Few things in everyday life are more technical than the car. Precise, engineering, cool. Theoretical. Practice shows how poor the world would be without Citroën and its design innovations. The latest of them is called the C4 X, and although it is mainly aimed at markets outside Europe, it will also be sold here. Citroën invited us to Madrid for the first ride.
In the pioneering days of motoring, André Citroën was famous for its originality, especially in its design. The eccentric design only served as an accompaniment. Since those times, much has changed and technology has become unified. That’s when the brand with two arrows went through puberty and doubts, when it rejected even the peculiarities of appearance as a survival.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long and the wonderfully driven Citroëns are back, of which the sedan derived from the C4 liftback is a shining example. Like him, she gazes at the world with ufonishly squinty eyes from a bohemianly incongruously folded bow. The rear is extended by twenty-five centimeters. At the same time, unlike many similar attempts, it does not look set up or finished.
“We were well aware of that risk,” designer Marc Pinson explained to us. “You can really see in some sedans from other brands that they were derived from the hatchback. We did it the other way around from the beginning. We designed the sedan with the most natural flow of curves. That was just the starting point for the design of the liftback with a shorter rear end.”
To discuss the importance of rejecting conformity and building strong expression, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more competent partner than Mark Pinson. He has worked at Citroën for over thirty years, patiently endured the contradictory period of the turn of the millennium, only to be rewarded by fate with the task of his dreams: to design the shapes of the unique C6 limousine.
In contrast, the C4 X is essentially a consumer item. Still, Pinson insists that every car must have a strong and free thought. And he emphasizes that management needs much more courage to decide on series production than the “pawn” in the studio who sketched the matter.
There are not many technical differences between the two C4 versions, and even two hundred kilometers behind the wheel of the “X-ka” did not bring any surprises. That’s good because it’s a well-tuned car with an emphasis on comfort. It doesn’t favor sharp cornering, instead adding a relaxed comfort to everyday travel. And even on roads of lower quality, which counts for us.
The layout of the cabin gives logical priority to the front passengers, but by the standards of smaller cars, the second row is not bad either. The interior design reveals an emphasis on an accessible price, but not at the expense of functionality. In this direction, the biggest obstacle is the confusing infotainment, which, of course, troubles even larger Citroëns costing over a million crowns.
The luggage only benefits from the added twenty-five centimeters of length. While the liftback takes 380 liters, the sedan 510. However, you have to load them through a short and narrow entrance, which is a tribute to the elegance of the flowing rear and wide, horizontally oriented lamps.
This also shows the biggest weakness of the C4 X. There is traditionally less interest in sedans on the Czech market. However, when someone decides for it, it is usually for its classic three-space proportions, and those of the C4 X are missing. It’s a sedan, but it looks like a liftback.
Nevertheless, this is a welcome diversification of the offer. All the more so because all three types of drive are available: electricity, gasoline and diesel. The cheapest version of the Feel with a three-cylinder 1.2 PureTech and manual transmission costs 544,900 crowns. The battery version from 939,900 crowns is one of the cheapest electric cars in this class.
