CITROEN C1 HATCHBACK 1.0I VT 3DR

"A resoundingly sensible choice for so many families like us."

CITROEN C1 HATCHBACK 1.0I VT 3DR

Step forward my wife Katie and our two daughters Ellie who is 9 and Amy who is 4. All three have developed an extremely acute perspective on what they like and don't like about modern cars. Both girls are picked up every day from school with snacks and (hopefully healthy) treats, so reduce the interior of any school run transport to that of an urban bus shelter within minutes. Crushed crisps, sticky fingermarks and soft drink spillages are par for the course. In vain, I've asked my wife to stick to fruit - but that's another story. So what have we all thought of this Citroen?

Well, the first thing to say is that the very fact that all four of us have been able to sit inside the C1 in relative comfort says a lot about the kind of space the designers have managed to shoe-horn into this little car. I mean it's 23cms shorter than a MINI and we'd never have all of us fitted in one of those. Ok, you wouldn't want to put two adults in the back for any length of time, but it's fine for the kids. For little ones, we've found it helps that the windowline is low: being able to see out more easily is really useful when it comes to reducing travel sickness.

CITROEN C1 HATCHBACK 1.0I VT 3DR

In fact, we've decided that this would make an ideal first car for when our daughter Ellie starts to drive. It's safe after all - up to four airbags, plus anti-lock brakes and reinforced doors - and with 68bhp in this 1.0-litre petrol version, perky enough to nip in and out of traffic. The stats say it'll do sixty from rest in 13.7s but it feels quicker than that and there's a lovely, rorty engine note.

One of the things my wife Katie has particularly noticed when she's been driving it is that you don't need to row the thing along with the gearlever either, which is really helpful around town. It pulls cleanly, even from low speeds in the higher gears. It's also really easy to park in tight multistoreys. Not only because it's so small and the power steering's so light but also because you can so easily see the extremities of the car.

On school runs, we've found we can fit two fully-sized child seats on the rear seat and still leave plenty of room for colouring books or bags in the middle. And the isofix seatbelt fixings you get in the plusher C1 we tried are very useful, allowing you to just plug the seats in and not worry about using the car seatbelts. Saved us a lot of time and messing about that has.

Our family has a nasty habit of cluttering the car up with stuff. Receipts, old business cards, discarded lipsticks, pens, toys, purses and so on. We've had this C1 for some time now and it's been hit just as hard with all this paraphernalia but you wouldn't know it. There are 12 different storage compartments around the cabin, and I reckon we must have used every one of them.

At the wheel, everything feels pretty well built - the chunky switches are easy to find and there are some nice touches too. The way the translucent part of the centre dash panel lights up at night. The cute design of the rev counter that sprouts on top of the speedo.

I reckon that Citroen have been regaining their reputation for bold and exciting interiors recently and this car certainly continues that trend. Headroom inside the car isn't at all bad, and we've had passengers inside that are well over six feet tall. The big glass area also I think gives an airy feel to the cabin. Citycars used to be nasty things to have to spend more than short journeys in but these days, that's changing, at least in this case. Even in a car this small, you get decent elbow room, the steering wheel adjusts up and down and there's enough fore/aft adjustment in the front seats for even the most portly people.

And the boot? Well, though the good looking glass tailgate doesn't open down to bumper level like a conventional rear hatch, it does open up to give you 139-litres of space which you can extend to 751-litres by flattening the rear seats.

They do a three-door version of this car, but most if not all families are like us, going to want the good-looking five-door version we tried. You're looking at a premium of around £350 for the extra doors and the C1 pricespan lies in the £7000 to £9000 bracket that's common to most - though not all - models in the citycar class.

I'd also allow a little extra to graduate up to a plusher trim level like the one we tried that includes features like the chromed grille, front electric windows, high frequency remote central locking, front lateral airbags, a rev counter, split-folding rear seats and beautiful leather and alcantara trim.

Safety-wise, you get the twin front airbags and ABS I mentioned earlier, plus plusher versions like this one get lateral bags as well. What's more, this Citroen's also well equipped to avoid a fender bender in the first instance with electronic brakeforce distribution (that makes your anchors more effective in any emergency) and corner stability control (to help you out if you're running late for the school play and enter a bend too fast).

The C1 has also been designed to limit the consequences of a pedestrian impact - which I think is really sensible for a car that will probably spend most of its life clocking up miles around town. At the front end, there are no sharp edges and the impact absorbers you can't see behind this curvy bodywork also help to limit leg injuries. There's also plenty of clearance between the impact absorbing bonnet and the top of the engine, which means that shock is dissipated without coming into contact with anything hard.

And running costs? Well, I'm told that at only 22 pence per mile over a typical three year ownership period, an entry-level C1 1.0-litre is one of the least expensive cars it's possible to run. The petrol model we tried averages over 50mpg even around town, a return that rises to an extra urban figure of 72.4mpg if you include some open road work.

The diesel model's extra urban figure is even more impressive - at 83.1mpg. So, if you're doing high mileage, you'd soon recoup the diesel's necessarily higher upfront asking price, and it is worth bearing in mind that the diesel enjoys even lower (slightly) servicing costs.

So what has our family discovered about this C1? That it's a resoundingly sensible choice for so many families like us, particularly as a second or third car. That's because it does all the things a small but spacious little runabout should do and it does them well. The driving experience is good, there's plenty of space inside, it's solidly build and the 1.0-litre petrol engine that most choose delivers startling economy. Now all I've got to do is to clear out all those crushed crisps and sweet wrappers before Citroen come to collect it..

CITROEN C1 HATCHBACK 1.0I VT 3DR

Facts At A Glance

CAR: Citroen C1

PRICES: £8,495-£10,645 - on the road

INSURANCE GROUPS: 1

CO2 EMISSIONS: 106g/km

PERFORMANCE: Top Speed 93mph / 0-60mph 13.7s

FUEL CONSUMPTION: (combined) 62.8mpg

STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, ABS with EBD

WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/width/height 3435/1630/1465mm