CITROEN C-CROSSER 2.2 HDi Exclusive 5dr (2007)

Citroen C-Crosser - Big but compact, and confident

You can kind of tell that this is a bit of a compromise between a woman who wants a nice safe car for the kids and a silly man who wants an off roader even though he never goes off road! Well there we are, anyway the C-Crosser 2.2 HDi Exclusive (had to get hat in) does us just fine. I'm pleased because it's a nice size, not too big, not too small, and it gets reasonable miles to the gallon, although I have to say my first choices (smaller girly cars!) would have done better. It's a bit more of a headache in terms of tax and insurance though, not really sure why the insurance is so high cos it's pretty obviously a family car... unless it secretly attracts boy racers??

Actually I doubt it would be all that good off road because it's quite close to the ground really. I've managed to scrape the underbelly on some particularly high up kerbs. Mind you when you're driving you sit nice and high up, great view above all the other traffic, and it feels a lot safer as well being up high. The boot opening on the C-Crosser is great as well, it opens in two halves, the top bit goes up and the bottom half comes down so it sorts of extends the bottom of the boot, gives you a little platform to do things on, or sit on (it's very strong and sturdy).

The back seats in the Citroen C-Crosser are fine for either the kids or my three sisters. They recline too, which is a bit of a bonus for back seats. There's two little dinky seats you can open out in the boot but they're really too small even for our kids (10 and 12) so we never really bother with them. Those little seats also mean there's basically no boot at all, which is a bit silly really as you'd think that would mean more luggage. Basically it's not really a car for seven people, just five people and two babies maybe, although it would be tricky having babies so far back really.

The parking camera at the back was a major leap forward from our old car. I just don't know what I'd do without it in future now, makes getting in and out of spaces so easy. What I would say about the display in the middle of the centre panel is that it's a little bit too low down for reading the satnav, can make it a bit tricky having to look down at it. I'd prefer it to have been higher up.