Andy Beats wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:02 am
Leif wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:09 am
I honestly struggle to understand why someone would buy this rather than a Polo.
Looks, primarily.
The C3 is funky and modern, I really like the way it looks with the high up headlamps etc.
The Polo is staid and boring in comparison.
Clearly it is subjective, however a friend who has a BMW 5 series said my car looked sporty, and he nodded approvingly. I agree with him, it's stylish. The C3 - to my eyes - looks frumpy, old fashioned, a bit like a truck. Inside is okay, the plastics although hard are actually decent quality, some touches are nice such as metal door levers, but it's let down by the triumph of style over function. The door pulls look cheap (but probably more expensive to make than the Polo alternative) and remind me of a bus or a tube train. The speedo and other dials are horrible, hard to read and cheap looking, probably designed to be stylish but more Sinclair Spectrum than Habitat. The touchscreen is awful, very hard to navigate, hard to read, clunky, very poor useability. They've saved money by using the touchscreen to control the air-con, which is dangerous. I can adjust the Polo air con without taking my eyes off the road, not so the C3. Ergonomics are dreadful, I can't figure out how to do basic things, whereas the Polo is nice and logical. How do I change radio band? Took me ages to figure out. How do you zero the trip counter? Often I flash someone and leave my lights on high beam. Never done that with the Polo. What is the mpg value? Seems to be instantaneous or long term, but no indication which. Which gear am I in? No indication anywhere. And that gear lever, it is the floppiest I've ever seen, it's bizarre. Overall dreadful dreadful design.
Overall when you look closely the actual build quality is not bad at all, in fact quite nice and I could live with it ... but .... the ergonomics are absolutely appalling. Combine that with the weird frumpy styling (subjective I know) and it's a 3 out of 5 from me, and most reviewers seem to agree. But ... this car can be bought quite cheaply compared to the Polo, so there you go, it'll sell on its price alone.
It really is a shame, I am sure by improving the console dial graphics, and the touchscreen appearance and useability they would have a really nice car on their hands, well okay, a nice car for modest money.
I could also criticise the engine but this is a non turbo unit and the non turbo Polo is awful to drive, the car world's answer to brown rice.