Shed of the Week: Citroen C2 VTS

The C2 VTS arrived at peak Max Power. It's now landed squarely in Shed country...

Back in the early 1990s, Max Power magazine exploded onto the motoring scene with lots of blinding (often quite literally) ways for Young Motorists to jazz up their motors.

This was a timely development. Up to that point the big British car manufacturers had been quite happy to serve up bleakly-specced and overpriced mainstream porridge to a captive market. Their turgid tat was begging for en-jazzing. A magazine pointing the way to a vibrant aftermarket that aimed to provide such enjazzment was okey-dokey as far as the industry was concerned. After all, it wasn't costing them anything, and some of the machines the kids were creating made small-engined Astras and Fiestas and the like look almost exciting.

Things changed somewhat once the manufacturers realised that making cars look appealing on the production line was a potential revenue booster. The launch of the Citroen C2 in 2003 was quite significant in this regard as it was the French company's first attempt to beat nasty customisers at their own game.

The plan was simple. If the C2 was cool enough to start with, customers wouldn't be inclined to waste their money messing about with it, and Citroen could charge extra for that 'works' custom look.

One theory goes that the C2's designer, the brilliantly-named Donato Coco (D Coco, for those who remember the days before self-cleaning engines) took a look at the cars that were coming out of Audi - specifically, the TT and the A2 - and aped their prominent-wheelarch look, drawing a bonnet that followed the arch line to create a 'strong' look, and bunging in non-flowing rear side windows to add extra bonkers value for the youth.

Unfortunately the C2 didn't sell well, not just because creative young motorists didn't like being told what to buy by The Man, but also because the car was lumbered with rubbishy interior materials, hopelessly 'advanced' (ie unreliable) electronics, even worse SensoDrive automatic transmissions, and handling that made you wonder where the chassis engineers responsible for the AX GT had disappeared to.

At least Citroen had a go at producing a VTS performance version like the one you see here, but even with this there seemed to be a disappointing disconnect between the expectation of 125bhp and what you actually got on the road. The insurance was hot hatch-high, but the thrill level wasn't. Enthusiasts hoping for a modern AX GT or 106 GTI ended up drifting away from PSA and into Renault showrooms for sporting Clios that really delivered.

Citroen gave up on the C2 in 2010, which coincidentally (or not) was just one year after Max Power folded. The industry had worked out how to kill the profit-stealing styling aftermarket by making cars that were hard to modify (or even service). There was no place for cars that looked quick but weren't really.

All of which could be said to give this C2 some interesting curio value. The MOT is long and the history is fairly scare-free, although the phrase 'coolant leak' appears as an advisory. That could be something as simple as a punctured hose. Looking at it more charitably, surely we're all allowed a bit of coolant leak at this time of year?

Here's the ad.

CITROEN C2 16V VTS in silver, well kept body work in good condition. I added the side stickers to give the car a more sporty look. Lots of work done to it in the last 2 months no more money will need to be spent on any repairs as its had done:

New clutch
Cambelt changed
Serviced at 93k
New Battery
3 New tyres
New exhaust bracket

Car has Auto Lights, Auto Wipers, Climate control, A/C, Steering wheel radio controls, Deadlock, Front fog lights, Remote locking, Traction control, 6 speakers.

Any more questions or for more information please contact me

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givablondabone

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