Considering a citroen cactus, am I mad?

Considering a citroen cactus, am I mad?

Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Monday 4th August 2014
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Hi everyone, I am due back from deployment in December and am seriously considering a new car, I need something that will be suitable for me with putting bikes on the roof and camping gear in the boot.

Now for some reason it's a citroen cactus that has caught my eye, it's not my 'usual' type of car but it just looks like nothing else (not sure if that's good or bad)

I just wanted to know if anyone else is considering one or ordered one already and which engine would be best, 1.6 hdi or 110 1.2 turbo petrol?




Frimley111R

15,533 posts

233 months

Thursday 7th August 2014
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You're not mad, no smile I noticed they looked a bit plasticky inside from the press shots but otherwise they look ideal for what you want and far more interesting than most alternatives.

MrsF

9,586 posts

242 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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I'm Business Development Manager for a Dealer Group and one of the brands we have is Citroen.

Our Retail guys are expecting to do very well with the Cactus, I'm not too sure how I'll do with it in the Business Department, only time will tell.

Butter Face

30,191 posts

159 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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It does look very 'out there' and you'll have to realise the residuals will be terrible (unfortunately anything French and quirky is the same)

The 'air bubbles' on the door are very odd, great protection against people bashing it though.

If you get one, get it in a wacky colour, more likely to appeal to a crazy person when you come to sell wink

MrsF

9,586 posts

242 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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I think Butter Face is right about colour.

I've seen one in Yellow and it does look like good in white.

matt1269

598 posts

173 months

Tuesday 12th August 2014
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I saw the PH one up close on sunday, really looked good. Much smaller than I thought it would be as well.

davidc1

1,544 posts

161 months

Sunday 17th August 2014
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Saw a silver one in Majorca last week . Looked alright , a citroen should be quirky.
not as out there as the citroen ami that lives on my street, that is crazy . How must it have looked 40 years ago!

AmitG

3,272 posts

159 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
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I had a good look at one yesterday, and I must say that I'm rather smitten.

What I liked about it is that it's completely different from what Ford, Vauxhall and the Germans are doing. With the Cactus the idea seems to be to to strip back the car to its essentials, to design things so that they are cheaper, lighter and easier to repair, and then to spend money where people can see/touch it. It isn't just a stripped down spec of an existing car.

So for example, the rear windows are pop-out rather than wind-down or electric. The rear bench is a single piece rather than split-fold. There is no CD player (you are expected to use your phone or a USB device). The front passenger only gets 1 air vent. (The driver gets 2 small ones. Citroen seem to love asymmetrical design.) The bonnet is aluminium and as mentioned above the airbumps help to avoid panel dents.

The cabin is really cool. The passenger airbag is mounted in the roof so the dashboard is small and horizontal like the Citroens of the 70s; no sloping mass of plastic. Front visibility seems to be good. The glovebox opens from the top rather than the bottom. There are only 6 switches on the centre stack; everything else is on 2 TFT screens. There are no dials.

It's a bizarre mix of retro and modern. For example, the seats are covered in the sort of tweed-like cloth you get on 70s sofas, and the auto models give you the closest thing to a front bench seat that you can reasonably have in a modern car of this size. The door handles look like vintage luggage straps and the glovebox looks like a vintage leather suitcase. And yet all the instruments are TFT, the car can park itself and with the auto models the gearstick is replaced with a pod containing 3 buttons for R, N and D. It's Louis Vuitton meets free love meets the Jetsons. It shouldn't work but it does, brilliantly.

According to the brochure the car is quite light. I think the base model is about 1000kg (will check brochure) so handling etc. should be interesting.

Citroen seem to be the only company that can get away with making a car like this. Taking away basic features, mixing up retro and modern, and calling the result Cactus; IMHO no other car company does borderline insanity better than Citroen. If Ford did this they would be accused either of penny pinching or of trying too hard to be cool. Yet this car, somehow, seems to work. It rejects the trajectory of modern car design - and its obsession with "soft touch" plastics and pointless gadgets - and goes in a completely different direction.

It's not quite a modern-day 2CV, but it seems close.

Downsides? I'm not sure about the touchscreen instruments. Most operations require you to fiddle around on the screen rather than just pressing a switch. And you need to take your eyes off the road since there is no tactile feedback. I can see that getting annoying.

Also, I can see some of the quirkiness becoming irritating over time. A one-piece bench seat is great until you need to take 2 passengers to Ikea and you realise you can't fold the seat down and bring them all back. And on the subject of the bench seat, it folds down but doesn't lie completely flat.

Finally, rear visibility seems to be poor.

I'm off to test drive one today, and will report back. I've heard bad things about the auto gearbox so will need to spend some time on that.

So to echo the OP's original question - am I mad?

Does anyone have one and can comment on it?

AmitG

3,272 posts

159 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
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A few notes from the test drive in case anyone is interested.

Good things:
  • Ride is very good. You can really feel the difference that the lack of weight makes. It glides pretty well over speed bumps and broken surfaces (i.e. most of South East London smile)
  • Steering is quite light and surprisingly responsive. You can turn quite quickly. It suits the car well. I guess it's again due to the lack of weight.
  • NVH is fairly good. Better than I was expecting at this price point. You can definitely hear the diesel engine rumbling away at idle, and you can feel some vibration, but I have been in much worse. At 70mph you can hold a conversation in the front seats, but above 75mph you will need to raise your voices.
  • The touch screen thing is actually quite nice. I thought I was going to hate it, but most functions are just 2 presses away and the menus are pretty easy to navigate. You do have to take your eyes off the road, but TBH I often have to do that anyway even with switches. Not a deal breaker.
  • Seats are excellent, very soft and supportive like the Citroens of old.
  • It feels really nice. It feels fun; the little details bring a smile to your face; it makes you want to drive it.
Bad things:
  • The audio quality was OK but high frequencies created an audible buzz in the dashboard which leads me to wonder about the quality control.
  • The start-stop can be turned off but it is always "on" when you start your journey, so if you don't want it you have to go into the menus and turn it off every time. I don't want it ever, so I need to do this every time. I know it's only a couple of presses but it's still annoying. I would prefer an option to keep it off by default.
  • The automated manual (EGS) gearbox is not as good as a regular auto. It's better than before, and is now roughly on par with a manual gearbox and a driver with good clutch control. But it's still not as smooth as a torque convertor auto or DSG. You definitely feel the gear changes. I understand why it's here, and it suits the no-frills nature of the car, but it still could be better.
  • There's quite a bit of body roll. You feel it more than in other cars, and you subconciously find yourself backing off because of it, where another car would feel more stable and encourage you to press it a bit more.
According to the dealer there are minimal discounts on these since there is quite a lot of demand. This is unusual for a Citroen. When I looked at a DS5 I was offered 25% off without even trying smile

So there's a lot to like, but it's not the slam dunk I was hoping for. I am going to ponder over it...

DuncanM

6,106 posts

278 months

Sunday 28th September 2014
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AmitG said:
A few notes from the test drive in case anyone is interested.

Good things:
  • Ride is very good. You can really feel the difference that the lack of weight makes. It glides pretty well over speed bumps and broken surfaces (i.e. most of South East London smile)
  • Steering is quite light and surprisingly responsive. You can turn quite quickly. It suits the car well. I guess it's again due to the lack of weight.
  • NVH is fairly good. Better than I was expecting at this price point. You can definitely hear the diesel engine rumbling away at idle, and you can feel some vibration, but I have been in much worse. At 70mph you can hold a conversation in the front seats, but above 75mph you will need to raise your voices.
  • The touch screen thing is actually quite nice. I thought I was going to hate it, but most functions are just 2 presses away and the menus are pretty easy to navigate. You do have to take your eyes off the road, but TBH I often have to do that anyway even with switches. Not a deal breaker.
  • Seats are excellent, very soft and supportive like the Citroens of old.
  • It feels really nice. It feels fun; the little details bring a smile to your face; it makes you want to drive it.
Bad things:
  • The audio quality was OK but high frequencies created an audible buzz in the dashboard which leads me to wonder about the quality control.
  • The start-stop can be turned off but it is always "on" when you start your journey, so if you don't want it you have to go into the menus and turn it off every time. I don't want it ever, so I need to do this every time. I know it's only a couple of presses but it's still annoying. I would prefer an option to keep it off by default.
  • The automated manual (EGS) gearbox is not as good as a regular auto. It's better than before, and is now roughly on par with a manual gearbox and a driver with good clutch control. But it's still not as smooth as a torque convertor auto or DSG. You definitely feel the gear changes. I understand why it's here, and it suits the no-frills nature of the car, but it still could be better.
  • There's quite a bit of body roll. You feel it more than in other cars, and you subconciously find yourself backing off because of it, where another car would feel more stable and encourage you to press it a bit more.
According to the dealer there are minimal discounts on these since there is quite a lot of demand. This is unusual for a Citroen. When I looked at a DS5 I was offered 25% off without even trying smile

So there's a lot to like, but it's not the slam dunk I was hoping for. I am going to ponder over it...
Interesting write up, I love the idea of this car and am very tempted to go and look round one now smile

eric twinge

1,613 posts

221 months

Monday 29th September 2014
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I went to the local citroen dealer to look at the new c4 grand picasso to replace our S Max. Next to the C4 were two cactus', and i was really rather taken with them.
Certainly my 8 year old daughter thought they were 'so amazing' and wants one for her 17th..
I echo the comments above, the interior design was striking and seemed to have been really thought about rather than being changed for the sake of it.
I liked it, but can't make up my mind about the C4 grand Picasso though.