With the Saxo out of production, the buyers who made the VTR and VTS models the UK's top-selling hot hatches have various versions of the replacement C2 to consider, including one with both rarity value and a soon-to-be-realised international sporting connection.It's only three years since Citroen's current World Rally Championship leader Sébastien Loeb was in Super 1600 - in fact, winning the 2001 Junior WRC for that category of car in a Saxo.Having been concentrating on the bigger stuff, Citroen is getting ready to re-enter Super 1600 with a rally version of the C2, although the precise date on which it will kick off its competition career has been shifting around somewhat. Within the next three or four months, for almost sure.Super 1600 cars have to be based on a production model of which the manufacturer guarantees to build at least 2500 examples. Citroen is therefore producing that many units of the C2 GT, with 250 reserved for competition customers and the whole of the rest of the allocation being built in right-hand drive form for export to the UK, as an acknowledgement of the fact that this was the number one international market for the hot Saxos.You won't miss the GT on the road, or when parked. It has the same angular styling, of course, as the rest of the GT range, but comes with 16" white-painted alloy wheels (not wheel trims) as standard, and a tailpipe of a size which would just about let a westward-facing GT in Kent be heard clearly just off the Belgian coast, but for the fact that the 1.6-litre engine isn't tuned beyond 108bhp. There's also a tailgate spoiler available, odd though it looks on the very abrupt, not to say vertical, C2 rear end.While there's obviously a considerable difference between the rally car and the standard road-going GT, especially at the latter's trimmed-down price of just under £10,500, other things have been trimmed out too.In the interests of weight saving, there's no spare wheel, just a puncture repair kit, and even the washer water reservoir is smaller than in the other C2s.You get lowered suspension, though, as well as a deeper front air dam, stiffer anti-roll bars and ventilated front brake discs. Cruise control and that kind of stuff? Too heavy, mate, although GT buyers will get a CD player.At the standard list price you can have any colour you want, as long as it's red. Black is available for another £200 and a couple of others - Poseidon Blue metallic and Arctic Steel metallic - for £300.Inside, the GT has two-tone sports front seats with centres in that effective anti-perspiration material also used for other C2s. One major attention-grabber is the chromed Citroen Sport gearlever, and in front of it on each GT there will be a little oval with that individual car's production number on it - in this case a beat-that 0001.Out on the road the GT nips off quite smartly, although not to the same rousing effect as a "real" Grand Tourer, because there's only so much you can do with 108bhp. What you can do, of course, is get it down onto the tarmac without any fumbling about, and Citroen, as always, is pretty good here, although there are moments of "attack" when this machine does feel just like a little rally car fighting the surface.A chirrup of wheelspin can be induced by heavy-footed take-offs, but while the GT certainly feels lively when being barrelled along rumple-topped minor roads, it's always easy to control.There are alloy pedals to dance on, and, as with most of the smaller Citroens, the best gear changes come when you squeeze the change through rather than whacking the lever to the limit of its travel.t the end of the day, this car is for younger drivers who want sock-it-to-them looks, a modest price and a low insurance rating, and Citroen has ticked all those boxes. Engine 1587 cc, 4 cylinders Power 110bhp @5750 rpm Torque 108ib/ft @4000 rpm Transmission 5 speed manual Fuel/CO2 42.8mpg / 158 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 9.5sec Top speed 121 mph Price From £9808.00 approx Release date 01/12/2003
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