Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £9,845 to £14,145
Easy to drive, easy to own, good fuel consumption.
Price, hard ride, limited load-space, C2 now feels dated.
Sporty looks and excellent fuel economy are strong points, but it's not the best-value C2 in the range.
The stiffened suspension with additional rear anti-roll bar and wider wheels of the VTS improve on the standard C2's set-up, with considerably sharper handling, improved resistance to wallowing and increased grip.
The steering, with a faster ratio and fewer turns lock-to-lock, is better, too. It lacks the directness or instant gratification factor of other small warmed-up runarounds, however - it's not as amusing as the new Renault Twingo GT, for a start - and is not a particularly versatile all-rounder.
Though it is easy to drive, with a good driving position, tight turning circle and well laid-out dash and controls, the thick windscreen and door pillars do obstruct vision to a certain extent, as does the tiny slot of a rear window - not ideal for nipping around town. Yet out on higher-speed roads, the poorly set gear ratios limit overtaking ability - or progress up motorway inclines - and the low fifth gear makes for noisy, high-revving cruising. Although most diesel engines are torquey and flexible enough that a six-speed gearbox is really unnecessary, this one isn't and an extra overdrive ratio would really help refinement.
Official performance figures for the C2 1.6i 16v VTS are maximum power of 105bhp at 4,000rpm, 142lb-ft of torque peaking at 2,000rpm, a top speed of 120mph and a 0-60mph time of 9.4 seconds - hardly hot-hatch territory even in theory. In practice it feels slower still and lacking in mid-range pull. This is a large, heavy engine for such a tiny car to lug along; the 1.4 HDi is actually stronger mid-range, but really, in the C2, the petrol engines are much better bets unless you're determined to save every penny possible on fuel.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Citroen C2
wrote on 12 08 2006
wrote on 29 05 2006