A facelift with spark and pizazz!

Let’s be honest, we all have our preferences, some might be happy with basic chicken and mayo, others will only accept croque monsieur. That’s the sort of mindset you should take on with the new Citroën C3 – it follows essentially the same recipe as other small cars, but its presentation makes it a little more, let say… bougie.

We recently got invited to the launch of the new Citroen C3 in Sandton. As chilly as the morning was, Citroen really went out of their way to warm us up in excitement to experience their newest release. As a new-bee in the automotive family, I must say, the tightly-knit squad was not that hard to penetrate.

Now here’s what you need to know about the new C3. Ever since the launch of the third-generation model in 2016, the C3 has proven to become an interestingly successful move by Citroen. The brand’s best-seller, in fact, with more than 1,5 million sales globally. This mid-life face-lift, unsurprisingly, focuses on refinement rather than revolution, with innovative new features, an updated interior, and the latest petrol and diesel engines.

If you’re in the market for a ride that stands out from the supermini SUV crowd, the C3 might just be up your alley, particularly since its latest facelift. You can be sure that it will definitely stand out in a car park full of Polo Vivos and Renualt Clio’s. I mean, once you spot it, you can never miss it on the road. The C3 competes strongly on innovation, comfort and price. If you’ve been frustrated with firm-riding mini SUV’s designed to be ‘sporty’, the youthful and trendy C3 could be a breath of fresh air, too.

After an interesting conversation with the Citroen team, we set off to Little Paris in Haartebeesport to check how the car performed on the busy roads of Johannesburg and Centurion. I quickly paired myself with a bearded gent who looked like me, only taller. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember his name, but he was a pretty cool chap. Hahahaha…

One major observation is how Citroen has made it a point to embody one of its core brand values with the C3: comfort. That notwithstanding, it has added some pizazz with the softest 15mm foam seats and an expensive suspension set-up. Granted, apart from the trendy exterior and you’ll find lots of the same mechanicals that criticized the previous C3 – the engineers have tried to create a newer and more advanced model, and worked to make the car the ideal place to be when it’s in motion. In many ways, they’ve succeeded – which means that the C3 merits consideration by anyone who’s in the market for a really mini SUV.

Its unique looks are largely down to its tall roofline. This comes with a wide grille is set high up on the nose, flowing into LED daytime running lights where you’d traditionally find the headlights. Unlike your typical Nissan Duke, these are positioned lower in the front bumper. The interior comes with a 7-inch touch screen, fully equipped with Apple CarPlay and whatever the Andriod people use… Ok, I’m joking.

The C3 has an interesting driver alert beep that warns you when you leave your lane. It’s fun at first, but after the fourth beep, I had to switch off to prevent a nervous breakdown. The function is really not feasible for urban driving, in Joburg. Imagine!

The drive back to Pretoria was quite fun as we could play around with the Sports function on the N14. Listen, the C3 really picks up when you need it to. Its glide is smooth and it handles really well on the road. There a few things I would change in the car, like the climate configuration system and the plastic interior. And for a car contending in the mini SUV market, I’d really make it a tad bit more spacious inside slap it with a slightly bigger boot. But all-in-all, its such a dope car, priced just right for the South African economy.