“THAT’S a grand bus you have this week
?
?¦that was the light hearted reaction from one of my neighbours to the Citroen Grand Picasso when we exchanged pleasantries one morning last week.
Yes, the car is so long that it does resemble a mini bus.
The people at Citroen Ireland are still on a high after winning the Irish Continental Car of the Year last November with the C4 Picasso.
Now they are hoping that sales will grow even more with the introduction of the seven-seater Grand Picasso. The C4 picked up a few more awards in Europe in recent months, including Top Gear’s
‘Family Car of the Year.’
The Grand Picasso has a new look, it’s longer, narrower and140Kg lighter than the previous model, with a new grille and 3D effect lights. When you sit in there is a huge amount of glass in your line of vision which makes for a very bright interior.
You may have difficulty in finding the gear lever; it’s a very thin stalk, a bit like the cruise control lever in some Mercedes models and is located just behind the steering wheel. The gear lever also double as a handbrake, but it’s very safe because if you try and exit the car without engaging the
‘P’ or parking position you get a warning beep.
The seats are very comfortable and the version I drove had massaging seats for both front seat passengers. On the dash you get two screens, a seven-inch touch screen and a 12-inch high definition display. There is a decent sized knob to adjust the volume on the radio, but the air conditioning has to be adjusted by pressing plus or minus on the touch screen, which means momentarily taking your eye off the road. The safest thing to do would be to choose your heat settings before moving off.
The second row of seats are unique in that they are individual seats and ideal for teenagers, who might be arguing about space. On the subject of children you also get two
‘fun seats’ in the third row. Figures from the last Census in 2011 show that on average the number of children for an Irish family has dropped from 2.0 in 1991 to 1.4 three years ago. Interestingly rural families have 1.5 children, while urban dwellers have only 1.3 children. So the small seats in the third row would be ideal for small children.
There is also an extra interior mirror so that the driver can keep an eye on what’s happening back in row three. And the side mirrors fold in when you apply the central locking.
At the Irish launch of the Grand Picasso last month Frederic Soulier Managing Director of Citroen in Ireland says that in future we won’t say we are driving a 1.4 or 1.6-litre engine and will describe our cars by emissions and horsepower. Emissions in the automatic version of Grand Picasso I drove are 113g/km which equates to
?¬200 road tax and the horsepower is 150. Prices starts at
?¬26,795 and rise to
?¬39,395 for all frills attached.