Citroen C-Elysee

2016 Citroen C-Elysee

When Citroen decided to sell the C-Elysee compact saloon in Europe following its success in developing markets, including the People's Republic of China, the French car company wanted to make sure that their most affordable four-door saloon tries to cut off against the likes of other low budget saloons in Europe such as the Skoda Rapid, Seat Toledo, or even the Fiat Tipo. In general, there's nothing special about owning a low cost French saloon for all intents and purposes on your driving pleasure.

2016 Citroen C-Elysee interior

2016 Citroen C-Elysee interior

Let's keep this short because to be honest, Citroen's latest offering to Europe isn't very special to the drivers who demand more, in fact, it feels a bit as regular as texting on an old Nokia phone while taking a sip of coffee at a coffee shop somewhere in Taipei. For a compact saloon starting at 13,450 Euros, it sounds cheap for a French four-door saloon, even though it was made by the Spanish, but in terms of being an enjoyable ride, that is not a case because you don't feel happy while driving one.

The interior gives you a simple expression of yourself going back to the year 2000s where nothing in life is more enjoyable than texting and playing with your old Nokia phone at home. It's very old fashioned, plasticky, and regular, like a Manila taxi taking you home after an hour-long shopping trip. Yes, it has everything what a driver want such as a radio, an aircon, some cupholders, and anything a car should have but the C-Elysee's interior is too basic and your first impressions will last up about ten minutes or less.

2016 Citroen C-Elysee

Under the hood, the C-Elysee is powered by a choice of either a 1.2L petrol engine producing 82PS of power and 1.6L BlueHDi diesel engine producing 100PS of power, while both mated to a five-speed manual gearbox which sounds fun to our shifty hands but we're not too happy about how it performs because on its highest-spec version, which is the one with the diesel engine on it, top speed is around 183kph so that is about three kilometers per hour faster than most Japanese cars because no matter how powerful they are, they're always stuck on the 180kph speedo limit. How's about that for a plus mark? 

But don't get too excited about it because while this is a commoners' car for the common roads, its sporty character is nowhere to be found, despite the fact that the one used on the WTCC scored a lot of wins before the C-Elysee went on sale on France and all of Mainland Europe. It sure has a racing pedigree, you might ask, but despite being a belter on the WTCC, the C-Elysee wasn't really close to being a potent pugilist to its opposition but to getting to know more about the 13,450 Euro saloon, you need to understand more about the C-Elysee by how it can do for you as well as the value that will left anyone with the knowledge of resale value in question. It takes logic to understand this regular compact saloon from Citroen, but the more you understand, the more chances you will find the answer to the car's key questions about itself.

Photo: PSA Peugeot Citroen