MOTORING

STEVE HOWARTH’S TEST DRIVE

CITROEN C4

HYBRID and electric are the current buzzwords in motoring but great strides forward with economical petrol engines seem to have been somewhat overlooked.

Now that is a shame because many modern petrol cars can achieve amazing mpg figures which could only have been dreamt of a few decades ago.

If, like me, you are of a certain age then you will have memories of cars which struggled to hit 20mpg and others that were lauded for a figure of 30 – mind you, when I started driving petrol was 37p.... a gallon!

Well our latest test car is a family-sized hatchback/crossover yet during a week of very mixed driving the new Citroen C4 returned an average of around 50mpg - while with a little more care nearer to 60 would be possible. The diesel version has a claimed 76mpg!

That is with no extra hybrid power or fancy plug in capabilities – just the latest advances aimed at squeezing every last mile out of that ever more expensive go juice.

Citroën has introduced a number of important updates on their ë-C4 and C4 for 2022 which include a revised model line-up, improved efficiency for ë-C4 electric, new alloy wheel designs and body colours.

The new ë-C4 electric now has a 217 mile range from its 50KWh Lithium-ion battery and makes up over a fifth of all new C4 orders.

However – as I say don’t overlook the super economical petrol and diesel versions which are several thousand pounds cheaper - our Sense Plus - PureTech 130 is £22.270 on the road.

All models also now have new alloy wheels and are pretty well equipped, getting dual-zone climate control, cruise control, rear parking sensors and adjustable lumbar support on the driver’s seat. There’s also a 10.0in touchscreen infotainment system while standard safety kit includes automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assist.

Stepping up to our Sense Plus trim brings sat-nav, a rear-view camera, LED interior lighting and a head-up display that projects speed and other key information into your line of sight.

While it’s not a quick car the 128bhp its turbocharged 1.2-litre petrol engine produces is more than enough to satisfy most and pulls well from low revs. It is also smooth for a three-cylinder unit.

The C4 may be family hatchback size but pumped-up wheel arches and high seating are SUV-like while that curved roofline is more coupé… all of which helps it stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

All C4’s also have Citroën’s Progressive Hydraulic Cushion suspension and Advance Comfort seats so the ride is great while not compromising handling and keen pricing plus decent standard kit mean it offers good value for money.

Petrol power options are a single 1.2-litre PureTech engine available in 99bhp, 128bhp or 153bhp form. The least-powerful version comes with a six-speed manual gearbox, while the most potent 153bhp car has an eight-speed auto. The 1.5-litre diesel unit is offered with either 109bhp or 128bhp.

Prices for the combustion-engine C4 range start from just over £21,000, rising to around £28,000 for the top-spec versions. The trim line-up starts with the well-equipped Sense followed by the Sense Plus, Shine and Shine Plus which get luxuries such as leather upholstery and heated front seats.

So with those great mpg numbers plus low emissions the combustion engine is not quite dead yet – especially as to buy an electric version will cost you between £33,000 and £35,000 before the government’s plug-in car grant of £2,500.

VOLKSWAGEN - ID.3

AS a self-confessed petrol-head I was not sure how I would feel about our latest test vehicle – VW’s first designed from scratch electric car the ID.3.

But I need not have worried as it proved genuinely good fun to drive with well-weighted steering and great body control plus excellent performance and, most importantly, a healthy fullycharged range. The ID.3 replaced the e-Golf as VW’s family-sized car for those wanting to go green and comes with a choice of battery sizes, providing differing performance and range. Like its great-grandfather the Beetle the ID.3 has its electric ‘engine’ at the back driving the rear wheels with its battery pack below the floor for a low centre of gravity giving better handling. The entry-level Volkswagen ID.3’s battery is the Pure Performance 45kWh able to do around 217 miles on a single charge with a 148bhp motor giving 0-62mph in just 8.9 seconds. Next up is the 58kWh battery, which is available with two power outputs. In the Pro (our test car) it’s 143bhp but if you opt for the Pro Performance it has 201bhp, meaning 0-60 in just 6.6 seconds and a better full charge range of around 225 miles. Finally, in the larger Pro S a 77kWh battery powers the same 201bhp motor (0-62mph takes 7.9sec because it’s heavier) but it can do up to 336 miles on a charge. Our Life Pro version can, say VW, do a very useful 264 miles on a single charge. There are five trim levels - Life, Style, Family, Max and Tour – which means, together with the different engine power options, there is a big price gap between the entry level car and top of the range model. With an excellent turning circle and light steering the ID.3 Life Pro is great around town but also good on motorways, with a top speed of 99mph and 0 to 60 time of 9.6 seconds. Even by electric car standards the motor and gearbox are ultraquiet, although if you have it in re-gen mode - where more power is recovered during deceleration and braking - it can feel a bit odd at first.

Over a week of very mixed driving the ID.3 proved very easy to live with providing you plugged it in every few days to top up the range and was quick, comfortable, well equipped and roomy. The interior tells you it is an electric car with cutting edge design while from the outside it appears fairly ‘normal’. There’s a digital pod behind the steering wheel with a 5.3in display that shows speed, range and sat-nav instructions and a simple rotary-style drive selector on the side, forward to go forward and back to go back. In the centre is a large (10-inch) touchscreen that controls infotainment and heating – which also extends to the front seats and steering wheel. Parking sensors (front and rear) come as standard on all models while our entry-level Life trim has no rear-view camera but did boast adaptive cruise control. All models also get LED headlights and sat-nav.

VW say the ID.3 on a fast charger can power up our mid-range 58kWh battery from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in around 30mins. Charging at home on a normal three pin socket is a much slower affair but I still managed to add around 100 miles overnight. VW say on a domestic socket it should take 9.5 hours from flat to fully charged. So not only will the ID.3 save you money on fuel costs but also in company car tax for business users and with very low predicted depreciation strong resale values mean competitive PCP finance rates.

Our Life Pro 58 kWh model is £29,700 after the government electric car grant going up to a shade under £40k for the top of the range Tour spec car with the biggest battery pack. One tip if you do buy one - pay the extra £185 for a three pin mains charging cable unless you plan to install a fast charge socket at home. So to sum up my first real experience of a practical all-electric car (the first one I tried a few years ago did a very impractical 14 miles on a full charge) the biggest complement is, I think, that it is very easy to forget that you are not driving an internal combustion engine vehicle!