RoadTest: Citroën Pluriel Cars used to be fairly conventional: a set of wheels, four or five or six chairs and of course, a big emphasis on packaging. But now the parameters are changing dramatically and no one is changing them more than Citroën, long known as a quirky and innovative car manufacturer.
It has just done it with its Pluriel which, as the name implies, means a plural number of profiles. Pluriel abounds in cleverness and the fact is that it is available in no less than five different shapes or modes.
This new baby went on sale here just a few weeks ago. Its more populist sibling is the C3 supermini with which it shares engines, the same floorpan and about 65 per cent of its parts. There are just two petrol engines at the moment: a 1.4 litre eight-valve with 75 bhp and a 1.6 108 bhp, only available with a five-speed Sensodrive automated five-speed.
It is the former that we drove recently, when it got the full quota of attention in car parks and streets and roads. Irish prices ex-works are €21,000 for the 1.4i and €23,500 for the 1.6i Sensodrive.
This five-cars-in-one idea seems so wacky but it actually is credible, intelligent, and of course, innovative. There might just be somebody out there cynically wondering if we motorists want all this versatility. We first saw Pluriel in concept form at a motor show in 1999. It got an enthusiastic reception, and Citroën wowed us with the idea that a car was really a multi-purpose product that was instantly transferable from one mode to another.
Citroën didn't have any hesitation about giving it production approval, having taken opprobrium over their very ordinary and so conventional Saxo. More than a few journalists writing about Pluriel have been seeing it as the spiritual successor to the famous 2CV.
After a 42-year production run, Citroën pensioned off the 2CV in 1990. We don't think it's a particularly good comparison, a bit like the comparison of doing the Leaving Certificate in 1948 and writing a Ph.D thesis in 2003.
The 2CV, we remember, had a simple roll-back canvas roof that added a frisson of flamboyance to a car with a top speed of about 65 mph and hinged front windows that tended to fly open if you encountered a road where the going was rough. It was also fairly easy to remove the rear seats to create acres of load space.
Pluriel is a lot more than 2CV. Apart from its more flexible forms, its pricing means that it won't appeal to the impecunious student/sandal-shod types who favoured the 2CV. It's faster too, which isn't saying a lot, but the 1.4i has a top speed of 100 mph and a 0 to 62 mph time of 13.2 seconds.
These days that may seem a bit lethargic, but the fact is that performance figures are affected by the extra weight which has been imposed by the complex roof and bracing structure. We found the 1.4 Pluriel could easily run out of puff on quite modest hills and gradients, and shifting to lower gears was necessary for the power boost. At other times though, it could be exhilarating and lively and with its jazzy and bright colours, we had the notion of driving something quite exotic.
Citroën, to be fair, emphasises that Pluriel isn't about performance driving. It's seen more as a fun car and one that can be enjoyed by all ages. Underneath the glamorous looks, there's a thoroughly conventional supermini layout: transverse engine, front-wheel-drive, MacPherson strut front suspension and a compact torsion beam at the rear.
You can show off if the weather's fine but you can also show off to the friends, constructing and deconstructing the Pluriel into its various modes. With everything in place you have step one, the "conventional hatch". Step two means pressing a button above the front screen which has the full-length roof opening automatically. The third step, through a neat combination of latches and buttons, allows you to release the rear glass screen, on top of which the retracted top sits, pivoting the whole lot into a recess beneath the boot floor.
The fourth step allows for the sturdy lateral arches that provides the roof's framework, to be swiftly unclipped and removed. Note, however, that they cannot be stored in the car, so if you opt to set off in spider mode you are sacrificing your right to any form of weather protection.