Company Car Review of the Citroen C1 Flair PureTech 82
What is it?
The second in the trio of PSA/Toyota’s joint venture, the new C1 replaces the existing C1 with an all-new city car that shares its underpinnings with Toyota’s Aygo and Peugeot’s 108. Despite the commonality, only the front doors and windscreen are shared so each car still remains distinctive.
The front end is where the trio really stand apart, with the Citroen getting a cheeky grin of a grille, complete with LED eyebrows above the headlights. It’s an effective combination that makes the car look youthful, something that could be key in attracting buyers.
Under the bonnet lies an even bigger difference though. While the Toyota 1.0-litre unit is available in the Citroen, the French firm has also put in their own 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, boosting power to 82PS while leaving economy almost untouched at 65.7mpg. CO2 emissions rise slightly, but squeeze under the vital 100g/km threshold by just 1g.
Equipment levels are high, with the Flair model tested being fitted with automatic climate control, DAB radio and a reversing camera, amongst many other gadgets.
Key amongst those is Mirror-link, a system that allows a buyer to connect their smartphone to the car and control driving-friendly apps from the touch-screen panel. Sadly, this is currently only available for iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphones, but it’s promised to be rolled out across as many iOS and Android models as possible over the coming months.