Scrapyard Find: 2010 Citroën C4 Picasso VTR+
While SUVs and crossovers have become increasingly popular in Western Europe in recent years, compact MPVs have done very well there during the past quarter-century. One model that proved to be a solid showroom hit was the Citroën C4 Picasso, and I documented one of these machines during my recent trip to the scrapyards of Northern England.
This is a type of vehicle that never caught on so well on our side of the Atlantic, though Japanese manufacturers did their best for a while. The selling points are plenty of passenger and cargo capacity with a small footprint, plus good fuel economy; the downside is a goofy appearance that even Pininfarina wasn't able to fix.
The C4 is a subcompact CUV now, because Stellantis isn't stupid, but it spent its first couple of generations as a car with vaguely Honda CRX-ish lines.
The reason Citroën has been able to use Pablo Picasso's signature on its cars was that Pablo's son, Claude, sold the rights to the company for $20,000,000 back in 1989.
Now that we're on the subject of Pablo Picasso, we should pause to listen to Jonathan Richman's 1972 song.
Because the "Repo Man" film and soundtrack were so important to me in my late teens, the 1984 cover of the song by The Burning Sensations is the one I know best.
The more recent version by The Tellers is worth a listen as well. You never know where a Junkyard Find will lead you!
This generation of C4 Picasso was built from 2006 through 2013, with all examples built at the assembly plant in Vigo, Spain. It was available as a five-seater or (as the Grand Picasso) a seven-seater.
For 2010, the C4 Picasso was available with diesel or gasoline power. This one has the 1.6-liter diesel straight-four, rated at 110 horsepower.
A five-speed manual transmission was standard equipment. Later on, a six-speed was available.
This one is the mid-range VTR+ trim level.
U-Pull-It York shows that this car had 165,663 miles on the odometer when it showed up with not-very-severe body damage.
We can assume that its final owner didn't vote for the Brexit.
In the beginning, it was just an idea. A mental picture.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
2010 Citroën C4 Picasso in English scrapyard.
[Images: Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I was always under the impression the Citroen was the top of the pecking order in French cars followed by Peugeot and the Renault. When I moved here two years ago I discovered that when Peugeot took over Citroen a number of years ago, they positioned themselves as the premium brand, followed by Citroen. They then created an high end Citroen line which is marketed as the DS, a tip of the hat to the sensational Citroen DS of yesteryear. While Citroen still indulges in some unusual body styles, the Peugeots have become really great lookers and are very popular all over Europe. Here's Peugeot's mid size SUV, the 3008.
To call it a Picasso, it should have been more angular. They should have called it a Degas, it's my impression cars look better in pastels.