Cowabunga, dudes! Meet the Citroen C4 Cactus Rip Curl, which takes everybody’s favourite
Croc on wheels and injects some watersports-inspired magic from the Aussie surf company with unique
stickers here and here, white roof rails to complement your surfboard obviously,
and err, orange seatbelts. Now, let’s be honest: the sort of person
who's going to buy this car has probably never set foot on a surfboard in their lives, but if you’ll
remember the old Peugeot Quiksilver from the early 2000s, well it’s kinda like
that. Surf-inspired style for the street. But that’s not all, you see,
key to the Rip Curl model is the addition of all-weather tyres and the same Grip Control
system which you get on a car like the Peugeot 2008.
It comes with specially selectable modes to help when you're driving on the likes off sand, mud and ice.
So, that will let absolutely nothing get in the way of going to catch the perfect wave… Pretty err tubular,
or whatever… The Cactus’ looks have always spoken for
themselves, and now the Rip Curl version has an interior to match with these orange
seatbelts, plus orange trim on the floormats and on the speaker surround.
The Rip Curl is based on the range-topping
Flair trim, which means standard kit includes rear parking sensors and a reversing camera,
plus cruise control, this panoramic sunroof and automatic climate control.
There’s still the same large digital speedo as the standard cactus, along with a spacious interior
and it's quirky touches like the leather hand straps and the pop-up glovebox.
One of my real bugbears with this car has always been the centrally mounted touchscreen, which
houses virtually all of the car’s functions. Sure, it’s nice and minimal to look at,
but it’s nowhere near as straightforward to use as it should be.
Try to adjust air con and instead of just being able to reach down and press
a button, instead you have to go through sub-menus and different screens which can
be awkward and hard to use when you're on the move. Personally, give me a good old fashioned button any day.
Still, as with the front, the back is reasonably spacious with a decent amount of legroom and these absolutely
huge storage bins in either side of the doors. Headroom isn’t amazing though thanks
to the panoramic sunroof so 6 footers might have to stoop down slightly, while you
still can’t open the rear windows – they just pop out in an effort to save weight.
There’s a decent sized boot as well with 358 litres with
the seats up and 1,170 litres with them down.
With the Rip Curl edition, engine choices
are limited to the two most powerful in the Cactus range, a 99bhp 1.6-litre diesel, or
a 109bhp 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol. It's the petrol that we've got and
we’ve previously praised this engine and although 109bhp mightn’t sound like an awful lot,
given the fact that the Cactus weighs only around a tonne it’s still peppy enough to reach
62mph from a standstill in around ten seconds. It certainly feels faster than it is, while
the Rip Curl retains all the things we like about the standard Cactus, with a pleasant and comfortable
ride, steering with a nice balance of weight and none of the doughy feeling that can plague
other Citroens. Now, as we mentioned before this car also comes with a Grip
Control feature, which is essentially designed to offer more capability in low-grip
conditions. It’s more for use on things like snowy roads than full-blown off-roading
but that said, it does work quite well. Essentially it works a bit like torque vectoring, where it'll actively
brake wheels that don't have a lot of grip and then send more power to those that do. It's a little hard to see it in
action but you can feel it shuffle the power around to get you out of trouble.
There’s still no four-wheel drive option for the Cactus though which does limit its capability,
while the lack of a sixth gear also means the refinement - particularly on the motorway - can be an issue. All the
same it still an easy and accessible car to drive, now with just that bit extra.
Prices for the Rip Curl start from £18,480, which is £500 more than the equivalent Flair trim
on which it’s based, not bad really considering all the extras that you get.
Citroen’s dedication to wicking out as much weight from the Cactus as well also pays dividends when it
comes to fuel economy. The car has returned more than 50mpg in the real world.
While CO2 emissions of 107g/km means that it should be cheap to tax as well.
In all honesty, it's a little hard to recommend the Rip Curl as the must-have version of the Cactus, particularly because
we reckon it'll be the cheaper versions will probably be the most popular with buyers.
Still, if you’re looking at the top of the range, the extra £500 for the Grip Control
alone is probably worth it. In any case, it certainly doesn’t dent the appeal
of the C4 Cactus. This still remains a comfortable, enjoyable and eminently unique car and the
Rip Curl version just that bit more so.
Could you see yourself in a Citroen C4 Cactus? Let us know in the comments
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