24 Aug 04
Citroen calls their target customer Craig. He's 22, and has a reasonable expendable income because he doesn't have many outgoings. He likes designer clothes, the odd Smirnoff Ice (when he's not driving, mind), and he's got a job. You know the sort of bloke they mean. You and I might call him a Chav: Burberry cap, maybe lives with his mum, but he likes cars, so he's alright with us. Group 16 insurance is a non-starter for him though, which rules out anything more than 130bhp. Easy, cheap repairs and better security are other issues which Citroen has worked hard to address with insurance research centre Thatcham, which sets insurance groups. They've slotted the VTS into a very reasonable Group 8, some six groups lower than the Saxo and just two higher than the VTR.
Which is not bad for a 125bhp hottish hatchback, which is why the new VTS is likely to prove a lot more popular than the old one. The 8v Saxo VTR sold by the bucket-load, but the more expensive and harder-to-insure 16v VTS didn't. This isn't likely to be the case this time: the C2 VTR, though it only gives away 15bhp, comes with an inadequate automated manual gearbox, and isn't that much cheaper than the VTS. Well, it's a grand less, but if you add air conditioning (and you should), the difference comes to around £400.
