Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.8 SX review
by David Finlay (15 August 2000)
The choice of name is slightly ironic. Pablo Picasso is popularly known as being the man whose "my four-year old could do better than that" style of painting revolutionised the art form in the early 20th century, at about the same time that Arnold Schoenberg's "squeaky gate" music was creating new traditions of its own.
If the works of these pioneers have an equivalent among present-day mini-MPVs, it is the Fiat Multipla, not the Citroen Xsara Picasso or its other two stated rivals, the Vauxhall Zafira and the class-dominating Renault Scenic. The Multipla was designed by people who towed their previous conceptions of car building out to sea and scuttled them, whereas the others are reworkings of existing hatchbacks. And it's mildly interesting - oh, go on, indulge me - that Citroen has even kept the name of the base car, while Renault has dropped the word "Megane" from the Scenic's title.
Still, evolution can be as effective as revolution, and there's no question of the Picasso being just a Xsara with more luggage space. Climb in for the first time and the windscreen looks huge, leading to a slight feeling of unease that this may be an unwieldy machine to handle.
Fortunately that impression fades away quickly, since the Picasso is actually pretty nimble. Thoughts about size generally centre on the fact that the car provides excellent space for all five occupants (Citroen reckons that most potential buyers do not need seven seats and does not offer this facility even as an option), or alternatively can swallow impressive amounts of this and that through its usefully large tailgate.
Inevitably there is a tremendous amount of storage space for smaller items, without any sense - as you sometimes get these days - that this was the car's primary design objective.
Most vehicles with any pretensions towards luggage carrying ability have some unique gizmo or other (the internal ski rack in the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon and the shower in the Honda CR-V being two examples that spring to mind). In the case of the Picasso it's the oddly named Modubox, which could well have been yet another silly name for a semi-automatic transmission but is in fact a boot-mounted collapsible shopping trolley.
Very useful on occasions, I dare say, but the special feature that impressed me more was the intelligent wiper system, common to all Xsaras, which on its intermittent setting clears the screen whenever it senses that there is enough water to warrant doing so. This is a clever trick, and one which I'm surprised other mainstream manufacturers have not applied to their own cars since Citroen introduced it.
Your man Pablo would have gone much further with the styling than Citroen has, but the Picasso strikes me as being one of the more attractive cars in its class. I'd avoid the dark blue of the test car, which made it look as big as it was and bigger than it seemed to be. This is definitely one of those shapes that best suits a light colour.
With the 1.8-litre engine the Picasso is usefully brisk, and I think Citroen has done its best job yet of combining the cleverly placed gearlever (it's up on the dashboard, like it is in the bigger Synergie) with a smooth and pleasant shift quality.
The mini-MPV market is expanding rapidly, and there is certainly a lot of success to be gained by building them. Citroen has every chance of doing well with a car which is as practical as this one, without being as wacky as others you could mention.
Second Opinion: Excellent ride quality, I thought, and a car whose information displays certainly benefit from its unexpected use of Multiplex wiring. That also allows for things like black panel lighting and delayed "guide you home" illumination. Liked the gearchange, the stylish interior, the masses of room especially in the odds-and-ends stakes, and the sensibly adaptable seating. And when you start comparing like for like, the Picasso is pretty keenly priced against the opposition. Ross Finlay.
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