05 Sep 06
Moving back to the front of the cabin, the best sense of space is achieved by specifying the clutchless paddle-shift transmission option. This frees up floor space, helped by the automatic electric parking brake standard across the range that's operated by a button in the middle of the dashboard and allows an extra, central, drop-down storage compartment (air-conditioned) in the dashboard where the manual-transmission car's gear lever would be.
This supplements two big bins on top of the dashboard, one of which can contain a CD-stacker with space to spare. Heater and air-con controls are at each end of the dashboard, and the whole idea is much like that pioneered by Renault in the previous-generation Espace. As with the regular C4, many minor controls are grouped on a fixed hub in the centre of the steering wheel, which makes the whole dashboard unusually uncluttered.
And now, the lighting. Staying with the cabin, the top, Exclusive model has gentle 'ambient' lighting strips along the door-trim mouldings, under the dashboard and above the windscreen, where the much-needed upper sunblind is stored. (There's a panoramic roof option, too, by the way.) Not everyone will like this feature, especially this writer, who prefers car cabins to be properly dark at night apart from illuminated controls, but it's all a matter of taste. And there's a very neat feature in the front door pockets: place your hand inside and the pocket's interior lights up. Yes, it's a gimmick but it will make you smile.
The boot light is removable and doubles as a rechargeable torch. And then there are the tail-lights, with LEDs powering zigzag light channels, which resemble the heating elements of an electric fire, to achieve that mid-noughties designer must-have, a recognisable night-time light graphic. At the front, the long, wraparound indicators have lighting elements in groups of double-chevrons, to mimic the Citroen badge. The designers must have had a lot of fun here. The main double-chevron motif that forms the main nose decoration is more expansive than ever, its 'whiskers' now curving upwards as they meet the headlights.
