Review: Citroen Grand C4 Picasso

Citroen over decades has won a deserved name for comfort and technical innovation, writes Brian Byrne. Both are interconnected, as part of the company's innovative bent has always been focussed on suspension.

A recent stint in the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso — the name is far too cumbersome, though — was a definite reminder of that. I literally wafted through my travels, regardless of road condition.

Ease of driving it also meant that I quickly forgot just how large a car it is. The Grand C4 Picasso is the 7-seat variant, with the kind of space normally available only in extended limousines. But shifting it around on even short trips never seemed a chore.


The Citroen brand within PSA Group has retained the MPV form factor here. Stablemate Peugeot's latest 3008/5008s, now on the same platform, are transmogrified into crossover SUVs, because that's the genre that's sexy and in demand.

But Citroen as a company generally drives a different road to its competitors. The Grand C4 Picasso even has a different design to its 5-seat sibling, changed headlight and rear light styles and a more squared back end. It still looks … well, Citroenic?

Inside is starship Enterprise, nearly. Not just one big screen, but two to provide primary and secondary information, centred in a double-decker dashboard. Lovely finish, nice big graphics, but I'm still against screens to manage such otherwise simple exercises as climate control. (And I'll keep on at carmakers about this until they desist from such distractionary design.)

There's a current Citroen thing of extending the windscreen back to offer a skywards view. I don't like that, either, as it increases glare. But that's a subjective matter, and anyhow you don't have to use it.

There's huge leg space, shoulder room for almost half of a rugby team, and they could even wear American football style helmets without touching the roof. So managing a family of teenagers in this will be a doddle.

Forget about handling under pressure. You don't put something like this into rallying mode, and anyhow I suspect it will surprise anyone pushing it to its roadholding limits … they might not even find a limit.

There just isn't any much noise. The quiet diesel is from a maker acknowledged as the best in the business. Road noise is totally damped. There's a surprising lack of wind noise even though I'd expect to hear it, given the lack of other intrusions. So, if all the attributes I've so far noted of the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso are what you need for transportation of a largish family, don't walk by it.


ENGINES: 1.2 petrol; 1.6 and 2.0 diesels. Auto available.

EQUIPMENT: Three grades — Touch, Feel, Flair.

PRICES: €29,995-€38,220.

STAR RATING: 3.5/5