## 27 Back to the present or the past Last week I was talking about life without a car but sometimes there's a sad reality. I had to rent a car because of vet problems with a cat...And I have the chance to do it with a low budget with my work with free2move and cars from my employer. This time, it was a Citroen C4 from 2024, a compact SUV/Sedan with the "sadly famous" puretech engine : 100 PS (74 KW) in 4,21m with enough place for what I wanted. But no hybrid, no automatic gear, no GPS, ... Entry level and low cost also inside. My 20 years old car looks more glamorous inside with more space for legs of the rear passenger. Oh, look at that : 2 screens for the driver : One to display the speed and the onboard computer information, and one to manage radio, air conditioning, and...and ... that's all because there's nothing left to do in this version. I had the same 20 years ago but more easy and comfortable than this black background. The free2move app is quite easy to use and no problem to add pictures of the vehicle before the start. Oh, they have improved the electric park brake, after years of stupidity. The car can detect that you have used the first gear and the clutch pedal. Yes, I still can use a manual gear. The engine hood is too high, the car is large and with a height of 1,52m...just under the limit of my garage door. Very easy to drive but I have the strange impression to go back in the past, 20 years ago ... It's quite the same car than before but higher, bigger for the same compact level. Progress ? For me, it's the human stupidity. The trunk is OK, quite big for the size. The rear-view mirror are stupidly designed as are the rear lights. Not a square, not a circle, not an oval but something with curious angle and not very well designed to see what's on your side and behind. I have automatic lights and rain detector...like 20 years ago but I don't have this on my car. You'll see that automatism is not a good thing. ``` ▄▄▄▄▄▓▓▓▓▓████████████▓▀▓▓▓█▓█▓▓▄▄▄ ▄▓██████████████████████▓▒██████████████▄▄ ▄▓███▓▓▓▓████▓▓███████████▓▒██████████▓▓▓█▀█▀▒░ ▄▓▄░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█████████████████▓░█▓███▓▓▒▒▓▓▒▒▒▒░▒▀░░░░░▄ ▄▄ ▐▀▀░▀▀▀▀▓▓▓▓▓▓████████████████▌░▓▓██████▀░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▄ ▄▄▓▓▓▓▄▄▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▀▀▀▒▒▒▒░░░░▒▀▒░░░░░░░░ ░░▄▄▄▄▄▓ ▄▄▒▓▄ ▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▀▀▀▄▄▒░░░░▀▀ ▀░░░░░░▄▄▄▄▓▓▓▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▄▒▓▓▓▓▓ ▐▀▐▀▀▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▌▒░ ▄▄▄▓▓▓▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓████▓▓ ▐▌▒ ▐▓▓▓▓▓▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▒▓▓▓▓▓▓████▓▄▓▓▒▒▓▓▓█████▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓██████▓ ▐▀░░░░▒▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▓▀▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▀▓█████▓▓▓▓▓████▓███▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓██▄█▌███ ▓▒▒▓▄▄▌▄▄▄▄▄░ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▄▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓██▀███▀███▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓████▓▓▓███████▀ ▐█▀▓████████████████████▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓███▌███▓███▓▓▓███▓████████████▌▓▓█▓▌ ▀▀▓████████████████████▓▓███▀▀████▓▓▓████████████████▓▀▀▀▀▀ ██████▌█▓ ▀▀███████████████████▓▄▓▓█▓▓▓▓▓██████▒▒▓████▒▓███▓▓▓▓▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█████▓▓ ▐███████████▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀███████████████▓███▓██▓████████████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀███████▓▓▓███████████████████████▓▌▄▌▓████▓▓▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▓▓████████████████████████████████▀▀▀ ``` I did exactly the same travel than a month ago with my hybrid car so I could check the fuel consumption : I had around 4,2l/100km (56mpg) with my hybrid car and with this one, I had 5,8l/100km (40mpg) with a very economic drive. Back to the past. But I remember that with my "classic" city car, I had around 6l/100km 25 years ago with 200kg less. So there's progress but not enough for the planet. This car is quite the same weight than my hybrid car. Why ??? Not better for the soundproofing, not bigger inside, not with a better equipment, not so better in crash tests. I don't understand ! But what I can see is that you have much more place for your arms than necessary. 6 cm larger but for what? I have less storage place in the middle and in the doors. Oh, I can charge my smartphone with induction...I don't have one with this stupid function (the efficiency is less than with a cable 70-80% vs 90-95%). If I had driven this car in a city, I would have a 8-10l/100km fuel consumption, 80% more than my hybrid. But on the highway, it was similar and it could be better with this 6-speed gearbox. The only anachronism in that futuristic design...But the speed screen is very poor compared to my old car. OK, the car was comfortable to drive, even with a strange whistling above 110km/h with the sixth gear. It could be a problem for this 40000km old car. The gearbox could be better with a 3rd and 4th gear not very good to cruise at 30km/h or 50km/h, the new standard in crowded city. The 6th gear is only to lower the fuel consumption on Highways. As I said before automatism is not always good...like the rain detector and the speed of windscreen wipers, too quick. And the icon of the light is not very visible...so you don't know what light is on or not. I know people of the team of the UI...What a shame to design such an awful interface. But it's perhaps a problem with me : I'm not the target customer. This car is for the core customers of the brand : Old retired people, very attached to manual transmission, to the typical Citroen comfort, a little bit higher for the seat because it's more easy to go out of the car, etc... A car for past people of the present. Don't laugh, most of my colleagues are like that and don't want EV or Hybrid automatic cars like mine. With an aging population, it seems to be a good idea for short term targets. But the hard plastics, the small default, the engine reliability, ... and the brand image (Citroen is a brand for old people for decades...), that's a problem for me. I can't recommend that car ... or only if it's someone I hate. You can find less expensive if price is your first criterion. You can find more beautiful, more comfortable, more efficient and the compromise is hard to defend for me. I really don't understand why this car is so large and I for not better than the old C4 from 20 years ago. I really liked the Citroen Xantia or the C5-2, very reliable and comfortable cars. This one is quite the same size, and at a price of 28 600 € ! It was just 2000 € less than my Hybrid car, 20 years ago with inflation compensation. Yes, that's officially a kind of Low cost brand, now. But sorry, a car at more than 25000€ can't be low cost for most of the people, even with credit, leasing and all those traps for innocent customers. Car is a luxury today and must be considered differently than before. To rent a car can be a solution but there are only available in big cities, airport or supermarket. The future is open for easy solutions and not only to let your own car for rent...(just because when I see other people drive, I can make nightmare...) 2Dɛ => mailto:icemanfr@sdf.org Comments by mail or by a reply on your blog