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mrdelmonti
1,226 posts
50 months
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JayTee94
Original Poster
10,974 posts
26 months
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That is very cool - I really need it now.  I also spotted this which is also cool. 
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C2james
4,093 posts
34 months
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I really want that C1 turbo.
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harveybobbles
116 posts
10 months
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Apologies for bumping a week old thread, but I've just had a short test drive in a 2012 C1 VTR+ today and have a 24 hour test drive booked for a couple of weeks time. I thought it'd be useful to note my findings.
I'm used to much larger, more powerful and older cars. I was expecting the C1 to be good fun; I was hoping for a bit of a giggle, but I was also expecting it to be tinny, cramped, noisy, uncomfortable and out of depth outside of it's city stomping ground.
Firstly, it is not uncomfortable at all. Granted, I only covered 20 miles or so today and the proof will be in the pudding with a 130 mile drive during my 24 hour test, but I was very impressed. I'm a skinny chap, and the seats were plenty comfortable for my frame, albeit a bit firm. Lateral support was fine. I reckon for 50-100 mile drives the seats would not prove an issue, but I think trying to cross continents would probably be a bit wearing.
I was surprised that it does not feel cramped inside at all. I had the saleswoman with me, and two up it felt quite roomy up front, probably at the expense of rear legroom. I'm told you can fit four adults comfortably, but I suspect it would make quite some difference to the performance of the car and I'd not want to do it if at all possible.
It did not feel tinny, although it was clearly built to a price. A lot of the plastics are a little flimsy but the main controls you touch had a nice feel; the VTR+ had a leather steering wheel and gear knob which felt quite nice and chunky to hold.
When starting up, you can feel the little engine thrum and there is a slight vibration through the car which is exacerbated when using the AC. However, the engine itself is virtually silent at idle; you'd have to strain to hear it from inside the cabin. Moving off, and the engine makes itself quite known; it isn't noisy per se, but it isn't exactly refined. However, this is one of the best things about the car: the engine note! it sounds like half a Porsche flat-6. I'm not kidding, it is a really addictive noise and a delight to (attempt to) press on!
It gets up to 50mph fairly smartly but from then on up it's a little breathless as you might expect in a 1-litre car. Maintaining 70mph on the dual carriageway required 4th for an uphill stretch and whilst it isn't excessive, there is quite a degree of wind, engine and road noise inside the car at this speed. Not enough to hamper conversation, but I'm not sure if it would get annoying after a while. I'll let you know once I've had the car for the 24 hour drive.
All in all, an excellent and simple little car which is brilliant fun to drive and cheap to buy. It should be pretty cheap to own too, with 66mpg average, zero rated for road tax and fixed price servicing. I haven't yet talked numbers with my dealership, but the deal I have on the table direct from Citroen is £1000 down followed by 23 x £78.99 lease payments on a straight lease with no option to buy.
I'll let you know what my dealership come up with once we have crunched the numbers.
Very impressed.
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harveybobbles
116 posts
10 months
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Going to add to this as I've just done 180 miles in a C1 including some spirited blasts (well, as spirited as 68bhp can get), 120 miles of motorway and some frantic city driving. Hopefully it might come in useful for someone, someday, sometime. MotorwayNot as noisy as you might expect; certainly not from the engine. In fact, you can only really hear the road noise and this is due to the complete lack of any sound insulation in the car. The engine is very quiet at motorway speeds: 5th gear equates to 2,500rpm at 60mph and 3,000rpm at 70mph. Acceleration above 60mph is glacial and 4th is needed occasionally on hilly sections and/or accelerating to pass slower traffic. The seats were plenty comfortable for 50-60 mile jaunts. I think I could quite easily do a couple of hundred miles at a time in it without too much worry. That said, I couldn't do that level of mileage daily due to the amount of road noise which would become wearisome over time. The stereo is a bit crap, but does play music well enough to mask the road noise to some extent. I'm told the 2012 stereo is a bit better (Pioneer unit?) B road blastingOoh - good fun! The engine really needs to be revved and kept above 4,000 rpm to make any kind of progress. This is not difficult though, as the sound of the little three-pot engine is quite addictive  and even keeping it 'on song' doesn't exactly result in huge speeds. Indeed, throughout 30 miles of [sensible] hoonage my GPS recorded the maximum speed achieved as 54mph. Handling is very good but the suspension is quite firm so potholes can be slightly jarring. You can easily chirrup the tyres from junctions which coupled with the engine noise made my inner hooligan smile. City drivingGreat; very sprightly from 0-30mph. Light steering and can be turned on a sixpence. You can practically reach the four corners of the car from the drivers seat, so parking is a doddle. Firm suspension means you do notice all but the smoothest of road repairs, drains, potholes etc. Still very impressed by the C1. I am going to try a new shape Ka and the VW up! before I make my final decision. I managed to achieve 68mpg over 180 miles despite the mini-hoonage. Impressive.
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jgs1987
27 posts
18 months
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I had a C1 for around 18 months. After coming from a 1.4 I wasn't expecting much in the way of power but I was pleasantly surprised.
With being so light and small it handles brilliantly, a friend once following in his Audi TT said it was unbelievable how quick it got through roundabouts etc.
Like mrdelmonti, my only gripe was the seats, no side support at all.
I also found that the narrow front tyres felt they were 'folding' when you pushed it in a corner, but I fitted some lower profile 195's to the front and that problem disappeared with great effect :-D
Economy isn't bad if you take it easy, but you do need to work the engine to get the best from it, and because it's fun in the corners you find yourself doing this, so your MPG suffers, worth it though!
The only problem I had with mine was the boot seal started to leak, but one call to Citroen and it was booked in and fixed under warranty. I doubt you will see many mechanical problems as these cars are effectively Toyota underneath (the air filter has the Toyota logo on) and the engine and gearbox I believe is Toyota too (so a Toyota salesman told me anyway.)
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harveybobbles
116 posts
10 months
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Well, seeing as this thread has been bumped I thought I would continue my previous ramblings.
Since the brief test drive in July and a 24 hour test in August, I decided to place an order for a VTR+. This has a few options over the VTR and only worked out a tenner more per month. For this I get a slightly improved interior (including nice leather steering wheel and gear knob), better stereo with A2DP Bluetooth so I can stream from my 'phone, rear privacy glass, dinky alloys (with better Conti tyres!) and a few other probably pointless frills.
I opted for a Contract Hire lease deal, i.e. the car is returned to Citroen after two years and at no point do I own or have the option to own the vehicle, which suits me just fine. All costs included, the new C1 should cost me no more than a 10 year old TDCi Fiesta Mk6 to own over the two years.
I've now had the car 3 months and just over 1,000 miles and am very pleased with it. Most of my journeys are sub 5 miles, with the occasional 10-15 mile run thrown in, and I am achieving just under 60mpg. I've had no faults with the car whatsoever and it is proving a pleasant enough place to spend the 10-15 minutes in on the drive to work. I've had three adults plus luggage in the car for a trip to the airport and there was plenty of space although I wouldn't want to do any long distance with more than two people. On the rare occasion I have wanted to get somewhere quickly, the car is a pleasure to hustle down the back roads - it handles like it's on rails and of course it does not really weigh much more than a packet of Walkers. The car has absolutely no torque whatsoever, so you really do have to stir the 'box and utilise the revs in order to make it move. That said, it's good fun to rev as it sounds awesome for a cheap little car, quite a characterful off-beat thrum.
The C1 is not without its downsides though; at anything more than 50mph it feels quite sluggish unless you really use the gears to get it moving. It's fairly noisy at anything over 70mph due to the lack of sound insulation for the cabin. These two points alone mean it is very unsuitable for motorway work, although I'd happily do the occasional 50 mile stretch, I wouldn't want to do hundreds of miles in a day as I have with other cars.
Overall, as a city commuter or a every day back road tool it's hassle free, cheap and pretty good fun.
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deanobeano
209 posts
52 months
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My wife had a Platinum Aygo from new for 4 years (and still misses it now).
Road noise in the wet is poor, due to the lack of insulation, esp over the rear wheels.
However, it was a hoot to drive, always feeling much quicker than it really was.
The exhaust note is quite metallic and sounds, well good.
Handling isn't too bad either.
No faults over the four years and an easy 55 - 60 mpg.
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