Here’s something I never thought I’d be writing: right now, Citroen might be the coolest car company in the world.
If you’re several hundred years old you might remember that they’ve managed this before, with cars like the Traction Avant and the incomparable DS. In fact, if you’re 37 like me, you should be able to remember a time when Citroen still rocked: the SM, the CX, the GS and even that plastic Riviera 2CV-in-drag beach buggy the Mehari all helped shape the 1970s as profoundly as Abba, fondue sets and the three-day week.
But Gavin & Stacey-style Saxoids apart, it’s been a lean few decades for France’s most reliably deranged car-maker. Citroen has really only managed one good thing since about 1980 and it can be summed up in two words: Sebastien Loeb. (Oh, and that mid-’80s ad which saw Grace Jones pop a CX GTi out of her arse.)
But with the Paris show now a slightly wine-sodden memory, one thing still sticks in my mind: the Citroen stand was teeming with stuff I loved. The new C3 Picasso looked terrific. I even tried one out for size (the Barlow family C-Max is getting a bit weary), and it’s as good inside as it is out; clever dash, versatile, fun. And nicely made, too, which after the current C3 hatch – a car with all the build integrity of a bread-stick, never mind a baguette – is a welcome improvement.
Then there was the C5 tourer or whatever they call it: very handsome. I even liked the Nemo van, and I’m not even a florist or wedding caterer. And there was a 2CV that had been given a 2008 make-over by posh person’s clothing emporium Hermes.
So the meat and potatoes of the range is pretty tasty. But it was the concept car eye-candy that really blew me away. The Hypnos was daft, but not that daft. The GT, meanwhile, looked magnificent, all folding metal and chaos theory curves, with an extension at the back designed to mimic the whizz-lines we all used to add to the fanciful doodles on our school exercise books. I sat in this Citroen too, and marvelled at its copper – copper! – cockpit.
Best of all, this is one pie-in-the-sky concept we’ll all be able to drive when Gran Turismo 5 is unleashed next year. On the Top Gear test track, amongst other circuits. This is a stroke of genius to match hydropneumatic suspension and Grace Jones’ bum.
‘It will help us target a whole new audience,’ Citroen’s advanced studio boss Gilles Vidal told me, knowing full well that he’d just stolen the show.
Suddenly, the ropey old Xsara is a very distant memory indeed…
Jason,
You should keep your feelthy, feelthy fantasies to yourself. The CX came out of Grace’s mouth – look for it on youtube if you don’t believe me.
And I wouldn’t go as far as to call Citroen cool just yet. If they could update the DS as Fiat have done with the 500 however…….
The XM kept the large Citroen alive, the Xantia was a refreshing alternative to late 90s Mundanos. Went wrong in the late 90s / early 00s – the C5 looked frumpy and the Xsara which was a mini Xantia on a ZX chassis (a good chassis pre-Focus) was ruined with googly C5 headlights.
Citroen could be off the wall in the 70s, as they were basically Michelin’s research laboratory. When Peugeot took over, they were like the parents to a workshy teenager – Citroen had to earn their keep and sell uncomplicated, conservative cars to the masses.
Recently though, car design in general has evolved leaps and bounds, and wacky cars can sell in the mainstream, as Ford proved with the Ka and Focus. Peugeot allowed Citroen off the rein slightly, and are now reaping the benefits.
The C4 is cool in 3 door, C5 is handsome (if a little too Teutonic for Francophiles, and the hydropneumatic suspension is an option which upset the double chevron fanbase), the C6 is as french as a port strike – big, wacky, comfortable, as unGerman as towel-less loungers.
The big danger was that Peugeot would aimlessly dilute the brand, as GM have done with Saab.
God, how I miss my DS21 Pallas…. wierd & wacky but Oh so good (as long as you didn’t look under the bonnet or have to pay anyone to fix it).
If only they could revive it in a modern sort of way – the C6 might be good, but it’s not as good as a Merc, Audi or Beemer.
If they did, the French would be farting in their general direction.
You can already drive the GT with a software update for GT5 Prologue. But set aside an afternoon of racing – it costs Cr.1,000,000!
But it’s totally worth it!
Here’s a page for nostalgic people http://citroensmregembeau .free.fr/ Think about it, get a DS, SM, GS or wathever the car is… 205 GTI, Super 5 Gt Turbo, Rebuild it to get it brand new, for the price of a new one, get a superb car of the past and use it all days, at least you’ll make people happy when you drive, and you won’t need to speed in order to get sensations.
I’ve always been a big Citroën fan, with 2CVs, AXs, BXs, Xsara Picassos (the list goes on!) being in my family at some time or another. I visited the Paris Motorshow this year, and Citroen’s stand was fantastic. Every car in their current range is incredibly cool, and in my opinion, Citroens have always been cool (apart from the last C5, of course!), and the C3 Picasso is probably one of the coolest yet. And that GT! Wow! Citroen are back and better than ever – design and innovation-wise. Citroen is tres cool!! I’d rather have a DS or C6 any day over any BMW, Audi or Mercedes, without doubt! And I hope they put that C-Cactus concept car into production!!
You’re all completely wrong! Citroen are complete and utter useless tosh. The C1 and C2 appear to be made of bits of old plastic cups. I quite like the C6 but for the purpose of making this agument ill ignore that. I won’t even bother starting with the C8. Also what is with the stupid adverts for the C4 and the ones that make no sense for the C5. How on earth can something be “unmistakably german” if it is completely french.
Stupid, Id rather walk (or mum can take me to college in her Beemer)
This is really cool, we’ll all be able to drive it! Citroën have really decided to go on a change with the GT. Mind-blowing. And brilliant. Copper!!
You missed out the Citroen Synergie when you were talking about cool Citroens.
Sam, there’s a reason for that…
Tom 1, the C5 ads suggest that is now on par with the Germans, a Citroen C5-Series, if you will.
I like Citroens because, whilst I probably wouldn’t own one that isn’t a C6, they do look different, and wonderfully wierd.
the gt is briiliant but the pluriel is stupid get rid of the pluriel and make the gt. please!
I drive a C5 Tourer Executive (since 01/09/08) 80+ miles every day and it is very, very nice indeed if you prefer a relaxed style of driving. The hydragas ride is excellent, the 2,0 TD + 6-speed auto combo is brilliant. The only thing I am still struggling with is the Navidrive interface, menus and controls, which are way beyond quirky…
Holst, now you are a Citroen driver you must never utter the words Hydragas – it is Hydropneumatic or Hydractive III+! Unless of course you are actually driving An Austin Allegro
noo in the 90′S Vatanen and then Lartigue were battling hard with the Mitsubishi Pajero in the Paris-Dakar with a ZX. but yes I agree, Citron tends to be more agressive in the design than its direct competitors. I like it!
@”tom 1″:
The sentence “mum can take me to college in her Beemer” kinda says it all.
You are typical of the type of sheeple who have been brainwashed via the media to believe BMW = win at life.
Citroen is cool in a quirky way, but they werent even at the sydney motor show over here in australia. I wanted to sit in a C6.
I think it looks like those tall towers you get when you first switch on a lava lamp.
I hope they keep improving and then show the guts to sell their cars in American.
We need some weird European cars here and Citroen are the people to provide the weirdness.
Yes, a lot of critics overlook the XM, in the end the reliability was sorted and I thought it was a great car.
I think the GT is a small step for Citroen and a large step for the Car industry.
Think of it, The GT will encourage more car makers to go from classy and restrained to funky and open, Without nessecarily being very fast.
I’ve driven a Mitsuoka Orochi once, in Japan. It was decently comfortable, and it gave me the same feeling you get from a Hyundai coupé.
My point is, when you walk up to it, the first word that comes to mind is: “WOW!”
Just like the GT, it’s not nessecarily a supercar, but it looks otherworldly cool. If in future more car makers will be less strict when designing something new, the future car world will be so much more colourfull.
I can give an example:
Situation A:
it’s the year 2278, and you see everyone driving around in 1990′s Mercedes E-Classes.
Situation B:
Same year, But Everyone is driving exoticly shaped cars: HTT Locusses, Veyrons, Orochis, Citroen GTs, Furais.
Get the picture?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that situation B was just referring to those cars because of the way they looked, not what they could do.
I still dream of retiring, moving to some tumbledown shed of a house in some obscure village in France (somewhere where you can hardly stand up in the street because of the slope) and having a DS and a Méhari. Beemers are very nice but they never figure in my dreams tho.
designer, who gave the new style to that, is rather from another planet. much like an alien spaceship, maybe it is.. maybe.
Firstly, are they making the Citroen GT? And secondly, Citroen’s new range (I think) is cool, but I’m not too sure about that C-Cactus. The C-Airplay, C-Airdream, and C-Buggy look cool too, however I doubt they will make them. JUST MAKE THE GT!
Oh, and the C-Metisse. That’s cool too.
The C-Airplay and C-Buggy were originally supposed to give small design cues towards the next C3. The C-Cactus is a very cool car – it manages to look different and wacky, yet it’s cheap and green. Best thing is, Citroen are putting it into production! The GT is not going into production yet but it’s appearing in Gran Turismo 5, but who knows – Citroen could use the GT to influence future cars. They say the Hypnos is the new face of Citroen…
Well, The C4 keeps racking up wins in the WRC, so that’s gotta help its status.
Looking forward to trying the GT out on Gran Turismo. Twin Turbo V6 please!
I just recently replaced my Xantia with something of a VW variety (*hangs head in shame*).. I miss her every single day though, there’s no replacement for the ride that it has.
citroen is cool but renault is no1 !
I agree – they are completely cool – I actually own a C6 (yup – I’m the one) and had a Merc before it. The C6 is every bit as well made as the Merc, it is quieter, more comfortable and handles better (yup that surprised me too!). I may not be cool but the kids agree the car is – completely! (BTW – a C6 is not that expensive if you buy second hand!)
Tom 1 quote- “You’re all completely wrong! Citroen are complete and utter useless tosh. The C1 and C2 appear to be made of bits of old plastic cups. I quite like the C6 but for the purpose of making this agument ill ignore that. I won’t even bother starting with the C8. Also what is with the stupid adverts for the C4 and the ones that make no sense for the C5. How on earth can something be “unmistakably german” if it is completely french.
Stupid, Id rather walk (or mum can take me to college in her Beemer)” end quote
That last sentence makes you sound like a right twerp. Not only are suggesting that BMW’s are ‘cool’, (which may be true if you are a drug dealer or a golf instructor) when for the majority of us they are less-cool than premature ejaculation, but you also manage to admit that your mummy still drives you to college. Ahhh. Not really one to comment on ‘cool’ at all, are you?
And considering the amount of times Top Gear have openly taken the piss out of BMW’s and their drivers on the show, it’s funny how in that lone sentence you managed to actually reinforce all the stereotypes us ‘non-BMW drivers’ have about you people.
Why don’t you wait til you can drive yourself before you try and make any kind of informed opinion? Maybe mummy will buy you an Audi TT for your birthday. Soooo cool……
The C4, in particular, is a great-looking car and for the price, drives great. The semi-auto gearbox is a dream for long road trips and effortless driving. I love ours and, so far (knock on wood) absolutely no problems with it.
… and then there’s Pluriel.
Why doesn’t anyone talk about Pluriel? Oh, right, it’s an abomination. Altough the concept is pretty interesting, that’s for sure.
The fact is Citroen deserves the credit. The redesigned C4 looks astonishing, especially the Coupé version. Just brilliant. The C5 finally looks good, and the C6 isn’t for everyone taste’s. But is suits its public very well.
And have you looked at Citroen’s interiors? Come on, they scream comfort all over the place! It’s just a wonderful feeling being inside a Citroen.
Citroen are finally making the design right. And I appreciate it.
OK, the concept is unlike anything else. From some angles, I’ll confess, it doesn’t look at all bad. Citroen should be appluaded for that, the world can’t have too many beautiful cars.
But, it’s a Citroen. Which means that anything cosmetic, or related to driver passenger comfort will drop off at 3yrs and 1 day or 45001 miles (whichever comes first).
Can’t wait to play with it on PS3. Driving over bumps to make useless stuff like wing mirrors fly off and hit the other cars sounds fun.
LOOKS OK BUT OVERALL TOO TECHNICAL. TOO MANY SPOILERS AND SPLITTERS
if you sey so…
Hmm, Citroen might look superficially cool if you live on Treasure Island but here in its home market, where the ‘chasseurs’ (‘hunters’ – actually pissed up peasants with guns) career round the countryside every Sunday morning in those shitey little white vans based on the Ami or some terrible 70′s heap, Citroen is the brand of choice only for those on whom life has failed to smile, and who thus have the choice between a matt white Citroen and one of those little ‘clockwork cars’ which make the Reliant Robin look aspirational.
I AM THE STIG I AM THE STIG I AM THE STIG I AM THE STIG I AM THE STIG I AM THE STIG
I AM THE STIG
THERE, I MADE MY POINT.
I still can not fatom why the marketing boys at Citroen didn’t even think of updating their iconic 2CV, especially given the fact that VW did it with the Beetle, Fiat with their 500 and BMW had much succes with their Mini.
No, they rather tried to fight Beamer and Audi with their C6.
That said, the Cirtoen GT is indeed a tres cool car, vraiment tres cool!
I still can not fatom why the marketing boys at Citroen didn’t even think of updating their iconic 2CV, especially given the fact that VW did it with the Beetle, Fiat with their 500 and BMW had much succes with their Mini.
No, they rather tried to fight Beamer and Audi with their C6.
That said, the Cirtoen GT is indeed a tres cool car, vraiment tres cool!
That Citroen GT is a cool car. The only problem is it’ll fall apart like all other french cars..
Citroens have always been cool – my Dad had three CXs when I was a kid in the 70s. But I don’t recall the Grace Jones ad using her posterior; I thought it was her mouth?
No no no no NO…. Citröen is not cool. Whilst they pretend that they know how to be cool, they most definitely are not. Renault are not much better, even tho i’m ‘forced’ to drive one, but I can’t see anything cool about a Citröen.
I have a colleague who has a C4, and he has been through the user manual many times and still can’t find the roller skate mode. They lie. Talk about misleading the public – should take them to Trading Standards with their adverts… I’m not saying anything about being able to skateboard on a Nissan either…….
I think the Citroen GT is BRILLIANT although it’s still a concept and has lots of mesh it’s great. I do think Citroen should make it more realistic though. I also think they should call it a Citroen GT not GTbyCitroen because that makes it sound like a game you can get for PS2 not a real car.
Bad thing is if they ever make it it’ll be ‘toned’ down which is annoying. Can’t Citroen make a few hundred? (With out toning it down)
Oh yes I’ll have some of that please!!!!
i can’t agree more that is one nice car i can’t beleve my eyes it’s almost as nice as an aston martin.
Come on,citroen don’t make the good cars and make the bad cars!The only good cars that citroen made are:the 2cv,ds pallas,c6,c5 v6.
no noise/makes buzzing sounds
in my opinion citroen is very cool, so can they go further up on the cool wall?
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Wow it certainly looks cool int it know hey, well actually it looks like some one has tried to hold it together with anchient cello tape actually..so it doesn’t look to good to fancy. Suits people who need a lot of attention. no joke
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