The new boy in my life – C1 in a slinky black shade.

Having lost my car to the garage for the week ( yet another expensive MOT bill looming!!) I have had the pleasure and yes it has been a pleasure to drive my partner’s car. The C1 ( or loving referred to as the Micro-machine by my son).

I have borrowed it a couple of times to pop to the shops but not really taken it on a longer run. Having driven it for most of this week I felt the need to share my experience of it with you. If you are thinking of buying a small, economical but nippy car this should definitely be one to consider.

~~~~ Why did my partner chose this car? ~~~~

My partner really wanted a small, cheap to run car that would also be reliable and easy to maintain. After looking around for several weeks his search was narrowed down to a couple of Corsas, a Clio and a C3. We had taken one of the Corsas and the C3 out on a test drive and he was really impressed with both. The Corsa was nippy and fairly cheap for the year, however, the milage high. The C3 again very impressive but a little out of his price range. On talking to the dealer he asked us to take a look at a car that had arrived back at the garage a few days ago.

A little black C1 Rhythm sat before us – its story – The car had originally been sold the previous August by them, to a gent who had brought it just as it had arrived from the manufacturers. That New Year the gent having had a terrible fall was left unable to drive – his son returned the car asking them to sell it for him. We were very pleased to hear the gent was making a full recovery but had been told he will not be able to drive again.

We looked at the car and decided – ok test drive. My partner asked me to drive it first so he could ‘get a feel’ for it !! Well to cut a long story short we were both so impressed with the handling, steering and power of this little black beauty – my partner decided it would be coming home with us.

~~~~ Cost & closing deal ~~~~

The car was priced at £6,750. However, after a little bargaining we got him down to £6,500. After fixing the sell with a deposit, we went to set up the financial side and talk about the warranty etc… The garage we purchased the car from has been established in Bath for over 90 years and their service / warranty plans are extremely good. My partner’s car was still just under a year old ( and still under a manufacturers warranty) so they put into place an extended 2 year plan that runs continuously on from when the old one runs out. They also included 5 years free servicing.

The C1 had only clocked up 6,300 miles so what we were looking at was a fantastic offer.

~~~~ Overall Description of this C1 Rhythm ~~~~

*** Reg - 2008
*** Colour – Jet black – with a shine you can see your wrinkles in.
*** Fuel – unleaded petrol
*** Dimensions (mm) – width from wing mirror to wing mirror 1855.
- length from front to back bumper 3435.
- Height 1465.
***Weights (kg) – kerb weight 800 / gross vehicle weight 1180
*** Engine size – 1.0 litre
*** Gearbox – 5 speed manual
*** Version – 3 door

Petrol Consumptions (L / 100km) – Urban driving mpg– 5.5
Inter-urban driving mpg – 4.1
Mixed driving mpg – 4.6
These mpg are excellent – my Astra (OK a larger family car with an engine size of 1.4) is about 6x more.

~~~~ Insurance ~~~~

The C1 falls into Band 1 – making it extremely cheap. Because this is my partner’s first car we new he would be paying quite a bit for his insurance. However, after looking on the Meerkat.com ! Sorry Market.com we found a fully-comp insurance policy for this C1 for £475, with £100 excess and break-down cover. Although the warranty / service plan does come with its own break-down cover.

~~~~ Safety~~~~

One little niggle I’ve always had about the smaller car has been the safety issues. I’ve always driven larger cars because of having the children with me. When looking into the safety of the C1, I was pleasantly surprised to find out how many great aspects are built into this vehicle.

*** Brakes - the anti-lock brakes system are standard with this model as well as EBFD and CSC braking systems, which increase the stability and manoeuvrability of the vehicle particularly on slippery roads. I have never really understood the technical terms for these but have looked into this and found out the following –

ABS – Anti-lock Braking System prevents wheels locking when emergency braking.
EBFD & CSC systems provide full control of the braking pressure wheel by wheel.

~~ EBFD stands for Electronic Brake Force Distribution (front & rear wheels)
~~ CSC stands for Cornering Stability Control (left & right wheels)

*** Seat Belts – both front and back seat belts are pretensioning belts with force limiters.

Pretensioning belts will instantly tighten on impact however the force limiter reduces the pressure of the belt on the chest increasing protection against injury.

Hmmm, maybe if my belt had had this feature the chest injuries I received from my accident my not have been as bad.

*** Airbags – These work in conjunction with the force limiters. The car has electronic detectors situated at the front and side of the car. As soon as these detectors sense an impact both front and rear airbags are inflated. They will however, only operate when the ignition is on.

A very important note to all parents of very young children – when putting a rear-facing child/baby seat in the car you must turn off the airbag. An air bag inflating onto these car seats can cause major injuries to your child. The C1 has a disarming switch in order for you to do this. It is really simple to do. Turn off the ignition and insert the ey into the passenger air bag disarming switch 1 – this is situated to the right of the engine ignition switch. Turn the key to the off position and remove the key keeping it in the same position, not returning to the start position.

~~~~ General Appearance of our C1~~~

(Did you noticed how I sneaked ‘our’ into the title!!!)

***Outside - OUR C1 has a shiny black colour finish with matching bumpers & wing mirrors. The Citroen emblem – 2 silver arrows pointing upwards stand out at the front of the bonnet and compliment the sleekness of the built-in headlights and indicator case. The large windscreen has just one large wiper blade that has the usually settings.

The rear of the car is fairly short but the boat space is adequate and the tidiness of the whole car makes it a pleasant little car to look at.

***Inside – I was surprised by the amount of leg room in the front of the front. My partner is nearly 6ft and he finds there is enough room for his long legs - so well done Citroen

for the space factor. I will say that the leg room in the back is obviously not as roomy as the front but it is adequate for the size of the car.

The seats are very comfortable. They are a soft black, padded fabric that support your back well. The front seats can be manoeuvred easily forward/backwards via a handle on the bottom side of each seat. Both front and rear seats have adjustable headrests that can also be lifted out. There is also an angle adjustment for easy access to the back seat. The back seats can also be folded forward to open the boot area into a large storage space.

***Dash board and controls - the dash board is very open and with easy to view controls and instruments. The stereo is situated just above the heater/ventilation controls in the middle of the dashboard. The stereo has a built in CD player with basic controls. It does have a brilliant base sound but it again very adequate for the car.

One aspect that I feel could be better is the storage box – its open / no door – so any CD’s, papers, manuals etc are on full view. Hmm, not very clever me thinks.

I could describe all the controls but feel that you may (if you haven’t already) fall asleep from boredom or technical over-load. To sum up the controls are easily recognisable in the dark as they strong but not over-powering back light adjusts to the strength you set. I have put a photo of the inside on (sorry Dooyoo readers can’t view this)

~~~~ Overall conclusion ~~~~

To draw this review to an end I would just like to mention the way this little car handles the road. Whilst driving my partner to a ‘big’ match on Tuesday the road conditions were dry and good. Our journey took us through several small, dark country lanes. The car handled the corners very well and with an extremely responsive steering being present. The headlights were prefect and full beam excellent. Some parts of the lanes were pretty muddy and although dry conditions, we all know how mud can sometimes make for a slippery surface. The car handled the mud with ease and I felt as if I were in full control of the handling of the road at all times. Last night the roads were wet and slippery – the car handled like a dream. Corners – no slipping / lanes covered in wet leaves – no sliding – great control even when a pheasant tried a suicide attempt – great control and response from those ABS / EBFD/ CSC (/ OBE, MBE etc etc ) aspects of the car.

The noise factor is not bad at all – when driving on one of the major roads, th
at is highly exposed to winds the noise was minimal.

We haven’t taken the car onto a motorway yet but I predict that with the nippy speeds, ease of the manoeuvrability between gears and responsive handling of the car, it will be a comfy little drive.

Would I recommend this eco car – I think you probably know the answer – without a doubt – yes I would highly recommend this car to those of you looking for a small car that is worth its weight in gold.

Thanks for reading and I hope this review of the C1 has been insightful.
X hev (also on Dooyoo)