Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ?

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Thu 13 Nov 2014 18:17
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - Firmbutfair

Why do so many car journalists publish such utter nonesense - or why are they so gullible?

Parkers and other prestigious motoring journalists state that the latest Citroen C4 Cactus has a turbo charged, 3 cylinder, 1199 cc petrol engine with 82 PS at 5750 rpm and 118 Nm of torque at 2750 rpm. (It is a 'long stroke' engine).

Anyone with half a brain cell knows that you do not need a turbo charger to produce such modest output figures from a 1.2 litre petrol engine and Citroen appear to offer three versions of the 3 cylider engine, namely a 75PS, an 82PS and a 110PS.

Frankly, we are all left in the dark by the manufacturer's data sheets because they do not clearly state that ONLY the 110PS 1.2 liter engine, with peak torque at 1500 rpm is actually 'turbo-charged' and so, I suppose the motoring journalists can be forgiven for reading the generic 'turbo charged blurb' and just assuming that it applies across the whole engine range.

Does anyone share my frustration with motoring journalists, who do not seem to understand the first thing about internal combustion engine technology and are seemingly unable to spot the elephant in the room ?

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Thu 13 Nov 2014 18:49
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - RobJP

Good grief man.

They're journalists. Their only qualification is journalism. If the only job available at the time was working for a flower-arranging magazine, or football, or a shooting magazine, then they'd have taken that.

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Thu 13 Nov 2014 19:14
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - daveyK_UK

Other than the ocasional remark by honest john, im yet to read a journalist who gives regular real world consideration to long term ownership and reliability of a car.

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Thu 13 Nov 2014 20:12
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - Firmbutfair

Thanks RobJP and DaveyK_UK, it was silly of me to assume otherwise - I guess I must try not to be frustrated so much and carry on using comon sense and careful consideration before believing what I read in the motoring press. I would hope that well respected Journals such as AutoCar would not employ staff who are unqualified !

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Thu 13 Nov 2014 20:59
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - Wukl

No better than restaurant critics a lot them. Preconceived ideas of makes which permeate their reviews and more concerned with currying favour with their favourite manufacturers and gaining acceptance from their peers than making any effort to provide punters with advice on what could be a very substantial investment. Long term test, six months? Please. And to add insult to injury, pedalling the same old myths about marque reliability without any evidence. In my humble opinion, of course.

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Fri 14 Nov 2014 14:51
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - peterb

Sample Troy Queef over at Sniff Petrol for a lovely lampoon of car mag road-testers

I lost patience with the breed after reading a review of a car that was rather tail-happy "but laughably easy to catch". Decided I'd buy a different car and a different magazine

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Fri 14 Nov 2014 15:27
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - madf

Used to buy CAR mag.

In c 1970, they published a road test of the (new) Ford Zodiac Mark 3 . Said its handling was junk (true) and the tyres were Goodyear Gripless (also true).

Ford pulled ALL advertising for about 5 years. Ditto Goodyear.

And most road testers are under 30 so have excrement for brains.Free car, no running costs, new one in three months.. So they drive like idiots.

Edited by madf on 14/11/2014 at 15:29

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Fri 14 Nov 2014 18:19
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - Sofa Spud

At the upper end of the motoring special press they go in for fast on-road tests of high performance cars, leaving the reader to make up their own mind on whether or not speed limits and other safety procedures were observed.

At the lower end of the motoring press there are too many computer generated images of what journalists think a new model might possibly look like. Spy shots are one thing, but often these CGI pics look nothing like the real thing when it's launched.

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Fri 14 Nov 2014 21:52
Citroen C4 Cactus - Citroën 1.2 PureTech 82 - IS NOT TURBO CHARGED ? - galileo

Used to buy CAR mag.

In c 1970, they published a road test of the (new) Ford Zodiac Mark 3 . Said its handling was junk (true) and the tyres were Goodyear Gripless (also true)

With respect, madf, surely you mean the Mark4? I had a Mark 3 Zephyr 6 and briefly a Mark 4 about 1969. I seem to remember the wheel size on Mark 4s was originally 14" but increased to 15" after a year or so to improve the handling.

Can't say I had a problem with either of them (except in the several inches of snow we used to get most winters then.)

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