For drivers who don't want attention drawn to themselves, there's a certain "frightening the horses" element about the appearance of the Citroen C2, which may help to explain why something like 40% of sales so far this year have been of the sportier types. In-your-face styling is putting it mildly.The superseded Saxo VTR and VTS gained Citroen its place as the favourite manufacturer of the warm/hot hatch brigade, and there are corresponding models in the C2 range. Quicker of the two, the VTS has a 1.6-litre engine tuned to give 123bhp, and you can see, or hear, what Citroen has been about as the revs rise towards the peak 7200rpm.There's a lot more to the VTS than just engine tuning, though. The close-ratio gearbox, whose public "face" is another of those chilly aluminium gearlever knobs, matches the engine characteristics pretty well. Thicker anti-roll bars front and rear, firmer springs and damper settings, more direct steering, 16" Suzuka alloy wheels with Michelin Exalto tyres inside flared wheel arches, a sports front grille, front foglamps, a chromed tailpipe and a modest rear spoiler all play their part.This approach continues inside, with sports front seats, drilled alloy pedals, fancy grab handles on the doors, and a black leather steering wheel.What with all that, you'd expect this car to be substantially more expensive than its predecessor, but it's around £1000 cheaper than the long-ago launch price for the equivalent Saxo, and it says quite a lot - about the Saxo, actually - that the C2 VTS has an insurance rating no fewer than six groups lower. Better safety provision, including four front airbags and powerful brakes, with hazard warning lights which switch on automatically if you really stand on the middle pedal - or stop even more abruptly against some solid object ahead - all helped to get the group rating down.As well as that, the VTS comes with equipment like switchable ESP, air conditioning and a CD player, never offered as standard on the previous car.To keep the sticker price below the £12,000 mark, Citroen has bundled various items of equipment into different option packs. There's an Automatic Air Conditioning Pack, which adds digital air-conditioning, light-sensitive headlamps and rain-sensor wipers - that includes at least one potentially irritating feature and another fairly pointless one, to my curmudgeonly way of thinking - at £400.I quite fancy the £450 Convenience Pack, though, with its rear parking sensors, heated fold-in door mirrors and (here's the main point) a slide/fold rear seat system. There's also a £1650 NaviDrive Pack which includes colour satnav and a phone, among other items.The solid bodywork colours available are Sport Red and Sunshine Yellow. Black costs an extra £225, and there's a £325 premium for Artic Steel, Poseidon Blue and Wicked Red, a few degrees of incandescence up the scale from Sport.Out on the road, the VTS is the kind of car it seems pointless just to potter around in. Why buy one, if that's all you want? So on sporting roads you tend to press on quite smartly, and that's when the realisation dawns that this is exactly how it's meant to be driven. Given Citroen's top-class rallying record - it has already clinched the Manufacturers' title and (thanks to Sébastien Loeb) the Drivers' title in this year's World Rally Championship - it knows what it's doing here. All those steering and suspension modifications mean that the VTS is a car which responds better the harder it's being pushed through a series of bends.Not quite a motorway cruiser, then? Actually, several hundred motorway miles showed it up rather well in the guise of a steady-speed long-distance mile-eater. The suspension isn't so firm as to be bone-shaking, and at typical motorway revs the noise levels are quite low. Those sports seats give plenty of support where it's needed, and their no-slide mesh centre panels give the impression that they help to keep the old Sitzfleish cool, but I never got quite the driving position I wanted, because the seat height adjustment lever had jammed.There's probably an age limit beyond which it looks odd to be dashing around in a VTS, but older chaps (I don't think chapesses would have a corresponding feeling) can console themselves with the thought that they're just "boys at heart". Without all that philosophical flim-flam, though, this is another Citroen for the lads, especially those who don't mind - in fact, positively enjoy - attracting glances as they zip by.Second opinion: In the pottering-around circumstances mentioned above, I reckon the VTS makes no sense at all. It's quite uncomfortable to drive in many situations because the suspension is soft for the first part of its travel but then becomes very hard, which creates a confusing ride quality. But exactly that set-up turns this car into a dream machine when you start pushing harder - there's plenty of grip at turn-in and no excessive body roll as the chassis takes up its attitude for the corner. Balance is excellent, too, with a back end which follows the front effortlessly but gives no hint that it wants to break away into a slide of its own. A very entertaining machine for deserted country roads, and one which I suspect could punch way above its weight on a track day. David Finlay.
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