THE Citroen C4 in five-door form is a practical family car with good space and a wide range of other attributes.
But the three-door coupe, while being stylish and different from the crowd, is harder to live with.
Getting into the back seats of any three-door car is never easy, so don't buy one if you have children to put into car seats.
That said, C4s built between 2005 and 2010 are distinctive in the class, with remarkable refinement which manages to reduce road and most wind noise to zero.
Petrol engines range from a 90bhp 1.4, to a 1.6 with 110 or 118bhp and a 2.0-litre with 143bhp. Diesels are a 1.6 with 90 or 110bhp and a 2.0-litre with 138bhp.
Performance is fair in the 1.4 and 90bhp 1.6 TD and good to excellent in all the others. The ride in the five-door is smoother than in the three-door and road holding and handling are top notch in all.
Interior
Inside, C4s are funky and eccentric, with digital instruments and an occasionally annoying steering wheel boss which does not turn with the wheel.
The very long doors of the three-door model can be awkward, and reliability is thought to be good in the trade, quelling all those fears about Citroens from years ago. Equipment is very good too.
FAST FACTS
Citroen C4 1.6 petrol
Price: Pay about £3,000 for an '06 06-reg SX, or £6,500 for an '09 09-reg Exclusive
Mechanical: 110bhp, 1,587cc, 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox
Max speed: 121mph
0-62mph: 10.3 seconds
Combined mpg: 39
Insurance group: 13
CO2 emissions: 169g/km
Main rival: Peugeot 308