Citroen C4 running costs should be manageable. Insurance groups should be fairly reasonable and Citroen servicing is usually affordable. The big problem in this area is the poor depreciation that Citroen models normally suffer.

The most efficient model – the e-HDi 115 Airdream VTR+ EGS6 was launched in mid-2011 and emits just 95g/km of CO2.

With improved Citroen C4 emissions of between 109g/km and 160g/km in the range, the C4 isn’t a huge tax burden. Fuel economy is also fairly good with the top petrol choice returning a claimed 44.8mpg. The best model in the range is the diesel hybrid e-HDi. On 16-inch alloys emissions are 109g/km.

In mid-2011 the cleanest-ever C4 was launched and is capable of CO2 emissions as low as 95g/km depending on spec.

One interesting thing to think about is Citroen C4 reliability. This has been a thorn in the side of this French manufacturer. The company has looked to improve its reputation, and in the DS3 and C3 seems to have got somewhere with these problems. Even with just a few thousand miles on the clock we experienced some issues on our first drives – a couple of warning lights went on.

Hopefully, these minor issues will be confined to the pre-production models we tested.