Price: £10,795
Top speed: 117mph
0-62mph: 9.3 seconds
MPG: 61.4
CO2: 103g/km
Last year Citroën did a curious thing: they took one of their reliable if rather dull cars and stuck a lumpy plastic strip down each side that, depending on your cultural reference points, resembled either a giant bar of Dairy Milk or a rigid sofa from the 50s. They also made everything that was round square (except the wheels or course). It had square lights and bumpers, square seats and storage cubbies, square instruments and vents… even the steering wheel had corners. The designer who did this was Mark Lloyd. Putting an Englishman in charge of one of France’s most historic brands was clearly risky, but Mark’s outré design wasn’t an act of Anglo-French industrial sabotage, but a courageous attempt to stand out in the crowd. As he said at the time: “Almost every car company knows how to make reliable, quality cars with great technological content and even great looking cars. Everybody has the capacity to make a great car. So Given that’s the case then how do you differentiate? This is our answer. Some people won’t like it, but a lot will love it.” And he was right – thousands of people loved it and the C4 Cactus became an overnight bestseller.
So, what do you do when you have a good idea? You do it again, of course. Meet the C3 – a funky little sister for the C4. The “Airbumps” are still there and there are endless ways for you to customise it. There are nine body colours, three roofs and four alloy options… in all, there are 36 different ways to personalise your car.
You can, however, only choose to have four doors, which is a surprise given how petite it is. I’m a big fan of small cars. If you’ve been doing time at the wheel of a large car, be sure to consider a small city car next time around. They are so sophisticated compared to what they were even a few years ago. And for urbanites those extra feet of breathing room on congested roads and in the hunt for parking spots are pure relief.
The drive, too, will be a revelation. The C3 comes with either a 1.2-litre 3-cylinder petrol unit or a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder diesel. Definitely go for petrol. You’ll get 61 miles to the gallon which is less than what you’d get with a diesel, but at least you won’t have NOx on your conscience.
This is all very good and worthy, but Citroën is the master of bringing something new to the party and its C3 sees the debut of ConnectedCAM, a wide-angle video sited behind the mirror, from where it records the view ahead. This dashcam, or “crashcam”, automatically saves footage of an incident, but the fun part is that you can also use the camera to snap or film 20-second bursts of anything that takes your eye. Using an app on your phone synced to the C3, the images can then later be shared on social media. Me at the lights. Me overtaking. Me parking… gripping stuff like that. The only thing it won’t let you do is take selfies as the camera points outwards. You could lie on the bonnet as your friend drove, but that would be a bad idea, unlike everything else about the C3…
Two-wheel classics
If you’ve ever had a hankering for the burnished leather and polished chrome of classic motorcars, but been put off by the price and hassle of storage and maintenance, then you might be wise to consider classic motorbikes. They have increased hugely in value recently and are much more accessible than collecting classic cars.
Cheffins sells at auction a huge number of vintage motorcycles every year, with a range of prices from the affordable to the sky high for the extremely rare. The auctioneers have sold over 2,000 motorbikes in the past 12 years. Jeremy Curzon, the company’s director, says: “Motorcycles have as rich a history as cars, take up less room, cost dramatically less and are not only huge fun to ride, they also have proven to be good investments if purchased wisely. The stratospheric rise of classic car values over the last few years has had a ‘trickle down’ effect on the value of collector’s motorcycles, too.”
The highest values are always achieved by those machines that were the fastest and most exclusive in their day. Big British V-twins lead the way and are real status symbols for owners around the world, Brough Superior and Vincent are probably the most famous marques from the 1930s to the 1950s with current prices ranging from £50,000 for a standard spec’ Vincent up to a staggering £300,000 for the very rarest of the Brough factory output. Originality is also key at this level and an untouched machine will command more than a meticulously restored example.
If you are tempted, have a look at the Cheffins Cambridge Vintage Sale at Sutton, near Ely on 22 April. There will be a number of the world’s most unusual classic motorcycles, alongside cars, tractors and steam engines going under the hammer, including an incredibly rare 1951 Triumph 6T Thunderbird Bonneville. This bike is actually a national record holder in the 650 M-VG Class held at the 2008 International Speed Trials at Bonneville, it has an estimate of £15,000 - £18,000. Another fine motorcycle is the rare 1927 600cc Scott Super Squirrel, a pre-war water cooled two-stroke twin that can still show a clean pair of heels to much more modern machinery, estimate will be £9,000 - £10,000. Go along and have a look. Who knows what you might be tempted to bid for.
The sale takes place on the 22 April, at Cheffins Machinery Sale Ground, Sutton, Ely, CB6 2QT. For more information, go to Cheffins, or call 01353 777 767.
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
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