French flair: Stylish new C4

The Citroën C4 is one of those cars you wish had come to the UAE, but don't expect to see in showrooms here. But come August next year, this small yet stylish hatch with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine and numerous green design features, will make its UAE entrance, bucking the regional soft-spot for physically imposing, inefficient vehicles.

Citroën chose Copenhagen for the C4 press launch, and rightly so. Having collected the test cars from the Danish capital, the country's green credentials were plainly evident as I drove over the massive Oresund Bridge linking Denmark and Sweden. A bank of huge, silent wind turbines at the world's largest off-shore wind farm was visible off to the right, with 30 per cent of the national energy supply produced by renewable sources.

I'm no tree hugger, but the eco-friendly credentials of various automotive manufacturers, including Citroën, are an encouraging sign of the times. Though the UAE has been relatively slow off the mark, green vehicles are gradually appearing in showrooms across the country.

Nothing's rotten in Denmark

Behind the wheel of the C4, probably the most striking aspect of the car is its transmission... At least once you've figured out how to disengage the parking brake, which is an electronic system taking over when the engine is stopped and disengaging automatically when enough torque is applied to the driven wheels.

Putting the pedal to the floor in the standard ‘push-accelerator-and-go' style of driving, an automatic vehicle proves uninspiring at first. After a decent initial burst, I was rewarded with a lurching, slow upshift into second gear as the engine automatically reduced revs and found a higher cog.

While the gear shifter looks like it belongs to a conventional automatic transmission, it's actually a robotised, clutchless six-speed manual. Essentially, it is a manual transmission with an automated clutch.

Citroën's Electronic Gearbox System comprises a sequential 'box, with a dry clutch instead of the lubricated torque-converter design of conventional automatic transmissions. The elimination of the torque converter removes some inefficiency, and according to the boffins at Citroën, it also requires less time, cost and materials to manufacture.

It is more akin to driving a manual transmission than an automatic — you need to back off on the accelerator as revs climb and anticipate each shift. This takes some getting used to, and in my short period behind the wheel, I still wasn't entirely comfortable with it. However, the benefits this must have for fuel efficiency and emissions are plain to see — the digital tachometer rarely climbed over the 2,500rpm mark, regardless of how hard my co-driver and I tried to push it.

Aesthetically, it's not a bad looking vehicle at all. Smooth lines, nice colour options and good use of chrome accents make the C4 an attractive four-door hatchback. The specially designed alloy wheels are also a classy touch, available in 15-, 16- and optional 17in rim sizes.

It also has plenty of boot space, with a big 408-litre capacity giving loads of room — combined with a number of other storage pockets throughout the car, including a cooled compartment in the interior console. This isn't a fully-fledged fridge but is big enough for a couple of small bottles.

The C4's powerplant is a 1.6-litre four-cylinder, with a choice of three engines available to customers in the UAE: the VTi 95, VTi 120 and THP 155 — the latter two have six-speed clutchless manual transmissions, with a standard automatic also available.

The most efficient engine of the lot, the diesel-powered eHDi micro-hybrid option with a power-harvesting reversible alternator and auto stop-start function, will not be sold here.

Crossing just over the border into the small Swedish city of Malmo, on the other side of the bridge, we negotiated some bumpier terrain, pulling off the bitumen to check out an old-fashioned wooden windmill.

Even on the rougher surface, the C4 delivers a very smooth ride, easily ironing out the surface. This is aided by a wider track suspension layout, with dual-material shims and rear dampers.

Cabin noise in the C4 is also very low, with a number of features designed to minimise this including thicker windows, an ‘acoustic' windscreen and a noise-proofing tunnel shield lining the drivetrain portion of the floor.

Back on the motorway as traffic began to build up slightly, some of the inbuilt safety features of the vehicle came in handy. It comes standard with a blind spot monitoring system, a flashing orange icon in the side mirrors indicating if another vehicle is beside you. This data is fed from four sensors located in the front and rear bumpers, with the system activated between speeds of 12kph and 140kph. The lane departure warning system makes use of the same sensors to alert the driver if the vehicle is straying outside the traffic lane — features which were mostly seen in bigger cars, until now.

After a coffee stop and driver swap, I took over navigation responsibilities managing not to get us hopelessly lost while playing with the optional MyWay LCD sat-nav system. While we stayed on course in the countryside, this proved less useful once we reached the central business district, though a combination of roadworks and driver distractions were to blame.

Other features include a USB connection compatible with MP3 players, which accepted my iPod and provided menu access via the LCD touchscreen. A slot in the console for a SIM card also enables onboard Wi-Fi access, turning the entire vehicle into a mobile hotspot — very handy. The passenger even gets access to a variable-setting massage function and electronic lumbar support.

Verdict

In the UAE, the question on everyone's lips when small cars such as the Citroën C4 are mentioned is, "Will it sell here?" That's a question that only time will tell, but Citroën is confident they will achieve sufficient sales volume here. There is no reason to argue; the C4 is a worthy rival to European and Japanese offerings, even surpassing them on equipment levels and looks. All it needs to do now is last the distance.