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The Citroen Grand C4 Picasso is a stylish, spacious and well-priced compact MPV with seven seats. Auto 'box is not good and residuals poor

If all you ever did was sit in the showroom and fiddle with it, you’d emerge thinking the Citroën Grand C4 Picasso was worth every penny.

Citroën makes much of how hard it has consulted typical compact MPV buyers, even hiding cameras in them to watch exactly how they’re used in the real world and, unlike some manufacturers which appear to canvass customer opinion only to then ignore it, Citroën seems to have listened.

The windscreen offers a panoramic view of the road and sky

It is a really surprising car that's far better looking than either the Citroen C8 or Xsara Picasso, with design themes that recall the rakish Ford S-Max. The grille, wheels, lights and window styles all show a refreshing new emphasis on originality – for which the best Citroëns were always known.

The Grand C4 Picasso stands 4.59m long, 1.83m wide and 1.66m high. Climb aboard and it’s more like stepping aboard the London Eye than anything you might recognise as a car cabin. There’s glass everywhere, even without the optional full-length glass roof, while the split A-pillar has been slimmed to skeletal proportions.

It is the windscreen that stretches up and almost over the head of shorter drivers that really grabs the attention, affording a panoramic view of the road ahead and sky above.

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