compared with the Fiesta's range-topping 558kg.The 206 can carry 526kg and Punto 510kg, so the C2 does trail in this respect. However. Citroen should be commended, rather than condemned, for sticking with a payload the C2 feels comfortable with, rather than loading it to the absolute limit to keep up with its peers.
Loading it isn't perhaps as easy as some of its competitors, with the unusual split tailgate giving an added obstacle to load things across. It does provide a shelf to rest things on, with a maximum load of 100kg.Four anchorage points and a low-level load restraint and full height mesh bulkhead keep loads secure.
Our experience with the C2 would suggest there's little need to know where the fuel stations are round your delivery route. We were keen to see how it would perform against its rivals, especially the 206 and Fiesta — and unladen, it outperformed all of them.returning 65.2mpg round out Kent route:That's more than lmpg better than the car-derived vans we've chosen for the comparison, and a good result for the Citroen.
Such a good result meant we had high hopes for the laden run, particularly as we were carrying less weight than the other vans. And while we did manage to beat the 206 and Fiesta, the Punto, with its 1.3 Multijet engine beat the Citroen by 1.7mpg.The C2's laden fuel consumption of 59.7mpg was 1.7mpg better than the Fiesta and 2.7mpg better than the 206.11 was a good result for the Citroen, but the high winds and driving snow on the test day did more than a little harm to fuel economy figures. In fair weather, we'd expect to beat everything.
On the road
For daytime town deliveries you need something that's easy to drive, responsive and nippy. The C2, in a nutshell.
It is a well mannered and enthusiastic van, even when fully laden.The steering is crisp and precise, while the gearshift is light and smooth throughout the five gears and reverse.The pedals are light and easy too— particularly the clutch, an important factor for city drivers.
Going up through the gears, the C2 is a willing workhorse, with plenty of flexibility in the torque range. Having less payload than its peers pays off in this respect —it seems less likely to "run out of puff" in each gear. It did, however, take longer to respond to the accelerator when fully laden, but once at 2,000rpm or so, it was soon off. On the motorway, it sat happily at 70mph at about 2.500rpm.
It also sits on the road very well,giving a smooth and responsive ride. Cornering at speed is no problem, with a good chassis set-up and low centre of gravity allowing it to bundle on.With a turning circle of only 9.6m, kerb-tokerb. it also turns on a sixpence.
The C2's brakes are really efficient, bringing us to a safe stop even when cornering at speed on the steering pad at the test track. The only time we felt faintly uncomfortable in the C2 was in high winds on the motorway section of our test. Gusts of wind do tend to betray the light build.
Our main gripe with this van on the road isn't to do with ride or handling— it's rather more basic than that.The indicator switch doesn't have a strong enough "centre point", meaning it is far too easy to switch off the right indicator but accidentally start indicating to the left, or vice versa.
And if you are relying on the horn to warn people of your presence, don't be surprised if they just laugh. It certainly has a small van sound — tinny and thin, and not what we'd expect.And it's also quite difficult to actually use the horn — you need quite a lot of force to produce any sound at all.
Cab comfort
There's a lot of black plastic in the C2 — matt and textured, but still plastic. It's helped by a stylish dashboard display that's really clear — you can't fail to notice your speed.
The trip computer is easy to use and clear. It's operated using the right hand stalk, and gives average mph, average and instant mpg, distance to the next fill and the next service. Storage has been well thought-out, and there is plenty of it.
The seats are perhaps the one let-down in the cabin;though they are rake and reach adjust able and fairly comfortable, we couldn't adjust them to really suit. We also found that the head restraints were some way from our heads, which doesn't bode well for accidents. •