Last Updated: 20/05/2009
A touch of flair
But after spending time with both the Nemo and theC2 recently, the answer has become somewhat clearer.
They are actually very different vans, and will probably appeal to quite different customers.
Sure they both offer compact dimensions and are urban friendly. They also boasts the same 1.4 litre diesel engine with good fuel consumption and low CO2. But there the similarity ends. Where the Nemo is a compact high cube design, that could never be confused with a car, the C2 Enterprise is of a course a car-derived van that, to the casual passer by at least, doesn’t look like a van at all.
And I presume that that is an important factor for many buyers. The van has to sit on the drive at night and they don’t really want it to look like a commercial vehicle. But it is more than just appearance, the C2 Enterprise offers a very different driving experience to its boxier sibling. The van is even shorter than the Nemo, at just 3,666mm, though it is slightly wider. Add in the fact that the C2 is considerably lower and it’s easy to see why it offers a far more sporty feel to the driver.
As mentioned the C2 uses the 1.4HDi engine, with 70hp and 160Nm on tap. This drives through a five speed manual gearbox to the front wheels. With more car-like gearing the C2 is an easier companion on longer trips, with lower engine revs at the motorway limit than the Nemo. It also offers a fairly relaxed cruise.
You may think that’s not what these vans are intended to do. But many plant hire companies for instance run small car-derived vans for their machine drivers, and those Corsas, Fiestas and Puntos can often be seen plying the motorway network early in the morning, getting drivers to their machines prior to a day’s work.
One of the main reasons that these vans are used is cost. Where a small high cube van can set you back up to £10,000, the C2 Enterprise starts at just £8,545. What’s more, a quick glimpse at Citroen’s website shows that the firm is currently offering up to £1,550 cashback on the van, so the base price drops to just £6,995.
Our test vehicle came in metallic Thorium Grey (£225) and with the aircon pack that includes electric windows and door mirrors (£550), but that still gives an on the road price of just £7,770.
The downside of course is that the C2 is not designed primarily as a van.
Whereas the Nemo has a load volume of 2.5cu m, you will struggle to get 0.84cum in the Enterprise. Likewise the Nemo can handle up to 610kg of payload, while the C2 is full at 331kg and, at least in my case, the driver makes up almost 100kg of that. But if you don’t require huge volume or payload the C2 actually makes a cracking little van. Unusually, it has a two-piece tailgate, with just the window opening upwards and then the lower section opening down. While this is very convenient if you just want to quickly lift the window and get to something, it does make the stretch into the front of the
load compartment that much longer when the lower section is down.
For those that can make use of this type of van its not just the purchase cost that is low. Citroen says that you can expect to see up to 65.7mpg, though 50mpg+ is probably more realistic in normal use. The van comes into
insurance group 1E, keeping costs down further, and Citroen offers a two year/unlimited mileage or three
year/100,000 mile warranty. Oddly though, given that they share the same engine, the C2 needs a service every 12,500 miles, while the Nemo will go 20,000 miles between visits to the dealer. Apart from that anomaly this is low cost motoring, with a certain amount of flair.
The revised bonnet, front bumper and grille may not register with many LCV buyers, but the C2 Enterprise certainly looks bang up to date. Compact van buyers have never had such choice.
