[Shanksta]

I visited the Citroen showroom yesterday to check out the C3. I test drove the C3 naturally aspirated version. First impressions:

* The car looks very proportionate and pleasing to the eye.
* The orange colour suits this funky design and the paint quality is great.
* The interior space is great and this car would not be a squeeze for tall passengers.
* Ride quality is very very good for a car of this class.
* The seat cushioning and recline angle of the rear seat is great, probably one of the best I have sat on in recent times.
* Ingress and egress is easy.
* The AC was very effective and throw was felt in the rear.
* Boot is huge and 350L
* Steering is small and very easy to use, this car felt great for filtering through traffic.
* View from the driver seat was commanding.
* The doors close with a huge thud even if you are gentle.
* The placement of the rear power window switches in the center console looks bad.
*The car has a super basic Instrument cluster without a tacho.
* The clutch is modulated very well and engine feels pretty peppy.

Overall, this is definitely a great car for city use if priced right.

[arjab]

Me & wifey were walking down Park Street, Calcutta, to pick up our daughter from school, when we popped into the Citroen showroom as we had some time to kill before the school gave over.
There was a solo White & Orange C3, naturally aspirated version, on display.
First impressions:
1. Decent build quality, uniform fit, finish, gap & flush. Even paint quality with no bubbling or "orange-peel" effects anywhere. I especially keep a keen eye at the potential slight colour mismatch between the surface of the plastic bumper and the sheet metal fender. In this car that was not visible at all.

2. Excellent ingress and egress. Particularly at the front. It's almost a "walk in - walk-out" door aperture design. The front seats look very basic but offer very good support, particularly under - thigh. The bolstering and lower lumbar support also felt spot on. This was endorsed by the Miss'us too, (and she's a long time sufferer of low back pain)
The Great Indian Automotive Media and The Great Indian Auto Enthusiast's brigade are slaughtering Citoen for having fitted "flap"-type Outer door handles. To my feeble mind and jurassic perceptions, the handles felt perfectly fitted, engaged and disengaged with a positive sounding click and worked flawlessly.

3. Liked the cabin width and the horizontal couple distance between driver and passenger. You will not bang elbows or shoulders with your passenger.

4. Large footwells and well spaced out A,B,C pedals. People with large boots should not have an issue.

5. Excellent visibility with manageable blind spots around the "A"-pillar.

6. The manually adjustable outside door mirrors are wide and do their intended task well.

7. Rear seat is commodious, has very good under-thigh support and the cushioning is neither too soft or too hard. Both the front seats get seatback pockets for rear seat passengers to store things. The daylight opening, DLO, at the rear is sufficiently large enough and will not induce claustrophobic feelings to rear seat occupants.

8. Boot looked fairly large with good enough space to take in a weekend's luggage for a family of three / four people. The shape of the boot is very practical to stuff things in.

9. In the naturally aspirated version: the engine bay looked to have been designed to take in much larger engines. Based on a fleeting visual check: the engine mounts looked pretty hefty and overengineered for a 1.2 Litre's engine's weight.

10. The vehicle has short overhangs and a healthy ground clearance. It should not be an issue driving the C3 over broken Indian roads.

11. The floor mats and the boot mat - all available as genuine accessories looked and felt nice and hardy.

What could have been improved

1. Addition of rear wash wipe. The upright rear windscreen will gather a lot of muck, particularly in the rains. From what i saw the rear windscreen "frit" area is package protected for a rear wash-wipe system integration. Citroen for some reason has omitted it. Does not even have an option.

2. Electrically adjustable outside rear view mirrors. It is required because the cabin is wide and one has to lean over a bit too much to manually adjust the mirrors. Also the stability of the mirror surface in the case of an electrically adjustable mirror is greater and the mirror does not "shift" from its "user - set" position that frequently compared to a manually adjustable mirror.

3. A simple, flick lever day-night inside rear view mirror.

Overall I like the car. It is simple, looks elegant, is very comfortable to sit in and feels refreshingly nice and simple.
Personally I am a person who like to own well performing, good handling vehicles which will age well over time. I do not need button clad steering wheels, huge television like displays, seats that jiggle and wiggle your nether regions before spewing streams of air; and i certainly do not want "talking cars" and that too in a ludicrous, nasal twang as to what it would and would not do to light up that bulb in your living room!

Most probably I will request for a test drive, once the dealership gets their 1.2 Turbo test drive vehicle and then take a call.

Citroen, please price this right.

[lokesh79]

Visited La Maison Citroën Coimbatore this afternoon for TD.

1. There were a good number of walk-ins (at least 5) during the hour I spent in the showroom waiting for TD.
2. Age group of walk-ins varied from 25 years to 60+.
3. The 60+ gentleman left within 2 minutes when he got to know that there was no automatic transmission option available. He left a nice comment to the sales advisor - you can only sell what the company offers.
3. One booking was made by a couple - their first car most likely. The sales advisor mentioned that they had 65 bookings to date.
4. Indicative price that the sales advisors were mentioning was between 6.25 Lakhs to 9.75 Lakhs OTR. Interestingly between the two sales advisors, there was a 50k difference in prices mentioned.
5. On the lack of AT variant, the Sales advisor's reasoning is the pending launch of C3 Electric by December. Truth or not - no idea.
6. Beverages menu card had more options (including milkshakes) than a typical restaurant.

About the car

• Positives - Looks, Seating, Ride Quality, Turbo variant
• Neutral - Interiors, NA version performance, 30L tank
• Negatives - Feature omissions

Felt the car will be preferred by first-time buyers who are seeking novelty with looks. Buyers looking to replace a city beater or a second car will be put off by the negatives.

My wife summed it up with a one-liner - "Car is good to drive, but overall feels like a step down from our Swift (Vxi 2009 Model)"

Hope Citroen pulls out Magnite-type pricing to convert the bookings to actual sales.

[skpprabhu]

I was at the unveil event in one of their Bangalore dealership on 3rd July and also took a test drive of the turbo petrol. As a brand it looks more promising and commited towards Indian market. Their showroom was good and the staffs was very professional and well equipped.

I personally like the approach what Citroen has taken to focus more on mechanicals rather than features. Features can be added anytime in the product lifecycle and as per their statement the features are included/omitted based on the user survey.

To some extend I feel it to be correct, let me evaluate some features based on my usage.

1. Electrically adjustable ORVM: It is convenient but how many times do I use it, In my current vehicle I use it once in 3 months or 6 months just to make sure the motor is not jammed. Sometimes it is excatly in the same position when the vehicle comes back from a service also. So it is rarely used.
2. Manual IRVM: To my knowledge I have never switched it to night mode and I was able to manage it with its original position only.
3. Rear Wiper/Washer: This is something I often use and in city like Bangalore it is a must as the rains are unexpected. May be rarely used in other places but again this is a standard as other manufacturers also provides it only at top ends.
4. Alloy wheels: Not a great deal, it can be added anytime later.
5. Adjustable headrests: Again a convenient feature, may be mostly used in rear seats and I dont see major usage in the front seats.

So I am fine in compromising these features for a better engine and ride quality. The test drive was good and was inline with this review. I received a call from Citroen yesterday to get feedback on the test drive and they were very open to check if there is any improvements to be made, which is really appreciated.

[KPR]

A. Is the Turbo petrol offered in C3 is running for Citroen in Europe/elsewhere or it has been developed exclusively for India?
B. I read in one of the comment in a youtube video by a foreigner that the timing chain is wet type and requires change once in 50k km which may cost us more for maintenance compared to competition. Is it true? Anyone has an answer?

[lionheart_mm]

Electric version of this car could be a surprise hit if priced well.

[denny_ace]

Originally Posted by lokesh79

5. On the lack of AT variant, the Sales advisor's reasoning is the pending launch of C3 Electric by December. Truth or not - no idea.

If reports are to be believed, Citroën's EV is going to be available sooner than later. In the latest of articles about upcoming EVs, Financial Express has listed Citroën's EV too.

https://www.financialexpress.com/aut...-2023/2583227/

Citroën already has a range of EVs on sale in Europe and the UK including their small city EV - AMI.

The launch of electric version of the C3 can really spice up things in the EV space in India.

[nutcracker]

After VW ditched Polo, I need a small car because I have to sell my impeccably maintained 1.5TDI Polo due to the stupid NGT rule in Delhi.

I am seriously considering the C3 as a worthy replacement to my Polo. Will probably be test driving it soon.

Any notes on how the music system sounds?

[arjab]

Originally Posted by nutcracker

Any notes on how the music system sounds?

I am no audiophile and to my untrained ears it sounded quite nice. A little bass heavy, but not something to tear your hair out.(I was listening to FM Radio in the showroom, so sound quality from other music sources may sound different). The touchscreen display is very smooth to operate. Did not stutter or hang. And the wireless Android Auto connected well with my Motorola.

[KPR]

Originally Posted by nutcracker

I am seriously considering the C3 as a worthy replacement to my Polo. Will probably be test driving it soon.

Any notes on how the music system sounds?

Those who own VW, Fiat cars are for C3. Meanwhile Korean and Japanese car owners are with C3. Those who own Indian branded cars are playing safe with 4 and 5 stars. Who would've expected this trend 10 years back!

[Asoon]

Question is can it pull off the Kwid Story, and my assessment is no,

-A Small Car buyer has less self conviction and relies more on validation form others, with such a thin dealer network and limited early adopters cracking at mass market segment is impossible

- Kwid was in the shadow of duster, in case of Polo VW brand worked, Seltos rode on the segment leading features list, First Gen XUV/ Hector offered next level value for spend, all of which is missing here.

- I know they are targeting premium base in the current avatar this is nowhere a a Polo / Fabia / Punto upgrade

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by skpprabhu

1. Electrically adjustable ORVM: It is convenient but how many times do I use it, In my current vehicle I use it once in 3 months or 6 months just to make sure the motor is not jammed. Sometimes it is exactly in the same position when the vehicle comes back from a service also. So it is rarely used.
2. Manual IRVM: To my knowledge I have never switched it to night mode and I was able to manage it with its original position only.

Agree with the other features, but I regularly use my ORVM particularly the passenger-side while doing kerb-side parking. Helps me get into the position and park it as close as possible to the kerb. Having to reach over
to adjust it will probably dissuade me from doing so and hence may result in shoddy parking. Not a deal-breaker, but just bringing in a different POV.

Similarly, auto-dimming IRVM was an important requirement for me and can't picture myself driving without it. It makes night driving much more safe. Nowadays everyone is driving in high-beams or have aftermarket LEDs, poorly mounted on halogen reflectors that are good for nothing but causing glare to other drivers. I don't find this as a convenient feature at all, rather an important safety feature to be honest.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by Asoon

Question is can it pull off the Kwid Story, and my assessment is no,

The C3's engineering is pretty solid. Amongst the developmental engineers, many of them have joined from Renault, Nissan and Tata with a sound knowledge of what needs to be done to make the vehicle a sound product.

The brand team is led by Vincent Cobee, who had spearheaded the very successful KWID project of Renault - Nissan,(specifically the CMF-A platform).

Product-wise, I feel, the little Gaul stands a good chance of success!
The issue will be with the lack of dealer sales points. And the ability of the Dealer Development team at Citroen India to rein in the inflated ego of the dealer, (and their associated shenanigans), should the car turn into a hit.

[ajayc123]

GaadiWaadi.com: Soon-Launching Citroen C3 Prices To Likely Start From Rs. 6 Lakh.
https://gaadiwaadi.com/soon-launchin...rom-rs-6-lakh/

[driver52001]

They could have given a tachometer at the least. What is this? Alto 800 LXI?