How To Set Cruise Control Citroen C4 Picasso

Our Cars: Citroen Grand C4 Picasso

21 May 2015: Citroen's very own gadget show

The Details

Current miles	4430
Claimed economy	65.7mpg
Actual economy	49.9mpg

Our Citroen has a funny way of putting things. When you're on a long journey in the Grand C4 Picasso and dialled into the satellite navigation, you often find that instructions are a bit clipped. Take the number of a junction, for example, if you need to leave at junction 25, you might hear it say 'twenty fiv…' or sometimes just 'twen' before the instructions cut off.

It's not just that navigation either. A lot of the user interface seems counter-intuitive. Perhaps we're just a spoilt generation with our easy-to-use iPhones, but I find that the Citroen uses ten words where two will normally do. When you get a traffic announcement it flashes up 'Announcement. Interrupt announcement?' It took me a while to figure out what it actually meant, but it's asking if you want to cancel the traffic bulletin and return to what you were listening to.

I'll confess that most of the time the car gives me an instruction, I don't have time to read all of it – so long and detailed is the on-screen information. It's not too bad if you've got a passenger with you, but when you're on your own, other things are more important. Like concentrating on the road.

That said, our big Citroen does its best to make your life as easy as possible when you're on a long journey. For a start, there's the adaptive cruise control – just set your speed and it'll keep you 1.5 seconds away from the vehicle in front. Braking and accelerating is done automatically. You don't get to nod off, though, because if the car in front brakes sharply or you get cut up by another driver then a beep lets you know the cruise control has been disengaged. It's a helpful tool, but it's often surprised by slightly slower moving traffic. Set it at 70mph on a motorway and it'll steam up behind a lorry doing 55mph and disengage – even though the lorry's been there all the time.

Citroen Grand C4 Picasso (11).jpg

Citroen's display packs in plenty of information

Then there's the lane departure warning system. This clever device tugs at your seatbelt if it senses you wandering into another lane. I'd love to know how it works because it doesn't react where existing lanes have been covered over during roadworks, yet it still works at night. Perhaps it works as light is reflected back to a sensor from road markings.

One area that could do with a bit more light is the reversing camera. Fine during the day, utterly hopeless and pointless in the dark. Another thing that is missing from the car's box of tricks is speed-sensitive volume adjustment. You often find yourself fiddling with the volume dial as road speed (and therefore road noise) increases and decreases.

We've already talked about the Citroen's problem parking, but I have found its 360-degree 'parking vision' quite useful. As so many modern cars are designed with soft, flowing curves, I find it can be very hard to spot the corners of the vehicle when parking. Not like, say, a Mk2 Granada - but then that did have the aerodynamics of a house brick. With Citroen's vision 360, you can 'see' the proximity of objects all around the car displayed on the screen, which is incredibly handy if you have to get in and out of a tight spot.

The Citroen's gadgets will please others, and disappoint some. But strip them away and one thing is clear: the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso is still a hugely capable family car with acres of space, a powerful engine and decent fuel economy (it's improving as we cover more miles). Yes, it may have its eccentricities, but I'll settle for that over a more boring model any day.

« Earlier: Our workhorse Citroen proves a big hit Later: Grand Picasso proves a competent companion »

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