Something Familiar
by David Finlay (25 Jan 08)

As regular readers have been informed to the point where they could not possibly give a wrong answer on the subject in a pub quiz, the C-Crosser is one-third of a Euro-Japanese agreement which has also created the Mitsubishi Outlander and Peugeot 4007 SUVs. Like the Peugeot, it's available with just one engine, namely the 2.2-litre turbo diesel which PSA Peugeot Citroen which can also be requested in the Outlander.

A strange thing about the deal is that Mitsubishi uses this particular diesel only in the range-topping Outlander, which has far more equipment and is therefore significantly costlier than either of the French cars. Outlanders of similar price use either Mitsubishi's own 2.4-litre petrol engine or a two-litre diesel bought in from Volkswagen, so there are no directly comparable models across the East-West divide.

That's not the case with the European cars (which are actually built in Japan, but let's not complicate matters any more than we have to). Apart from their individual front ends, designed to give a family resemblance within each manufacturer's overall ranges, the C-Crosser and the 4007 are the same thing. The suspension set-ups are identical - Mitsubishi slightly went its own way in this respect - and so are the equipment levels.

The C-Crosser Exclusive tested here is the more expensive of the two versions Citroen produces, and is therefore to all intents and purposes a 4007 GT. That means it comes with 18" alloy wheels, black leather upholstery, a 6-CD autochanger, xenon headlights, rear parking sensors, tinted rear windows and more exterior chrome than you'll find on the VTR+, which costs just under £3000 less.

This equipment hardly loads the car down, and officially there's no difference in either kerb weight or performance compared with the VTR+. It seems that the larger wheels and lower-profile tyres may cause some extra drag, though, because the Exclusive is fractionally less economical.

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