The C4 Cactus is one of those cars you either like or hate – but which I happen to like a lot actually.
The reason for this is simple – the Cactus has a simple design and smart functionality. When it’s all said and done the C4 Cactus turns out to be comfortable, practical and stylish – even with what looks like rubber floor mats glued to the outside doors.
On the Road: The Cactus is available in a series of petrol engines and one diesel engine. All the petrol engines produce good fuel economy and power. The PureTech 110 petrol engine offers good performance and economy with a 0-62mph time of just over 9.0 seconds whilst also returning a combined 65.7mpg. The 82bhp and 75bhp versions both offer a similar 0-62 time of 12.9 and returning a combined 61.4mpg up to 65.7. For me the 100bhp Diesel is the one to go for; as it can return a staggering 80+mpg in the correct environment.
For some the ride could be conceived as being quite ‘bouncy’ but in a fun sort of way. The Cactus holds the road really well and is a person’s comfort blanket even when the road ahead gets a little less than expected. To be honest – the Cactus will happily drive you around on a wave of comfort making you feel very happy as you go about your day to day business.
Road noise can be high on certain road surfaces – but nothing I would worry about if I owned one. The fact that the rear windows do not wind down was a little strange, but would this be the defining factor of me not making a purchase – probably not.
On the inside: As you would expect from Citroen, the cabin materials are of a decent quality – but as I said earlier – some of the surfaces do feel a little cheap. All round visibility is good and the interior space is brilliant when you consider that the Cactus is not a large car really.
The Cactus also has a fair amount of Tech onboard if you opt for the Flair Blue HDi 100, some of the options include; a DAB radio, 6 speakers, LED daytime running lights, height adjustable driver’s seat and a Bluetooth hands free streaming system.
Space inside the Cactus is good with 358 litres of load capacity (seats up). This offers a large family excellent versatility. The seats are also very wide and very pleasing to sit in.
Ownership: Prices start at around £18,090 for the Flair Blue HDi 100 model with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Residual prices are looking ok – but if you are going to be buying new, buy the top spec model as it will hold its own better when you come to re-sell it later on. CO2 emissions for the 100bhp HDi Diesel are also good coming in at 92g/km.
Reliability in general is very good and you can expect build quality of the Cactus to be as good if not better than some of the other manufacturers.
Safety & Security: The Cactus was awarded a four-star rating by Euro NCAP in its industry benchmark safety tests (Citroën C4 CACTUS 1.2 ‘FEEL’ 5 door as tested in 2014), scoring a very good 82% and 79% scores for the adult occupant and child occupant elements respectively. The Cactus also comes with Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Anti-lock braking system (ABS) remote central locking and transponder engine immobiliser. By Anthony Yates
