Review of the new Citroen C3 Pluriel Charleston

The Citroen C3 Pluriel is a strange contraption at the best of times but in Charleston special edition guise, it's slightly madder. Echoing Citroen's classic 2CV Charleston with a bold two-tone colour scheme, this is a car with will confuse most customers but some will probably still be seduced by its unique character and the inevitable Citroen discounting.

You don't have to be mad to drive one but it helps. Citroen's C3 Pluriel is the car that serves as a ready-made retort to anyone who claims that the French manufacturer has lost the wilful quirkiness that characterised some of its most famous products down the years. It's doubtful whether the Pluriel will be lauded as a design classic by future generations but you can't deny that it's unlike anything else on the road and it's a very cheap way to obtain a four-seat convertible. The car is now available in special edition Charleston guise, a car that echoes that true Citroen classic, the 2CV, which was also offered in Charleston guise.

Legend has it that the Citroen 2CV was designed to transport a box of eggs safely across a ploughed field. It's difficult to say exactly what the C3 Pluriel was designed for but when you look at its idiosyncratic roof arrangement and multiple body configurations, it was probably something even more eccentric. The 2CV Charleston was a special edition model with a curved coachline running along its flanks to mimic the car's domed roof and the C3 Pluriel Charleston inherits the same look.

Offered only with the C3 Pluriel's entry-level 1.4-litre 75bhp petrol engine, the Charleston model isn't particularly lively on the road. The 0-60mph sprint takes 13.9s and you'll eventually edge up to a 99mph top speed with real perseverance. The driving position is unusual due to the fact you sit ducked into the car with the curved windscreen apparently soaring overhead. There's not a lot of feel from the steering, but the Pluriel never really pretends to be a performance car.

"If you're going to get a C3 Pluriel, you may as well go the whole hog and do the Charleston.."

The C3 Pluriel is always an experience, but is it one you'd want to repeat? Even with the black roof 'tusks' in place, it feels very airy when the central canvas roof is retracted, the side windows are dropped and the back glass is slotted out of sight. Rear seat passengers will have just as much fun as front seat occupants and they'll also feel reassured by the Pluriel's high waistline. It handles fairly neatly, the comfort-oriented suspension doing a good job of soaking up most surface imperfections. Citroen's engineers are proud of the reinforcing work they've done on the Pluriel and the fact that it weighs about 150kg more than its hatchback equivalent is testament to this effort. Over the very worst potholes, you'll provoke a shudder from the chassis and creaks from the body work.

Charleston customers get a C3 Pluriel that looks quite different from the standard cars with a bowed coachline running from the top of the boot opening down to brush the door sills then up again to end at the point of the headlight clusters. Above the line, the body is red and below it's black. The key drawback of the Pluriel's design is that the bulky roof rails cannot be stored in the car upon removal, instead residing in their holder in your garage. Therefore you don't have the option of pulling over to the roadside and dropping the roof to form a full convertible as you can in a Peugeot 207CC. Once you have left the rails at home, you're committed to open top motoring for the day, come rain or shine. One suspects we won't see too many Pluriel Charleston models plying our roads in full convertible mode.

There's a reasonable amount of space in the back for two, although three would be a tight squeeze as both knee room and shoulder space would be at a premium. Some of you may have spotted that the rear screen folds into the spare wheel well, thus signifying a lack of said wheel. Rather than rely on the commonplace - and usually quite useless - puncture repair aerosol, Citroen has done the right thing and fitted the Pluriel with Michelin PAX run flat tyres. Cars stranded on the roadside are never a great advertisement. Quite how the various water seals and roof parts stand up to the wear and tear of real world motoring remains to be seen but at first glance they appear well fabricated.

Despite only being offered with the entry-level engine option, the C3 Pluriel Charleston sits at the top of the range. This is a result of its generous specification. Obviously, the full-length retractable roof with removable side panels comes as standard but on top of that, customers get a trip computer, electric windows, a CD stereo, remote central locking, front fog lights, cruise control with a speed limiter, air-conditioning, heated folding door mirrors, 15" alloy wheels and full perforated leather trim.

Prices look somewhat expensive compared to other small convertibles which tend to have folding metal roofs but the C3 Pluriel's strength lies in its ability to seat four. If you want a drop-top with that kind of capacity, you'll need to pay quite a bit more that what Citroen is asking. It's also worth bearing in mind that Citroen dealers are usually conducive to a bit of haggling and that could see the price drop further in what is a buyer's market.

The 1.4i engine in the Charleston model returns a reasonable 41.5mpg with 160g/km carbon dioxide emissions. That's not a spectacular showing for a car with such insipid performance and there's more trouble stored up for C3 Pluriel owners in the form of the car's shaky residual value. Residual values tend to be a very accurate barometer to gauge demand for a car and thus its perceived worth. Savage depreciation makes this one a comparatively expensive car to run.

Citroen's C3 Pluriel is a unique concept with its odd-ball roof and it's every so slightly weirder in Charleston special edition form thanks to its unorthodox two-tone colour scheme. Some will never understand the appeal but others will love the car for its quirkiness, its character and its undoubted flaws.

The best advice where any C3 Pluriel is concerned is to think very carefully before parting with your cash. If after careful deliberation, and perhaps some time spent wrestling with its convertible roof, you're still smitten, go right ahead. It takes all sorts and if you're going to get a C3 Pluriel, you may as well go the whole hog and do the Charleston.

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