Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 HDi SX review
by Ross Finlay (28 August 2000)
No, we're not doing a forgetful re-run of our earlier Xsara Picasso test. That was a petrol-engined steel roof model. This one is a nicely equipped SX common-rail turbo diesel, with just about the biggest sunroof in the business as a £450 option. But by all means refer to the other test too. There's no extra charge.
A few hundred miles in it showed once again what a fine engine Citroen and Peugeot have at their disposal in the HDi - not just the more powerful 110bhp version, but also the 90bhp type as used here. It's remarkable how each engine seems to match the model it's fitted to. In this case, an extra 20bhp might be just too much for a high-set compact MPV with a fair amount of body lean when pressed.
No wonder production of these HDi engines is being boosted from 7000 to 8000 per day, in a factory already working a seven-day week.
In the Xsara Picasso, the 90bhp engine pulls strongly in mid range, and it's a languid cruiser at motorway speeds. Compared with some of its direct rivals, this is a remarkably quiet-running diesel, and in the test car you could still say that even with the sunroof fully open, a set-up in which some other current turbo diesels would have sounded, from the passenger cabin, like a Bren gun carrier.
The sunroof. Hum. When Citroen says this is a full-length affair, it isn't kidding. It opens all the way back, to a line behind the rear seat passengers' heads. Of course, you can have it just partly open, if you want. Don't think steel, think vinyl, quite well insulated. And don't think conventional slide-back. The roof opens like a concertina, which is one reason for my hum. Unless you have it almost fully retracted, bits of it stick up, leaving open sides between the folds of the concertina.
One look at the open roof makes you feel the cabin must be noisy and draughty at speed. But Citroen figured all that out in advance. There's a full-width permanent air deflector up front, which, helped by the line of the roof, wafts the airflow over the car instead of letting it buffet around inside.
At motorway speeds, there's just a pleasant and airy, almost sports-car effect in the front seats. In the rear, the outside passengers hardly feel the wind. Where it's most noticeable is in the middle rear seat.
When the roof is closed, it's a pretty snug fit, but - inevitably - the car is a bit noisier than a steel-roof model. You hear little rushes of air across the vinyl. And raindrops seem to be more noticeable, although, of course, they're hardly unobtrusive battering on a conventional roof.
The front seats offer great side support, and a fine view ahead as well as all round. In the back, the three individual seats are higher and harder, and they don't have much side bolstering. You can't do much about that, of course, in a car whose rear seats are designed to fold flat.
The middle rear seat can be moved a little forward of the others, and when you fold it down it turns into a cross between a picnic table and a worktop. It has a couple of cup holders, as well as one of the many ingenious little gadgets with which this car is festooned - a clip to hold papers and documents in place.
A trip with some to-be-disposed-of household clobber showed what a very capacious load area Citroen has built into the Picasso. That isn't there at the expense of rear seat legroom. Like some of its class competitors, the car has aircraft-style fold-up trays behind the front seats. Unlike them, though, it has enough legroom so that your knees aren't pressed uncomfortably against the folded-down tables when the car is under way.
The SX is the top specification Picasso. It comes with air-conditioning and the Multiplex-wired computer display plus all the handy stowage spaces, including a couple under the rear floor, and that ingenious detachable shopping trolley, the Modubox, stacked in the boot. But the car itself is a lot more than just a shopping trolley or holiday runabout. And with the HDi engine, I reckon this is the Picasso to pick.
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