Citroen C2 stop and start
The expert team at Insureyourmotor.co.uk are never turned off. They are continually running themselves ragged in the name of cheap motor insurance. Insureyourmotor.co.uk knows what it takes to appeal to drivers across the board. Cheap motor insurance. Insureyourmotor.co.uk offer No special technology, extras, or gimmicks - just plain, old fashioned motor insurance. Only cheap. Very cheap. Infact, probably the cheapest motor insurance. There isn't that many more ways Insureyourmotor.co.uk can say cheap motor insurance, so we won't. We'll leave it to the voice in your head. One of our screwy journalists examines something French and new..
Just like it says on the packet, the Pope-mobile is a mobile for carrying the Pope around in. Apparently the world-renown Polish Pope-mobile industry has a very long, and for some delusional reason, distinguished, heritage; with the first of many examples, a not so heavily disguised, yet bullet proof, British Leyland Metro rolling off a miniscule production line, between a couple of suspect fridge freezers and a sewing machine, back in 1980. Technology has allowed for many improvements over successive years, however the determined Poles have managed to avoid them heroically, maintaining a vehicle that continues to defy both aesthetical vim and engineering vigour. Similar in many ways to the Citroen C2.On the surface an insulting means of transport so devoid of purpose it hurts, yet scratch away and its true colours are exposed. An insulting means of transport so devoid of purpose it hurts, entombed in a base metal hue.
Yet, like the Pope-mobiles, it has its enthusiasts. To date, they have more than likely been poor people, who wish to get around as cheaply as physically possible, now that the appeal of their Sinclair C5 has finally worn off (20 years after everyone else tired of it) with public perception not being a pre-cursor to purchase. And this target audience won't have changed one jot with news that there's an altogether new kid on the Gallic block. And one which at least augments a smattering of purpose to proceedings.
The Citroen C2 Stop and Start is aimed squarely at those who lie awake at night bothered about the melting of polar icecaps and deforestation, and East Anglia being but a distant memory. But now, they may have a chance to alter the future. Get this - the Stop and Start switches off its engine when at standstill. Which for the frugal, means saving fuel, yet for the insomniacs, means it cuts carbon dioxide emissions. A double whammy for those with a social conscience. And a window-box wedged with cress in Haringey.
But for the majority asking WHY? There are a minority enquiring as to HOW?
So I'd better explain.
Brought up on a steady diet of backdated and shabby editions of Autocar, disowned by those that entrusted their hairstyle with the very same barber as I, recollections of Citroens past, most notably the iconic, yet lacklustre, 2CV encountering any problems when enacting an emergency stop were ill-defined. Providing there were a couple of bales of straw at the front of their bonnet configuration they would eventually come to a rest. And if on the continent, guaranteed would soon be home to a flock of nearby poultry. Nevertheless starting would furnish hours of light entertainment. Similar to Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes; that's to say, about as much light entertainment as one person can handle. In their lifetime.
Modern day Citroens are a whole different kettle of gerbils though. Never better illustrated than by pigtailed 7 year olds with paintbrushes, the C2 joins a long list of quirksome Citroens. The entire model range as it happens - you either loathe it or hate it. Anyway, this little number, in addition to what the brochure notes is sharp styling and high standards of equipment, thanks to its use of innovative Start/Stop technology, finds its engine switching itself off when at a standstill. Be it in the midst of a traffic jam or at a junction, this, what advertising creatives refer to as - unique selling proposition - is designed to both save fuel, and the environment. The latter courtesy of relinquishing its CO2 emissions when all systems aren't go. Cue the rejoicing of the impoverished.
The engine cleverly, and almost silently, re-starts itself in just 400 milliseconds, the exact moment the easily impressed driver takes their sandal-clad foot from the brake pedal, allowing the car to accelerate away like normal. If normal acceleration to you is per square inch power comparable to that of a Remington Micro-Shave, given that the sadly un-eager C2 comes with a 1.4 litre fuel injected 16valve unit providing an less-than-urgent 90bhp, married to a SensoDrive automated gearbox. Clearly snapping at the leash then.
The secret behind this technology is a reversible alternator. Acting as a standard alternator the one minute (driven by the engine to charge the battery), the next, acting as a starter motor (driven by the battery to effortlessly re-start the engine) for those that wish, the system can be over-ridden via a button on the dash.
Furthermore, and according to the accompanying literature, the driver notices the complete absence of any engine noise. Amazing, who would have thought it. That simply by turning the engine off automatically would result in absolutely no engine noise whatsoever. You've got to hand it to the French. And the cartridge at the same time so they can compete the job.
This they reckon contributes to a more relaxed driving experience. Only you won't be moving, seeing as the engines dead.
When it is going mind, a 15% reduction in fuel consumption in heavy traffic is fairly stirring, and suggests that the frugal C2 is the perfect partner to be seen about town with. Providing none of those bearing witness are your friends. Returning a penny-pinching 50.4 mpg on the standard combined cycle, it boasts that its CO2 emissions are reduced by an average 10%. Another fact to tempt the needy is its group 4 insurance rating, aswell as its Band C Vehicle Excise Duty categorization.
The car isn't exempt from congestion charge, but, and it's a big but for a small car, Citroen are offering, throughout the inclusive months of April and May, a cash back figure of £1696 on both the C2 and C3 Start and Stop cars. The fiscal equivalent of 1 year's payment of the congestion charge in London . Which effectively is paying it for you.
So, what of this high standard of equipment hinted at earlier? Relieving those that frequent charity shops the princely sum of £10, 690 the C2 Start and Stop does possess an enviable brag list. Air-Con, rear parking sensors (although quite why anyone would need this in a vehicle that Corgi could manufacture and sell with the copy 'actual size' I don't know), lateral airbags, automatic headlamps and wipers, and electric, heated door mirrors on its standard kit list. This £1000 worth of extras (as standard) augments an already forcible spec sheet that includes PAS, ABS, EBD, EBA, RCCL, and CD. So a future glove-box containing traces of LSD will only add to the vowels and constenants onboard. Independently sliding and folding rear seats, special interior trim and wheel covers and you're laughing. Coupled with chrome effect exterior door handles and the joke is on you again.
So there you have it, the possible landscape on the until now C2 blot. To an otherwise crap model, what Insureyourmotor.co.uk is to the rest of the none descript motor insurance industry. Insureyourmotor.co.uk are not quirky or French in any way, shape or form. They are rest assured, cheap in every way, shape and form though. So, if its motor insurance you're after, you don't have to look too far. Give them a bell today.
Date - 21/09/2006
