Comments:
The Citroen Xsara Picasso looks like a superb family car - they’ve really thought about what a normal family needs, and provided it. Citroen have really thought about the needs of the family while driving in so many ways, from the use of storage compartments, to the big low windows that the kids can easily look out of. And the windscreen at the front slopes out creating a wonderful illusion of great space for both the driver and passenger. In these regards, the car seems to have been designed by a woman who knows exactly what she needs in terms of a family driving experience.
However, on the issue of safety, the NCAP tests were not encouraging. Additionally, another concern that worried me is that a lot of the Citroen Xsara Picasso is made of glass. It is effectively one big bubble of glass in a metal cage. In the event of an impact I would be very seriously concerned about the danger of flying glass to the occupants - ie, my family.
Also, all of the driving instrumentation is provided as an LCD display in the middle of the dashboard, between the driver and passenger. Aside from being something of an unnatural position, I was concerned that even a minor electrical fault could completely wipe out the essential driver functions in a way that couldn’t happen to something using more traditional speedometer needles.
An unfortunate factor that also came into my reasoning was when I looked for a second-hand version the salesmen tried to push a car that had serious corrosion issues on the chassis. I know little about cars, but I do know that if a two-year old car has far more rust underneath the car than my battered old 10-year old Primera had, then there is something inherently wrong. I walked out at point of sale.
I also found salesmen at a range of approved Citroen dealerships generally very pushy, and much more concerned about their commission than making a sale - they were very keen to sell me any kind of Citroen, and fast, without any regard at all for what I might actually want or on what timescale I wanted to purchase on.
Overall, the Citroen Xsara Picasso is a nicely designed car in terms of travelling comforts, but I have serious reservations about the amount of glass involved, and additionally, that the car could be made unusable by the smallest of electrical problems. Also, Citroen salesmen seemed especially aggressive to make a sale that benefited them most, rather than myself.
A cheap car for the price, but when spending that sort of money, you don;t really want niggling doubts.
