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New Tue 2 Feb 16 20:15

Cactus Test drive - Zero

As tested. Cactus 1.2 82ps â€œFlairâ€ with optional red wing mirror covers and full length sun roof.

It started badly. The car, in Black with black funky alloys and low profile tyres was just being valeted outside, and the sight of the demonstrators logos and adverts splashed down the side made me wince. It got worse, bumping my head on the sun visor on getting in. â€œadjust the seat heightâ€ says the salesman, so grabbing the handle down by my right hand side, it promptly came off in my hand - so I showed it to him with a â€œtypical french carâ€ look, and stuck it back on. Its very much a car you can just sit sideways into, not squat down or climb up.
Turning it on, the auto lights came on (it was a bit gloomy) and it was impossible to see the fuel gauge linear strip in the dimmed speedo display. Turning off the auto lights brought the display up, so off they stayed.

And then it just got better and better.

Three pumps of the seat riser down, shoving the seat backwards, and it all felt suddenly so very right. Moving the leather covered, squarish at top and bottom wheel down perfected it. Rarely have I felt so instantly sorted in a car with such ease. The seat is firm, but not overly hard, nicely sculpted and bolstered, the seat squab being perfect in length and width. Thin seats? not in my view.
Plenty of room in the pedal box, with a left foot footrest.

Dealer explained that most non instant controls and functions are on the largish central screen.,with functions grouped using buttons down the L/H side. View, brightness, touch, layout, size, ergonomically and logically its a dream. Wipers indicators and lights are controlled from stalks on the steering wheel as per normal.
Set the climate control to 21c and I havenâ€™t touched it since.

View out the back is limited, unobstructed, but quite high and small. The Electric door mirrors tho are superb and cover a wide vista left and right.
The rear view camera is a revelation, bright sharp and accurate with excellent helpful guide lines and a distance warning gauge pops up when you start to approach something close. I easily and safely got to within a half a brick width to a wall.
As a combo, the three mirrors and camera cover everything you need and do it well.

Route chosen to home was Ashford Surrey > A316 to Sunbury Cross, M3 J1 to Hook J5, then Aldershot/Ash Vale/Mytchet/Pribright/ Woking/Horsell/ home. A good mix of fast motorway, Slow Motorway (50 mph road works), A road and fast country roads.

Pulling off the dealer forecourt, the first real surprise is the noise. Stick your toe down and as the revs build, it make a delicious deep resonant growling noise. Its not rough, its not gruff, it sounds like a v8 . Its my first 3 cyl and Ididnt realise they can sound like this. Its not an accident, someone has tuned this noise in and you can make it happen or not at will.

Clutch is progressive, gearbox, while not a BMW snick and a little â€œremoteâ€ is fine . The ratios are superb, married with the tractability of the 3 cal engine, 2nd can be use from 10 to 60 mph with no engine complaints at either end (apart from the the growl at the top end)

Performance is fine in the lower gears despite the mere 82 power things, you need to rev it, but it sounds so good you want to do that anyway tho It will poodle at lower revs , with much less snatchy protests than a larger lumped 4 cal.

Thrashed it up (Rev limiter thrash) to 85 on the M3 from J1, a speed it was happy to get to in reasonable time, and then slotted it into 5th. Lack of power shows here, it will maintain that rate, but stuffing your toe down makes the lovely noise but very slow increase in speed, a move back to 4th is needed.

Cruising at 80 is a quiet unruffled affair, and then we hit the long stretch of the 50mph limit, where I got to fiddle with the speed limiter and the cruse. Both work well, showing good integration with the central screen and speedo display, for example Speedo showing cruise engaged, and central display showing your saved speed limits to be selected. Limiter can be â€œkicked throughâ€ by mashing your foot all the way to the floor

By this time I had absolute 80s on the DAB radio, sounding superb, and never dropping out through the entire journey.

Off the motorway the ride is firm but not hard and remarkably compliant on most of the surfaces I encountered on the test route. It fell into a deep pothole in Ash, with little in the way of noisy complaint and dropping down a cog it galloped up the hill on the A287 in the outside lane overtaking everything possible, again dropping a cog the order of the day.

I caned it through the switch back road across the Deepcut/Pirbright ranges, revealing nicely weighted accurate steering, great body control, and handling any normal user will be more than happy with. Brakes are powerful and progressive.

Stopping at roadworks and villages gave me a chance to examine the interior environment.
Its wonderful in there. Not in a luxurious way, but in a Ikea office kinda way. The layout, design, the look, the feel , the way its all been integrated together is nothing short of genius. I was even tooted when the lights turned green, because i was admiring and fondling the leather door pull straps.
The driver/passenger armrest is a well designed bit of kit, easily folds up out of the way of the (old tech i.e. normal) handbrake, but slot down at the prefect height for crusing.

Back home, I played with the technological facilities. Bluetooth Paired my moto, streamed some audio (it has two usb ports as well) made some phone calls, etc. The audio (with some tweaking - first car I have had to wind bass down on) sounds utterly superb unless volume cranked past 11.

It is however, surprisingly given the way its been designed and integrated, remarkable short of storage space in side. The glove box is funky looking but small, the door pockets have little depth, and there is one cup holder. Passenger can go whistle.on the costa stakes.

The detailing is superb, the roof rails are streamlined and look like something off the jetsons space hopper, The (extra) full length sunroof - its just glazing, does not open or tilt - gives a light interior and appears to be well screened against the sun.

With my seat well back there appears to be enough leg room for a small person, tho they get those â€œcrack openâ€ windows, not wind up or down ones. The seats back there look thin, this is not a car for 4 adults in comfort.

This is a car that has character, character that builds, sensible well designed technology (screen controls and displays) that work simply, work well , and dont annoy. Character can be described as shortcomings - not in this car its not.

Now an aspect that few testers comment upon. Whats it like at night?
So night test route was Pyrford/Newlands Corner then up over the Surrey Hills via the sunken lanes and back lanes to Horsley and Ripley.

I turned the stereo off, and I listened to that fabulous growl of the engine. I really thrashed over the hilly twisty hills, and it growled back at me and shot round the corners on skates. The wheel is a perfect size and shape and rim thickness. Sharp steering, small lock. The lights (non HID) are very good, nice wide spread, long enough on dip, and not high on main, Interior lighting is good, no fancy mood lighting.

This is a car with character, its a car that will doodle around at 30 mph in 5th, yet will growl at you with a fabulous noise at 60mph in second. Its utterly fantastic.

It needs a rev counter, because it keeps growling and keeps shooting forward until the rev limiter cuts in.You need to work it hard to get some decent performance out of it.

With all this dashing about , having racked up about 100 miles, all this high reeves growling its come with with 39.7 mpg.

I love this car, I love its looks, its style, its growly hustle, the genius of the interior, the clever but not gratuitous use of tech that works combined with simplicity, its comfort,

I canâ€™t have one tho. The boot , while just about large enough for a dog, has a high lip and a low floor, meaning the dog stumbles jumping in, and stumbles jumping out. Its just about ok with her being young and fit, it will be a problem later. She doesnâ€™t like it back there either.