By Tim Smith
Have you ever noticed that ‘facelifted’ cars tend to look worse than the original design? Witness the Renault Megane, once plain but handsome, it now appears to have put a funny mask on.
Before
After
Similarly, the once cute little Citroen C1 appears to have had its nose ripped off leaving it somewhat reminisent of a skull. I jape you not. Just look at one next time it flies by on a magic carpet of demon dust. You will not be able to unsee that. No way.
I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL
But now there is good news. Citroen have released official pictures and details of the new C1. And it doesn’t look like a skull anymore. In fact, it looks rather good.
I have no idea what ‘driving, refined’ means
Citroen say it will be available in three body styles: 3 and 5 door and an ‘Airscape’ open-top. Expect that one to have a roll back roof similar to the Fiat 500.
They also say it will weigh 840kg. So that’s efficiency, and hopefully a spritely drive taken care of.
Nope, still no idea
Having driven the last generation 107 (identical to the C1 except for the badge), I can confidently say it was a rather good little machine with a soulful 3-cylinder motor. I liked it. Citroen/Peugeot/Toyota should get rid of the old power steering pump, though. ‘Feel’ was replaced by the sensation that you were stirring PVA glue like you did when you were 5. Right before you would coat your fingers in it then have the pleasure of peeling it off like a second skin. Don’t look at me like that. You did it too.
As before it will be tripleted with Peugeot and Toyota versions built in the same factory.
Autoeclectic 