Škoda #NewFabia vs FIAT #Tipo vs Citroën #C4Cactus
Today my Citroën C4 Cactus celebrates 6000 km on the road. It’s the right time to make some retrospective. How do it stand next to my previous cars Škoda Fabia and FIAT Tipo?
Škoda Fabia aka Mr. Froggy
My first car was “still new” Škoda Fabia (the third generation). OK, it’s not my first car, but first car which has my name on technical card. I wish to have black one with yellow details and wheels, but I finally choose less extravagant green color called “Rallye”.
The first look
Sharp edges and aggressive color supports the respect of this car on the road. The black C on rear lights opens field to discussion if it’s stock or not. The car is well balanced.
Quality
This Škoda was my best-made car ever. Everything perfectly sits on it’s place. Everything works in every situation. Nothing luxury, but everything looks good. And ESP & Front Assist saves my pocket and bones two times. The only problems were noise in the cabin in speed higher than 90 km/s and tires with flat sidewalls which allows curbs to easily damage the wheels.
Performance
I choose the 44 kW 1.0 l 3-cylinder petrol engine, the weakest engine from the menu. Enough of torque and the 5-gears manual transmission allows me to do quick maneuvers in speed under 60km/h. But in higher speed the engine was extremely weak. Not so weak to get more than 130km/h, but too much weak to pass long vehicle in 80km/h.
Consumption out of highway was around 4.3 l/100 km (23 km/l), with highways around 6.5 l / 100 km (15 km/l).
FIAT Tipo aka Al-Tipone
My second car was “still new” Fiat Tipo (Aega). I wish to have cool and emotional Italian car, more about it you can find in previous article called “How @FCAGroup lost customer in six months (Bravissimo @FIAT) #FCASocialConnect”. I choose sedan because FIAT didn’t offer another version when I made my choice. The black color was called “Cinema Black”.
The first look
Cool black Italian sedan, no more words needed. Maybe one small note - the 16” wheels looks too small.
Quality
Quality was the biggest problem of this car. I probably can love it, but quality of this car says: “No! **** you, you piece of ****! Give me your money and die.” It’s hyperbola, but there were many problems with car itself and related to solving these problems there were another problems with dealer, authorized service, etc.
In nutshell it was cheap car from bad manufacturer, too much to met my requirements.
Performance
I choose 70 kW 1.4 l 4-cylinder petrol engine with “update” to met Euro 6 with 6-gears manual. These combination has enough of power at high RPM. It was necessary to down-shift to 4th gear or lower to get some power. But who cares, the FIRE engine loves high RPM and you will love it too.
Consumption was around 6.5 l / 100 km (15 km/l) and it doesn’t depends on highways.
Citroën C4 Cactus (still no-name)
As current car I choose Citroën C4 Cactus (the first generation). Citroën doesn’t call it face-lifted, but many of disadvantages known from reviews (2014-2016) were missing in my car. I choose this car because it was last chance to order this model and I fall in love with the idea of this car. I choose the green-yellow color called “Hello Yellow” combined with black details and wheels and brown interior. Yes, it’s very similar to combination what I wished to have on Škoda Fabia.
The first look
You must love it or hate it, but you can’t be neutral. Conservative people hate this car. But open-minded people loves it. I can’t told you if you should love it, but I can told you that I love it!
Quality
OK, it’s not German car, like Škoda Fabia, but the quality is better then I was expected. The biggest problem of this car is a software. It’s really hard to disable “Eco” feature (Start & Stop). Even if the system animate push on button S&S keeps active. And the boot time of the infotainment is “flexible” - sometimes it’s up before engine starts, sometimes it’s still booting while I’m leaving our street.
The big thumb up for the tires with wide sidewalls which protects wheels during parallel parking.
Performance
I choose 81 kW 1.2 l 3-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with 5-gears manual transmission. It has enough of power to do all my standard and non-standard maneuver. I like it, but I hate the transmission. Reverse gear is directly behind 5th gear and it’s possible to grind gears - there is any blocking system.
Consumption out of highways is around 5 l/100 km (20 km/l), with highways around 6.2 l / 100 km (16 km/l).
Conclusion
If you wish to buy small, conservative & well looked hatchback, Škoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo are good choice for you. The only tip from me is to choose more powerful engine.
FIAT Tipo is too bad. I used it for 13 months and I was really happy when I leave it at car bazaar.
And finally Citroën C4 Cactus, the perfect car for me. I love the idea of this car and it was the main reason to buy it.