This particular Cactus is certainly not a prickly one

CITROEN is part of the French PSA group, but last week the car company took us to Amsterdam for the European launch of their funky-looking C4 Cactus. Citroen has strong links with Holland as the family of founder Andre Citroen moved to Paris from Amsterdam just five years before Andre, their fifth child, was born in 1878.

Citroen has high hopes for the Cactus which has 15 distinctive air bumps on the doors. The bumps, which took three years to develop and can be customised for your own company/product, are also very useful if you are worried about fellow motorists scratching your car when they are opening the doors of their cars.

When a new car is launched it’s produced in various different colours, but in this instance I think one colour will dominate sales in Ireland and elsewhere and that’s Cactus Yellow. We also saw grey, silver and white versions of the car in Amsterdam, but yellow with a black trim really stood out.

Citroen are not marketing this as a small SUV, but simply the latest in C4 range. Externally you cannot miss it, especially the yellow version. Inside it’s very attractive with two touch screens on the dash; the larger one provides plenty of information, like reversing camera and park assist, which will probably cost you extra. You also get a very large glove compartment.

Also on our Sat Nav as we drove along the narrows roads in the beautiful Canal area of Amsterdam was a Coyote speed detector, which alerted us to speed traps. Apparently speed limits on certain roads in Amsterdam can change from day to day depending on the traffic. Wouldn’t it be fun if we had that system in Ireland!

On the road the Cactus was a very comfortable motor with plenty of room for five people. The back seat is a one-piece bench. Our test model had a full length sun roof which had special UV rays protectors to give people like me who are

‘light on top’ protection from the sun. But really in Ireland I don’t think we need worry too much as we don’t get as much sun as our European neighbours.

The boot is a decent size and while there is space for a spare wheel, one is not provided. However, you can buy a spare wheel as extra and I’m told that when you do buy a spare wheel, it’s more economical to buy it separate from the car for VRT reasons.

The Cactus will be available in Ireland at the end of September in 1.2 petrol and 1.6 diesel when prices will be confirmed. Already in Britain entry level prices have been set around £13,000, but you can be sure it will be more expensive here, maybe around the e20,000 mark. I think it would probably need to be under e20k, to compete in what is now a crowded and competitive market place.