2007 Citroen C4 Picasso Exclusive review from UK and Ireland

Shortly after delivery the fault log was indicating "Rear suspension fault". The car has air suspension at the rear. Dealer diagnosed a faulty battery, which had insufficient power to pump the suspension on unlocking the car. Battery was replaced under warranty and the problem has not reappeared.

After about 30k miles, the fuel filler flap would not open when the release button in the dashboard was pressed. Dealer said this is a common fault and that Citroen had advised a free of charge repair for it. Problem has not reappeared since dealer did the repair.

Car is fitted with the Blue-tooth hands-free phone kit. If you try to synchronise too many contacts from the phone to the car on initially establishing the bluetooth pair, some of the contacts stored by the car become corrupted. I got around this by syncing about 20, adding another 20 and syncing, adding another 20 and syncing etc.

Fuel consumption was originally in the 40~45mpg range, but dropped to consistently below 40mpg after about 30k miles. Following the 40k service it has returned to run in the 40~45mpg range.

ESG gearbox compared to VW's DSG? The DSG is a better "full automatic", but the ESG, which is not claimed to be a "full automatic" is a better semi-automatic than the DSG. I normally drive the car in M-Mode, except when using cruise control on the motorway when I use the A-Mode.

It's no sports car but pretty comfortable - a motorised sofa, which is what it's supposed to be.

My car is the 5 door version. It tends to wander in (not very strong) crosswinds, rather like the early Ford Sierras. I've read similar comments in forums so I don't think its tyre pressures or anything specific to my car.

In normal UK driving it can return 40~45mpg. But cruising French Autoroutes at 130kph with 3 people and a full boot this drops to <35mpg.

It's well built, a big improvement for Citroen compared to the Mk1 Picasso. But also very expensive compared to the Mk1 Picasso. £23k for a Citroen MPV! Somehow it feels a bit characterless, as did the Touran, but not something I could say of the Fiat Multipla I had before the Touran.