Well, its four years are up, and the honeymoon's over.

Of course, you could argue that I should have gone on to get some money's worth out of the last débâcle before parting with the car, but if I'm honest, I was getting a trifle fed up with the T-Sport

So something that didn't feel too sluggish but is a nicer ride was ideal, and if it could throw in a bit more interior space, maybe even allowing me to close the tailgate when carrying a bike, that would be even nicer.

Stylistically, the C4 comes in two body shapes; a 5-door hatchback and a 3-door 'coupé' hatchback, both with roughly the same cubic capacity. The latter has a rather curious blunt tail, comprising the usual sloping glass of a hatchback, which then plunges vertically with another vertical glazed panel.To me this looks like it could be a real liability when it comes to keeping it clean - sure there's a titchy 6" wiper, but nothing attracts dirt like a sawn-off rear - just look for a van with 'clean me' scrawled in the muck for confirmation. I'd also venture a guess that the tailgate of the coupé opens so high that you'd have to lasso it to get it down again if you're a short-arse. Likewise, care when under a low ceiling is advised.

I can't help feeling that there was a variant of the Honda CRX coupe looking a bit like this, at least from the side, or was it an Alfasud coupé?

Yes, the Citroën C4 looked good, from most of my viewpoints. It was the right size, it got excellent reviews vis-à-vis the driving experience, and it wasn't a Ford Focus. Some critics even ventured to say that the C4 was ousting the Ford Focus as top car in its size range. Top Gear approved too, but I didn't let that put me off.

The Motorpoint supermarket in Derby had new petrol SXs for £9,999, and a search of Broadspeed.com revealed that you could get a dealer-supplied one for just £250 more.

This way, I could trade in the Yaris for around £5,000 and use a Cahoot flexible loan to buy the rest - very slick, almost over the counter. Once I'd confirmed that money from Cahoot was in my bank account, I could use my Switch card to pay the balance.

The VTS seemed to have most of what I wanted, and true to Citroën's ground-breaking, nay quirky, innovative reputation, one or two I wasn't expecting.

Now for the really odd bit; a steering wheel centre that stays put when you grapple with those bends.

As you can imagine, the dashboard looks quite space-age (something that Ford lost in the revamp of the Focus).

Actually, many might think that setting cruise control for 60 mph might be the panacea of low fuel consumption, but only on a dead flat road. A human being (aka the driver) can see uphill stretches a mile off and let the car's momentum build up on the downhill sections to help with the cruising up next one. Cruise control will hold the car back on the downhill and then do its darndest to maintain that speed up hill too, flooring the accelerator in the process..

Not exactly a boy's toy, but you also get aromatherapy cartridges to go in the air ducts - I suppose it's a less naff idea than fitting one of those clip-on air fresheners, but only just. Anyway, till I've seen the price of replacements, the car might just have to smell of Insegnante di Ciclismo instead (Cycling Instructor but the Italian sounds nicer).

The 2.0 litre HDi engine, which is common to the Peugeot 307 range, is an interesting mill, especially, if like me, you've never owned an 'oil burner' before.

In fact, this 138 BHP* diesel has lower CO2 output than the 90 BHP 1.4 litre petrol engine, combined with better fuel consumption and is 'EU4 compliant' with a VED (Car Tax) rating of £115 per annum.

Remarkably, the engine doesn't seem to have many of diesel's 'cons', in so much that the only time you're aware of its more, shall we say, 'industrial' heritage is when idling, especially from cold.

Incidentally, there's no such thing as 'red lining' this engine - the tachometer display starts to glow red instead! This seems to be a very lightweight free-revving diesel capable of being taking up to a very high spin speed, making it feel like a petrol engine if you 'lead-boot' it.

By contrast, the equivalent 2.0 litre petrol engine has a few more BHP, 146 compared to 138 but far less torque; 148 ft/lbs delivered at 4000 rpm, compared to the diesel's 236 ft/lbs delivered at half that speed. I know all this 'talk of torque' can be confusing, but raw BHP (combined with a light car) is what produces those 0-60 times, whereas torque is more the engine's ability to exert a continuous pull at its optimum speed.

I've had a couple of casual passengers not notice it was a diesel till I told them (mind you, the radio was on at the time!)

Having said that, any slight tendency to under-steer more than its petrol siblings (run wide on corners) is at least a safe characteristic that most drivers could handle, compared to a tail-slide in a rear-wheel drive car. No doubt Clarkson would disagree, but I take great pleasure in being at variance with him!

It's also very quiet at speed, this being partly aided by 6th gear and the use of thicker laminated glass where the more normal safety glass on side windows would normally be expected. (Not on all models). Car thieves will hate it. Further sound deadening is achieved by being extremely smoothly shaped, and the door seals are doubled to help eliminate wind noise. Where possible, body cavities (the car's , not mine) have been filled out with plastic to prevent drumming.

I have to take my hat off to Citroën at producing such a well appointed car, even in basic LX form, where you STILL get that cruise control/speed limiter not to mention a fuel and trip computer and CD/Radio. Then there's that weirdly practical steering wheel boss that doesn't move. The speed limiter is interesting. It doesn't PREVENT you from going any faster than a pre-arranged velocity - it just adds a little more resistance to the pedal, so that you can rest your foot at a specific level without the worry of your speed creeping up. Apparently, the French police are getting very hot on motorway speeding right now, so anything that'll keep you within the law for hours on end on their A20 is to be welcomed - at least it means that you can relax and admire the view. I find it quite relaxing to set my cruise speed at about 1 MPH less than the car in front. Eventually, the road ahead starts to look nice and empty - give it to me straight, I'm not turning into a caravanner am I? Cruise control cancels after you touch ANY of the pedals.

A single-CD player/FM radio is standard across the range but mine came with the branded JBL upgrade and an additonal Blaupunkt 5-CD/MP3 changer hidden in the arm rest.

The very top versions also get that gadget that vibrates your bum if you stray over a white lane marker without signalling, presumably to make sure you haven't dozed off. You can turn it off before straying over the white lines becomes too enjoyable! It can also be triggered by those 'move over now' arrows where a dual carriageway narrows, which is no bad thing I guess. However, I'm not sure about gadgets that might encourage someone to drive when they're too tired - "oh never mind, the car'll wake me up", if you get my drift.

As an adjunct to that static steering wheel centre, the centrally-placed LCD speedometer display is translucent, so that, when the sun is in your eyes, light shines through it, maintaining your ability to see it - no more "sorry officer, I was blinded there for a moment".

The 'NCAP' safety rating of the C4 in general is very good, of the best in fact with 5 stars. The low smooth front is about as 'pedestrian-friendly' as it could be for something that's about to mow them down. I notice that 'eldergill' who wrote about his own C4 found out that the bonnet lid, which is aluminium, is also well distanced from the engine, so anyone scooped up by the car is less likely to get hurt as the lid deforms and tries to take on the shape of the nearest sharp nasty bit of engine.

Pictures of Citroen C4 2.0 16v Coupe

Purdy L'il Thing, Ain't She?

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However, lest we forget, this is only a mass-produced car from a volume manufacturer. Extras don't make it a luxury car, although the great efforts to make the interior as quiet as possible do give that impression. Reviewers in the motoring press have commented on the fact that the build-quality is on a par with the Ford Focus, with which it is frequently compared. First impressions are that it doesn't rattle on bumpy roads, which is good.

Well, on the 'pro' side there's vastly reduced purchase price - the way in which a new car's price plummets the moment you buy it are well documented, and buying a yearling takes advantage of this, with very little of the disadvantages, especially since I'm still getting two of the three year's warranty. I'm a low-mileage user compared to some (around 7,500 miles p.a. reducing to 6,000 soon) so the fact that this has got 13,000 miles 'on the clock' matters not a jot, since once it's three year's old it'll be low mileage again.

However, teething problems like this are not entirely unknown on a new car either, and they've now been put right with no quibble (I had the '30-day bring it back if you don't like it' warranty to wave in the air). I prefer to judge a firm by how it fixes its faults, rather than how perfect everything was (which was probably a fluke anyway). They are also very nice people at Citroën West London, with a very attentive service department.

I immediately noticed that there's no fixed rest for your left foot when not using the clutch, although all other ergonomics seem to suit me (6'1" with longish legs.) There seems to be plenty of room for your feet however, so the chance of not getting your foot on the clutch fast enough is minimal. Driver's headroom seems fine to me, even though I like to sit quite high, especially in cars like this where the bonnet lid disappears from sight. My version has adjustable seat height and lumbar support, the latter creating an increased arch in the small of the back if wanted.

The length of the doors in the coupé brings its own problems with it, in the form of seat belts that ride up your neck, there being no height adjustment on the 3-door version - I ended up buying a couple of after-market logo-embroidered pads which can be positioned where you like on the belt.

Compared to the Yaris, which used every available space as some sort of cubby hole, there's precious little storage in the C4 for a car of its size, apart from a glove box that's too stylish for its own good, requiring you to lay the contents on the lid and then hope you can close it, a couple of door pockets and some nets behind the front seats. There is also a drawer under the passenger seat but it's so shallow that I can't put my first aid kit box in it. Sure you've got special money trays for parking and bridge tolls, but there's not even one identifiable flat area to rest a mobile phone, without it sliding under a seat.

The only other major thing, which is more of a gnawing at the back of my mind, is that this seems like an awful lot of gadgets to go wrong, but longevity is the one thing car reviewers can't really touch on till it's too late. Early impressions from those longer-term reviews based on the last 12 months usage by a magazine 'staffer' don't seem to be unduly worrying, even for the upmarket VTS variant, despite the fact that French cars in general don't exactly figure in the top league for reliability. The car's large dependency in a central computerised CPU does bring advantages which hopefully outweigh any doubts I may have. For example, if you were to take in into your head to fit even wider tyres, you wouldn't have to put up with heavier steering for ever more - the car's electric power steering can be reprogrammed to take more of the load. Doubtless, there's even a 'go faster' tweak, but frankly, I'm quite happy with the performance as it is.

I admit that the worst car for reliability I ever had was a new Renault, but once the dealers took responsibility, it settled into early middle-age without a hitch.

My version weighs 1.3 tonnes and is allowed to tow a braked trailer or caravan of up to 1.5 tonnes.

Curiously, nowhere on the UK Citroën web-site could I find the official version of the car's dimensions, so here's my tape measure's version.

The Citroën C4 is an Astra/Focus sized car with either 3 or 5 door version. It has one of the best 'NCAP' safety ratings (5 stars). Engines range from 1.4 petrol, 1.6 petrol, two different 1.6 diesels of differing power outputs, a 2.0 litre diesel and two different powers of 2.0 litre petrol engines. Power outputs range from 90 bhp to 186 bhp.

Best value-for-money is probably represented by the 1.6 petrol SX (£9,999 at car supermarkets), and official prices in general range from £9,695 for a 1.4 LX petrol to £17,995 for my version before any further optional extras are built in.

Three year warranties apply in the UK, the first two being internationally recognised.

1. The origin of the Twin Chevron logo relates to the fact that Monsieur Citroën started out as an engineer specializing in gears, one of the most efficient of which is the 'herring-bone' gear, with chevron shaped teeth for extra grip.
2. No crash test dummies were hurt in the writing of this opinion, although my credit card was on first filling the 60 litre tank.
3. I can't touch the end on my nose with my tongue, but no doubt Citroën are working on a gadget that can - Le Lèche-Nez Automatique no doubt.
4. For those that like to spell things correctly, the "ë" symbol can be found in Windows Character Map, or by holding down the ALT key whilst typing 0235 on the numbers pad, then letting go.

1500 miles down the road, I'm very happy with the C4 diesel's 'long legs' aka 6 gears. I set my cruise control to 70, and just steer for mile upon mile, with the dual advantage that I'm still doing 54 mpg and keeping my license intact! A couple of runs from west London to north Norfolk have convinced me that this is the way to travel, compared to my previous frenetic Friday night dashes to Bernard Matthew's land, and if I'm honest, it's only taking me 10 minutes longer, once you factor in unforeseen hold ups (Note: These NEVER happen). The firm but comfortable seats in cloth and leather/suede (yes both!) are very restful, and I'm raring to go when I get there.

It does indeed get through front tyres faster due to the extra weight of the engine. At 20,000, i.e. 7,000 miles after buying it, I needed new ones. Not the £137 each jobs as fitted by Citroen, but somewhat cheaper ones as fitted by Greenford Tyres after I bought mine on the net from www.mytyres.co.uk - see my opinion of Hankook tyres.

My one remaining niggle is that the leather seats creak!