27 Jul 06
Those same car enthusiasts probably have a problem with the C4's pricing, too. Maybe we've become greedy, but 180bhp isn't quite enough for a hot hatch of the C4's size when rivals manage 200 or more, usually now with turbo engines. A base Focus ST costs the same as a C4, and the cause would appear lost. Except that the C4 is better equipped and, crucially, is usually subject to a cashback offer which currently knocks a hefty £3000 off its list price to bring it down to £14,520. At which point, it becomes quite good value.
The list price of our car was a scarcely credible £19,477 by the time we'd added various extras, specifically metallic paint (smooth and lustrous and a lovely shade of red), the lane-departure warning system (LDWS), the JBL stereo with boot-mounted subwoofer, the rear parking sensors and the NaviDrive pack. This last item combines full-screen sat-nav (a good system) with voice commands (questionable usefulness), a built-in phone (not tried, I'm afraid) and a very sophisticated car computer with all sorts of preferences to be set. You have to go into 'international parameters' twice a year just to reset the clock to GMT/BST - shouldn't it do that itself? - but that's the price we pay for a menu-driven society.
LDWS is a waste of space, though. It vibrates your left or right thigh if it senses you're driving over a white line, be it dotted or continuous, but is deactivated if you're indicating. But quite often you'll cross a line without wanting, or needing, to indicate. Besides which, to turn the system on is tantamount to saying 'I'm tired and shouldn't be driving, but this will jolt me awake when I nod off.' I kept it switched off.
