A Cactus, but milder

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 02/12/2018 at 15:21 • Filed to: Citroën, C4 Cactus

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Many of us will know of the Citroën C4 Cactus which marked a return to the Citroën oddness of old. Like so, with optional Air Bumps.

Sadly though those of us who live in places where you can actually buy Cacti have noticed that you don’t actually see them very often. Even the French don’t care for them much. Time for a rethink then and this involves conventionalisation. Out with the visually intrusive Air Bumps and in with new, discreet, bumps. Also in is Citroën’s new trademark, an extra and upper grille between the lights.

Proof, then, that making your car a little different may not be commercially a good thing.

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Cé hé sin 02/12/2018 at 15:40

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I like the Cactus, and therefore I look forward to the Hyundai Kona making its way to the U.S. I know the two vehicles are unrelated, but they occupy a similar niche in my mind.

Arrivederci > Cé hé sin 02/12/2018 at 15:43

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I saw a few when I was in France - my wife always wondered why I was so excited each time we saw one.

Dogapult > Svart Smart, traded in his Smart 02/12/2018 at 15:43

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I actually saw a Kona at the Chicago Auto Show and that was my first thought. I showed it to the product rep and they agreed. Apparently though, only the green Kona gets green accents all over the interior.

Svend > Cé hé sin 02/12/2018 at 15:44

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But then they made the C3 Flair model.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Cé hé sin 02/12/2018 at 15:53

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In NZ and Israel the few Catii that I saw all had the air bumps.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Dogapult 02/12/2018 at 15:53

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The Kona only comes with an auto transmission as far as I know! Boo!

Cé hé sin > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/12/2018 at 15:58

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I’ve actually never seen an unbumped one that I can remember, but they were certainly extra at first.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Cé hé sin 02/12/2018 at 16:30

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We have them in Oz. They haven’t sold in any quantity for a number of reasons...the primary one being the small number of Citroen dealers.

However, the other problem was that the petrol version only came with a manual box while the diesel only came with an auto box and it was the hated 6 speed single clutch semi-automatic thing. As a result, they’ve sold less than 400 since the launch in mid 2016.

Now Citroen have switched importers in Oz and the Cactus only comes with the 1.2 L turbo petrol engine coupled to either a 5 speed manual box or a 6 speed Aisin conventional auto gearbox.

Pricing though is similar to that of a Subaru Forester, Nissan X-Trail or Honda CR-V...that coupled with Citroen’s tiny presence means they probably won’t be selling too many more than what they already do...

A couple of potential big ups for the new version will be the new hydraulic suspension plus all the new driving, connectivity & safety doodads that are missing from the current version. The major problem is that one could argue it looks very similar to the Hyundai Kona...

Chinny Raccoon > Cé hé sin 02/12/2018 at 16:55

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I’ve seen quite a few, but the small town I work in only has a Citroen and a Nissan/Dacia Dealer. The Citroen dealer is in the process of changing to Suzuki so I doubt there will be as many around in the future.

Cé hé sin > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 02/12/2018 at 17:22

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Funny how people get their hate on for the automated manual, because I hired one in Italy a couple of years ago in a c3 Picasso. This one:

It was absolutely fine.

duurtlang > Cé hé sin 02/13/2018 at 04:08

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Proof, then, that making your car a little different may not be commercially a good thing.

This explains the worldwide success of both Toyota and VW. The largest car manufacturers of the world. They produce uninspired boring boxes that are decent at most things, don’t excel at anything (except reliability for Toyota) and look generically inoffensive. Microwaves on wheels. It’s exactly what most people want.