Business Car Manager verdict

The Grand C4 Picasso is never going to provide a sporty proposition, but the car as whole is well balanced and almost enjoyable to drive.

Even hurling it around country roads doesn’t upset it, while there’s enough front end grip and computer wizardry to recover from all but the most ham-fisted of mistakes.

It’s a safe environment to be in, never encouraging you to push too hard, but if things do go awry then a EuroNCAP score of five stars for its little brother C4 Picasso suggests that ultimate protection should be pretty good.

Faults are relatively minor. There are some sub-par plastics in a few places, while the glove box is fundamentally useless thanks to a huge fuse box taking up most of the space, revealing its left-hand drive roots.

There’s also a fair bit of diesel clatter under load, though this soon disappears once up to speed.

There are some odd choices with specification, too. An excellent auto-park system is available that will manoeuvre the bulky people carrier in to virtually any parking space, cutting the risk of minor bumps and scrapes, while models without make do with parking sensors. That’s apart from the entry-level VTR model though, which doesn’t even have them as an option.

Small issues aside though, if you need to transport six passengers then you’ll find that the Grand C4 Picasso is as complete an option as anything else on the market.

It mixes sensible performance with excellent economy and business-friendly CO2 emissions, while balancing practicality, comfort and specification. It does all this in a fine looking sharp suit that also manages to retain some of Citroen’s character.

That’s pretty good for a box on wheels.

The Low Down…

…and what it costs