Single, and want to get on the motoring ladder?

A FEW months ago Citroen launched two new cars in Amsterdam, their funky-looking Cactus and the smaller C1.

The yellow Cactus was the one everybody wanted to test drive on the first day and the poor little C1 was almost forgotten about.

I acted sheep-like and followed the crowd, but the C1 proved very nimble around the narrow streets of Amsterdam the following morning. We took a few wrong turns and incurred the wrath of cyclists as they made their way to work that morning, but hopefully no damage was done to Dutch-Irish relations.

Now the C1 has beaten the Cactus in the race to Ireland and I had more time to test this neat little motor last week.

Neat is, I think, the appropriate word. It’s small, but thankfully it has four doors, which is always a plus in our house. The model I drove in Amsterdam was silver, but with the test car in Ireland I had everybody guessing the colour; was it salmon, pink or red? Eventually I was told that it was Sunrise Red.

It’s really lively and ideal for city driving. I didn’t take the C1 on any long journeys, but I think it would be best suited for the school run or maybe for a couple who are thinking about downsizing. The competition in this category includes the Peugeot 108 and Toyota Aygo.

There is plenty of leg and head room for two adults in the front, but the back seats are really only suitable for children or small teenagers. The boot is tiny, but there is a full-size spare wheel which is a definitive advantage.

The seven-inch touch screen on the dash is really where everything is controlled. Everything you need to know is there and underneath are the controls for the air conditioning. The front windows are electric, but the back ones only pop out.

The interior is bright thanks to red on the door panels and multi-colour designs on the edge of the front seats. Sunrise Red is a very attractive colour and you do need to stand out from the crowd when marketing a new car. The boot, or fifth door came in black, which provided a nice contrast to the red, but the boot door is all glass, so you would probably be advised not to bang it too hard when closing.

The C1 had DAB radio and being a radio fan I experimented. Apparently the range of stations available depends on where in the country you are driving and while there were stations like RTE Gold and Pulse, I also picked up

‘new’ stations like Zenith and Amazing. Sadly for the latter station I cannot say that the music lived up to the name.

Prices start at e10,995 for the

‘Touch’ version, while the 1.0-litre

‘Feel’ version I drove starts at e13,095. There is also a slightly more expensive

‘Flair’ version. Road tax is only e180.

It’s small, neat and lively. If you are single and want to get on the motoring ladder it could be a good place to start. Probably easier than getting on the property ladder right now.