The new Citroen Grand C4 Picasso – The Whole World in Your Car

They say that technology exists to make life easier. That we can be more productive, more efficient and it will improve quality of life. Technology is the sum of human achievement and if you were to ask what is the greatest amount of technology one can own if one has a budget below RM200,000, Citroen has the answer for you.

The new Grand C4 Picasso.

It’s got automotive gadgetry that’ll makes many vehicles costing many times more appear prehistoric. It’s got the size to bring home people the size of a full volleyball team. It’s got a fuel range that makes the most frugal diesel 4×4 pickup look like it’s got a leaking fuel hose somewhere. It could even carry a fridge in it (yes, I’ve tried it) and it’s got safety equipment that makes even the most paranoid passenger feel a little more reassured.

And yet during my time with it, I made an unexpected discovery; the Grand C4 Picasso made me a better driver. It’s a car that rewards you when you drive sensibly and isn’t shy in reminding you when you’re driving like an A-hole. It was – enlightening and one I hope to share with you here:-

 

Design

 

 

With a front looking like a piece cut from the saucer section of the starship Enterprise, the Grand C4 Picasso (let’s call it Picasso from now on) has a wrap-around look, making it appear as aerodynamic as an egg, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the alternative is a boxy fridge-like thing on 4-wheels that is all so common for MPVs. The twin grilles separate the LED Daytime Running Lights from the main headlamp cluster and rather than looking awkward, the entire front fascia looks refreshingly modern and stylish. Who says you can’t turn heads when you drive an MPV – I got plenty of those during my time with it (although I’m not sure if it’s because it’s still very rare on our roads or lorry drivers thinking I’m some drunk sod driving an MPV next to them at the diesel pumps)

 

 

Measuring  4,600mm in length, 1,826mm in width and 1,634mm in height with a wheelbase of 2,840mm, the Picasso offers a lot of space within. It won’t be as large as say, a Toyota Alphard  but for those considering a Nissan Serena S Hybrid, this would be a viable option. Sitting on PSA’s new EMP2 platform, the Picasso has grown considerably from its predecessor. The key benefits of the EMP2 platform are:-

• Modular which means you can add/subtract components to make it longer/shorter to suit different vehicles. Makes inventory a lot easier in the factory
• Saves weight (about 100kg lighter compared to its predecessor)
• Maximum space. Better wheelbase length but external footprint remaining the same size.
• Allows a lower center of gravity thanks to the engine and vehicle floor sitting closer to the ground

The only other vehicle that uses this platform at this point in time is the new Peugeot 308.

 

 

An MPV with 18″ alloy rims and 224/45 tires might not be the best for our roads but surprisingly it wasn’t as bumpy as I would have imagine it to be. Not that I would change this set of rims if I had it anyway because it looks so classy.

 

The wrap-around effect is carried back to the rear of the car where the 3D-like rear lamps sits on the electric tailgate. In case you missed it, the tailgate makes up the entire rear piece which curves at the sides. This means when the gate is up, you don’t see any tail lamps.

 

Performance

 

 

The Picasso sold by Naza Euro Motors here comes with two engine choices; a 1.6 litre THP twin-scroll petrol turbocharged engine found in almost all Peugeot models or the 2.0 litre direct turbo injection diesel engine as tested here. The e-HDi engine has a max power of 150ps at 4,000rpm and propels the Picasso from 0-100km/h in 10.2 seconds. Not exactly performance levels but then we’re talking about an MPV here, not a sports car. Besides, the key point of any vehicle that drinks diesel is its torque, in which the one featured here delivers a healthy 370Nm from a low 2,000rpm. Even though it has a kerb weight of 1,476kg, you won’t feel it lacking in power. As a matter of fact, you won’t feel much of the turbo kicking in as power delivery is very smooth, almost sedan like.

The other advantage this engine has over its petrol sibling is the fuel consumption; Citroen claims for every 100km travelled, 4.6litres of diesel is guzzled (5.4litres urban, 4.2litres rural). I went to Johor Bahru and back and this was my result:-

A theoratical range of 1,369km after running around JB for a short while. This officially makes the Picasso the most frugal vehicle kensomuse has ever tested under real world circumstances (maximum legal speed limits, air conditioning switched on all the time, multiple stops along the way). I’ve known more than a few so-called fuel consumption test drives done by various companies and I can tell you this:- not all of them are practical in day-to-day driving and so don’t be surprised if you get results that differ from what you read.

When I returned the car on Monday after moving around in the Klang Valley for 3 days, the odometer read 936km, with slightly less than 1 quarter fuel on the indicator, estimated range to go about 190km. The meter showed an average fuel consumption of 6.o litres per 100km. And this is after helping a friend move house over the weekend so it was used as a work horse.

 

Ride and Handling

 

 

The weakest link in the powertrain is the 6-speed automatic gearbox which is a little slow in deciding which gears to use at times. There has been moments when the gear stayed on 2nd longer than necessary before shifting to 3rd. And times when it downshifted from 6th to 4th seemingly at its whim and fancy despite the throttle pedal not being changed much and the gradient of the road stayed more or less the same throughout. Nothing the pedal shifters can’t mitigate though.

But overall, I tend to leave it in D mode. Those times when it gets brain freeze are rare and so long as you don’t go changing your driving pattern too much, you’ll be fine.

Nevertheless, if I could change anything about this car, I’d have selected a thicker profile tires while maintaining the EOLE 18″ rims. Our roads aren’t particularly smooth and each time I pass through a pothole with a sharp edge, I’d cringe as if it’s my bare skin scrapping the earth below. The suspension set-up is tuned towards comfort and while this minimizes what would have been a much harsher ride if it was any other car equipped with said tires, it does make high speed cornering a tad uncertain when you’re not particularly sure how the dampers are going to behave, particularly when it’s a corner lined with thick yellow line paint.

But then if you do drive it like you’ve got your precious family members on board all the time, it’ll cosset everyone well.

 

Cabin Convenience

 

If the exterior design impresses you, the interior would astound you. The first few things to catch your eye are the horizontal motif that adorns the dashboard and two large screens sitting in the centre; a 12″ Panoramic HD screen above and a 7″ touch screen mid dash. Citroen opted to use virtual controls in the place of traditional buttons so as to keep everything neat and tidy and while I certainly agree with the clean part, touchscreens pose a different set of challenges for the driver but more on this later.

 

 

While the dash may have very little physical buttons to press, the same can’t be said about the tilt and telescopic steering wheel. The layout is very similar to the DS4′s helm but with a bit more anodised bits and some additional function controls such as Park Assist. Other controls such cruise control, volume, media and Bluetooth are all found here.

 

By going virtual, the designers can come up with various displays to relay critical driving information such as speed and rev counter to you. Above are the three settings you can select and they all show you the same thing, only in different skins.

The French are so thoughtful; like all Citroens, the Picasso comes with an inbuilt fragrance diffuser. You’d need to order the refills from them or eBay though because the unique cylinder-shaped fragrance ‘roll’ isn’t available in any local 7-Eleven stores.

The Picasso comes with a 7″ touchscreen called the Touch Drive and through this, various functions of the vehicle is accessed. I’ve mentioned this car comes fully loaded with technology so let’s start by listing them down in order of the functionality shown here. Starting from 2 pictures above;-

• Parking sensors off or on
• Park Assist – the steering automatically turns when parking in OR out of a parallel parking spot. Once lateral sensors detect sufficient space in parking mode, you will be given instructions on the display on when to slot the gears forward or reverse and you just modulate the brakes while keeping your hands OFF the steering wheel. In exit mode, the steering will also turn automatically depending on which side you want to exit to. Both entry and exit direction depends on which signal stalk you activate.

• Reverse camera – This is one of those few vehicles that comes with four cameras to create a 360 degree view around the car. Perfect to spot any children playing hide-and-seek while you’re reversing out of your car porch or seeing low obstacles such as road kerbs when parking.

• Lane Departure Warning – Utilizing the on-board radar, the Picasso would know whether you’re drifting to another lane by checking if the indicators are turned on when doing so. Failure would result in the driver’s seatbelt pulling and releasing multiple times. If there was a massage system that works on your boobs, this would be one. The first few times it happens, it was pretty amusing. After a while, it gets annoying and while you can switch this function off, I left it on to remind myself to use my indicators more often.
• Blind Spot Monitoring – On the side mirros, there are yellow LEDs that light up if another vehicle sneaks up into you when you’re changing lanes. At night, the LED is bright and it did save me once from unwanted contact due to a small car that came up too fast for me to spot it.
• Automatic Headlight dipping – Leave it on always as it automatically changes the headlight level to throw further when the windscreen camera does not detect on-coming traffic.
• Under-inflation initialization – a tire pressure monitoring system that tells you if any of your tires are punctured and/or have insufficient air pressure
• Inter vehicle speed – monitors the Picasso current speed and the speed of the vehicle in front of you and warns you if you get too close. You set the warning by the estimated seconds before contact between both vehicles, varying from 1 to 2 seconds.
• Adaptive Cruise Control – not found on the menu but the Inter Vehicle Speed is tied to the Adaptive Cruise Control system which changes the Picasso’s speed autonomously to maintain the inter vehicle speed set by you. The other vehicle I tested recently that comes with this feature is the new Peugeot 308, but unlike the 308’s drive which is a predetermined course, I chose a destination of my own and therefore experienced using this technology differently compared to a preset driving route. And I almost got myself into trouble with it. Everyone should remember that when using new technologies, you must understand how they work and use it responsibly. Once I took an exit off a highway and those familiar with the North South Expressway would know all exits are two-lanes. In front of me was a 1 tonne lorry that was also exiting and naturally, the Picasso slowed down when the ACC picked it up. When I did not anticipate was when the lorry moved to the slow lane on the left, the ACC accelerated to my preset 110km/h speed – up from 80km/h it had slowed down to. Now I knew what it was like if I was driving a Toyota with the unintendent acceleration problem. Fortunately for me, I still had sufficient road to deactivate the ACC by braking. Had it been raining or me being closer to the corners, the result might have been catastrophically different. This is a point that I feel is important to highlight; Where previously adaptive cruise controls were in the purview of ultra expensive vehicles and as it trickles down to more affordable vehicles, proper education on its uses is a must to avoid any undesirable situations. Hope all sales advisors (and companies) take note of this and point it out to prospective buyers accordingly.
• Speed Settings – essentially speed limiter and cruise control presets

As pointed out earlier, buttons are sparse on the dashboard. Instead, you access functionalities such as air conditioning and audio connectivity (FM, AM, USB, iPod, Bluetooth, AUX and an inbuilt drive called the Jukebox from the 7″ touch screen. While this layout is great in simplifying the dash, it can also be challenging for the driver to access functions while keeping his eyes on the road. There are no tactile feedback so it is advisable for you to set what you need while stationary and leave the air conditioning control page on as it’s the one thing that you and your passenger might be using more often compared to others.

The Picasso offers GPS Navigation but it’s clunky and not all Points of Interests are available. In the context of today’s navigation availability, Waze is still by far the better option because of its almost complete database of roads and live traffic updates.

 

Like the Citroen DS4, the Picasso has a panoramic windscreen where about 4 inches of the top where the sunvisors are located can be slid backwards to admit more sunlight and create a larger view as if you’re driving a capsule instead of a vehicle. Good tints area must if you want to avoid getting a sun tan and it does get a little warmer in the cabin due to the large glass sheet.

The best seat in the Picasso isn’t the driver’s and neither is it the rear rows. Luxurious Cuir Nappa bi-tone Leather carpets all seats and the front passenger is the only one with an electric foot rest that allows you to rest like a business class aircraft seat.

Not only are both front seats electric driven, both also comes with massage function and heated seats (a feature admittedly less useful here unless you spend most of your time in the highlands)

Sadly, the Picasso suffers the same problem like most other French cars; the fuse box is located on the left of the dash and this compromises the glove compartment storage space.

It’s a good thing that the Picasso still offers lots of storage spaces elsewhere. Seen above is a compartment located below the 7″ touchscreen and here you’ll find the USB, AUX and 12V ports.

Moving the gear to the drive column frees up space in the center and Citroen makes good use of it by giving you a two tier storage compartment that’s deep enough to fit a small mineral bottle.

 

For larger 1.5 litre bottles, you can fit them at the side door pockets.

The 2nd row seats are great for kids to be in as there’s good legroom space (if the 3rd row isn’t utilized), the back rest can be reclined slightly for greater comfort and there’s a tray table with individual LED reading lights. It’s really ‘driving’ first class.

A 12V port can be found in the center. Before you complain about the lack of air conditioning vents for the rear, look at the B pillars and they’re found there. A note about the air conditioning though; even when set at its highest, the throughput isn’t particularly impressive and it takes a while for the rear to be sufficiently cooled.

Good thing that the rear has built in sunshades to keep the sun out on hot days.

Being a 7-seater, don’t expect much cargo space when the 3d row seats are up. Also, 3rd row legroom leaves a lot to be desired and best occupied by kids – or pets – or Tyrion Lannister.

 

With 3rd row folded, you free up a lot more space – 632litres to be precise and for families of 4 or 5, this configuration gives you a good balance between luggage and human transportation.

You can fold the 2nd row seats up and push them forward. This will create a barrier between the front and rear cargo while at the same time providing 793 litres of space. Or they can be folded down for you to put a nice comforter and stare at the stars through the panoramic roof with your loved one. With all seats down, you have a whopping 1851 litres of space!

 

Safety

The Picasso comes loaded with lots of goodies to keep you and your family safe. Chief among them are:-

• Two front airbags
• Two side airbags
• Two curtain airbags (total 6 airbags)
• ABS (Anti-Blocking System)
• Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD)
• Emergency Braking Assistance (EBA)
• ESP (Electronic Stability Programme)
• Traction control (ASR)
• Lane Departure Warning system (LDW)
• Active Cruise Control
• Blind Spot Indicator
• 360 degrees vision system
• Rear view camera
• Push Start Button
• Park assist
• Anti theft alarm

 

 

Specifications

Exterior

• HID headlamps with auto headlamp dipping
• LED Daytime Running Lights
• Front fog light with cornering function
• Reverse dipping door mirrors with LED indicators
• Electric Tailgate

Interior

• Automatic air-conditioning
• 3rd row air vent
• Push Start Button
• 7 inch Touch Drive
• Driver seat with electric massage function & adjustable lumbar support
• Front passenger seat with massage function & electric foot rest
• 12″ HD panoramic screen with navigation system
• Active cruise control

 

Ownership and Maintenance

 

The diesel-powered new Citroen Grand C4 Picasso retails for RM189,888 on the road with insurance and GST. Four colors are available; Noir Onyx, Blanc Banquise, Rouge Babylone and as seen here, Blue Teles. It comes with 5-years warranty.

Should you get one?

Considering that it has a price tag below RM200k but decked with goodies found in cars triple its price, I’d say why not? And if you’re the type of person who hates multiple visits to the petrol station, the Picasso’s frugal nature would probably need you to refill only once bi-weekly even if you use it everyday. Just don’t drive it like in a drag race at each traffic light stop.

My time with it reminded me at all times to use the signals when changing lanes/turning, being considerate on the gas pedals and an appreciation on all the finer technological advancement that comes with this vehicle. The only thing that puts me a little on the edge is the heavy reliance on such technologies. If for example the 7″ touchscreen malfunctions for any reason, many of the vehicle’s function cannot be accessed. I’m an old school kind of guy in this sense.

But then when Citroen started promoting the use of hydropneumatic suspensions, many naysayers also worry about high cost of repairs if it breaks down. Sames goes for any high tech continental vehicles.

If such a concern is predominant in your selection of a vehicle, then Asian-makes are probably a better option for you.

 

But then, check out this view above. What more can a family ask when moving around. Technology, space, design and amazing fuel consumption.

In this sense, the Grand C4 Picasso certainly lives up to its tagline: the World in Your Car

 

The World is waiting for you …

 

 

 

For more information, check out Citroen Malaysia’s website http://www.citroen.com.my/