GRAND PICASSO IS PICK OF CITROEN MPVs The Citroen C4 Picasso must have had one of the shortest model runs ever. It turned up in dealer showrooms in December and by the time it went on sale in January had already become the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso. There is a C4 Picasso in the Citroen range again, but that’s an entirely different car with five seats instead of the seven that you find in the Grand model. It smacks a bit of monumental cock-up - obviously people marketing the different models were not talking to each other sufficiently often. At least, that’s the only conclusion I can draw for this confusing situation. After that initial hiccup, the Grand C4 Picasso is not a bad car. There are things about it I am not keen on but on the whole it makes an excellent MPV, which is not surprising as Citroen has a wealth of experience with this type of vehicle. The Grand C4 Picasso is big on just about everything - as grand as its name implies. It has, for instance, a huge glass area and a windscreen that gives a field of vision twice the size of that in other MPVs, says Citroen. One of the first things you notice from the driving seat is that the screen pillars are very thin so that they do not impinge too much on visibility. For this reason, you get a much better view out of the Grand Picasso than you do out of other MPVs and this is especially useful at junctions and roundabouts, where you want to look forward and slightly to the side. The uncluttered nature of the fascia is also very appealing. With the main C4 models, Citroen introduced a fixed hub design for the steering wheel, with many of the controls arranged around the hub. This puts everything within easy reach. Just as in the Renault Espace, the heating controls are set out next to the driver’s right hand with a separate temperature control for the passenger in a corresponding position on the left. It largely works very well apart from in a team driving effort like we have, where the passenger largely takes care of altering the settings while the driver thinks about pointing the car in the right direction. With this C4 you have to concentrate a bit at first because the self centre action of the steering is very strong and the wheel constantly wants to tug back to the straight ahead position again. With practice you become used to this but it’s a feature you need to be aware of when you take a test drive. Don’t let it put you off the car, just realise that dealing with it is a technique you have to learn. If you have driven Citroens like this in the past, though, it will be like getting reacquainted with an old friend. One thing I never mastered was the six speed transmission of the test car. It’s an electronic manual system with the option of using paddle shifts and came in place of the conventional manual box that’s standard on the 1.6 litre HDI diesel I drove. On the two litre diesel, it’s the only box you can have. My advice is to avoid it at all costs unless you have an auto only driving licence. It’s the most unpleasant device to afflict a car since the automatic on the Smart car was invented. Stick with the standard car (the test car was the VTR+ priced at £18,195) and save the £500 cost of the auto. The 1.6 HDI will impress with its 45 mpg economy and seven seats. It’s cheapish transport for the masses. Maurice Hardy Annette's View Citroen knows a thing or two about making MPVs and has a wide choice within its range. Most successful has been the Xsara Picasso, which continues in the line-up as an ultra budget model. Quite a few buyers are now demanding seven seats where once five would do in a car of this size and Citroen has responded by introducing this new model, a direct competitor for the Vauxhall Zafira, which pioneered this layout. The Vauxhall also brought the concept of keeping all the seats in the car, even when they are not in use. Others have refined it but Citroen has made its seats even more clever. When passengers want to access the rearmost row, a tug on the release for the outer middle seats causes the base cushion to flip up against the backrest and the whole seat to slide forward. Getting past the folded seat is then very simple. The rear row also has a sunken footwell, increasing leg space as the feet can find a home under the middle row. And, as a five seater, the car has a class leading 576 litres of load capacity under the sliding cover with the centre row in its rearmost position. Fold all the seats and this goes up to 1,951 litres, virtually as much as the bigger Ford S-Max. Car: Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 HDI EGS VTR+ Does it fit your ego?... 0-62 mph: 13.4 secs Top speed: 112 mph Bhp: 110 @ 4000 rpm Torque: 177 lb ft @ 1750 rpm ...and your wallet?... Price: £18,695 Urban: 41.54 mpg Extra urban: 55.4 mpg Combined: 49.6 mpg CO2 emissions: 150 g/km Insurance Group: 7 Best bits: it’s light; it’s capable; it’s economical.